Non-Bitter Beer Coming up in Japan!

Ever heard of flavor beer? Tomato flavor, lemon flavor, chocolate...Beer geeks won't like to hear about them. Yes, beer breweries are dead serious about marketing beers flavored with all such fruity, female-alluring flavors.

According to the Sankei Shimbun, August 17, major Japanese beer breweries are all turning to creating flavored beers to meet rising demands from among young women subtly leaving the authentic "bitter" beer. Last fall, Kirin marketed in collaboration with Seven&i Holdings a new low-malt beer "Kirin Flaveer Lemon&Hop" (213 JPY) targeting young customers in age brackets of 20-30. "Less bitter, a touch of lemon flavor and mildly sweet", says its developer. Suntory had their own marketed this March, "Suntory Radler" (205 JPY), flavored beer of a sweet balance between lemoness and bitterness. Radler is a German brand enjoying huge popularity in Europe right now, hence Suntory's attempt to follow suit in Japan.

Now, It was tomato that had tempted Asahi to create their own flavored beer with in collaboration with Kagome. "Asahi Red Eye" is the name of their own low-malt beer priced at ￥205. It was tested in a time-limited marketing plan in 2014 and sold 120 thousand bottles in three months, 20% in excess of their initial target volume. Asahi Red Eye is now selling throughout the year.

This is no local phenomenon, either. Unique beers are invading the Japanese market. The Belgian low-malt "Bellevue Creek" features cherry; "Schöfferhofer Grapefruit from Germany is of course based on grapefruit flavor.

Local beer breweries expect a farther rise in the popularity of flavor beer and its market farther expanding. Young customers are drifting away from the traditional bitter beer, and the local breweries are readying themselves to meet growing demands for new type of beer - flavor beer.