freeranger
Well-known
Paul T said:Please don't mentiopn Kirin, Asahi or Sapporo. They are part of a conspiracy to make every beer taste the same!
There's a standard pattern. Start importing a premium beer into a country and create a demand for it. Then replace the imported beer with a rebadeged domestic one and watch the profits come in! (There's a good joke about this in The Simpsons). OVer the past 10 years, every "Japanese" beer in Europe or the US has switched to production from Busch or GUinness factories with little resemblance to the real thing. It's happening with countless other beers, too, like Cobra, which used to be a good Indian beer, or San Miguel.
On the bright side, a microbrewery has opened a small pub 100 yards away form my front door and I plan to imbibe a glass of their IPA in the next half hour and wait for that delicious 'click'...
and I second this! Lived in Prague 2 years ago and became acquainted with a guy who worked for Staropramen brewers. We got talking beers and I reminisced about my time in Japan with their sweet, sweet, beverages. He told me I could have as much Asahi as I wanted because his company had started to brew it.....it was not the same 🙁