Since the alcohol tax law change in 90’s, new types of beer called
HAPPOSYU & THE THIRD BEER have become very popular in Japan because of its cost performance. It will be a good thing to give a wider choice for the consumers but I imagine how disappointed I would feel when the beer doesn’t taste like beer..
In Japanese alcohol tax law,
BEER must be made from malt, hop and water as its main ingredients. The malt must be used more than 1/2 of the total weight of raw materials (used to be 2/3). Sub ingredients such as corn, rice, starch and sugar are accepted to be used for the limited amount only.
On the other hand,
HAPPOSHU officially means sparkling liquor made from malt or barley and other ingredients such as corn, rice, starch etc.. The malt must be used more than 25% and less than 50% of the total weight of raw materials. The taste is lighter than Beer and sometimes beer beginners or young ladies would like the NOT SO HEAVY taste. The best thing about
HAPPOSYU is its price. It is more than 40% cheaper than Beer. Fair Enough.
The latest trend of Japanese beer is called
THE THIRD BEER (Dai San No Beer). The definition of
THE THIRD BEER is quite unique and it is recognized as BEER FLAVOURED LIQUOR. (I think it is getting even farther from BEER..) There are two types in
THE THIRD BEER. The first one is malt and barley MUST NOT be used as its main ingredient. That means soy bean or corn is the main ingredient of it. The other one is the mixture of
HAPPOSYU & barley Shochu (distilled spirit). It’s like HOPPY (Shochu mix with Beer) in the old days and the taste is Beer flavored liquor but it is not as rich and tasty as beer at all. The main thing is again its bargain price.
Standard BEER TYPE LIQUOR prices at Seven Eleven in Tokyo, Japan
BEER 280 yen
HAPPOSYU 155 yen
THE THIRD BEER 135 yen
(Tax rate per a liter / Beer - 222yen, Happosyu – 178.1yen, The Third Beer – 134.25yen)
You can see Japanese beer definition is not strict as German Beer Purity Law. To be honest, my personal opinion is “I will pay for what I want to drink.” For me,
BEER is always the good starter so I want to choose something makes me feel better.
