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beer (Page 10)

Cold beer – less smelly than fermented soybeans, and by one criteria, healthier too

Earlier this week, we talked about the purported beauty benefits of Japanese rice wine. Today, we’ve got good news for health-conscious beer lovers.

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Bullet train beer: the tastiest way to drink responsibly while moving at 186 miles per hour

Many visitors to Japan land in Tokyo, spend a few days in the capital, then hop aboard the shinkansen bullet train to see the sights in other regions of the country. The most common route is head west to Kyoto, but travelers shouldn’t overlook the northern prefecture of Akita.

With verdant forests, unique folklore, Japan’s deepest lake, and plenty of regional delicacies, Akita is well worth a trip, especially with the new Super Komachi shinkansen that makes the trip from Tokyo to Akita Station in just under four hours. Plus, to make the time fly by, the Super Komachi serves up its own microbrew.

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Chinese man holds in vomit, esophagus explodes

Summer vacation is in full swing now, meaning everyone’s at the beach drinking lots of cold beer, in the park drinking lots of cold beer, or in the mountains drinking lots of cold beer. Basically, breweries are getting rich and we’re happy to help.

But, as one Chinese man recently found out, you need to be careful! Too much beer can have…explosive results. Read More

Unlimited refills of limited availability beer at Park Hyatt Tokyo

The five-star Park Hyatt Tokyo, known to many as one of the locations used in the movie Lost in Translation, has plenty of things going for it, including luxuriously appointed rooms, ample business facilities, and a full array of spa services. But we already live in the area and have an office nearby in Shinjuku. Plus, the natural stunning good looks of the RocketNews24 team preclude the need for any beauty treatments. So what can the Park Hyatt do to get us through their door?

How abut offering two types of beer you can’t get anywhere else, and free refills to boot?

Yeah, that’ll do it.

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New ultrasonic foam device ensures Japanese continue to give their beer far too much head

When it comes to food and drink, there really is no “right” way to enjoy it. Just as some will cringe at the very idea of munching on raw fish dipped in a little soy sauce, others will stare in horror and disbelief as their housemate smothers a baked potato in peanut butter (you know who you are). But when it comes to beer, as many foreigners visiting or living in Japan will no doubt attest, the fondness Japanese have for topping their drink off with an enormous amount of foam sometimes borders on the absurd. “It’s delicious!” Japanese colleagues tell me when I ask why a third of my beer is head. It may well be tasty, but when it takes three gulps of naught but white froth to reach the beer itself, you have to wonder if this is all some kind of hilarious practical joke that the entire country is in on.

But what about when drinking at home? Without a bartender to ensure that beer arrives with a thick head, how can the thirsty foam lover achieve the same results? Enter the Koku Awa beer pourer from Green House.

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Is it safe for minors to drink non-alcohol beer? We turn to Japan’s top breweries for answers

As a measure to prevent drink driving and to improve people’s health, many Japanese beer manufacturers have released non-alcohol versions of their products, with such products seeing surprisingly strong sales in the marketplace. Since the products on sale contain no alcohol, it is safe to say that there is no fear of the law being broken by underage drinkers enjoying them. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find alcohol-free beer in the soft-drink section of the menu.

Nevertheless, when it comes to minors and the consumption of non-alcohol beer, the exact legalities of it all become rather confusing. The reason being that it is still necessary to show proof of your age when purchasing non-alcohol beverages. So what’s the deal here? Is it really safe for those under age to drink non-alcohol beer? RocketNews24 got to the bottom of it all by speaking to Japan’s top beer manufacturers directly.
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This Blue Beer Looks Like it Came from Alcoholic Willy Wonka’s Factory

The Abashiri Brewery in Hokkaido which, judging by its website, really is some kind of beer-themed Willy Wonka side project, boasts what may be the world’s first naturally blue beer.

Always ready to get drunk for the sake of our readers, RocketNews24 took it upon ourselves to investigate this mystifying beer anomaly, appropriately named the Ryuhyou Draft (“Ice Floe Draft”), at a beachside pub. Read More

99-Year-Old Tea Shop Offers Something New: Green Tea Beer

Being in Japan gives you plenty of opportunities to knock back a beer. The country is filled with pubs, and alcohol consumptions is so accepted that should you tell people, flat-out, “My hobby is drinking,” they’re more likely to ask you to recommend a good bar than to stage an intervention. At the same time, Japan has countless places to sip a relaxing cup of tea, whether it’s the strong, frothy variety used in tea ceremonies called matcha, or hojicha, for which the green tea leaves are roasted before steeping. But with two tempting beverage choices to relax with and only so many hours in the day, how can anyone be expected to choose between tea and beer? As it turns out, you don’t have to. Read More

Frozen Beer and Beer Cocktails – Mr. Sato Checks Out Kirin Ichiban Garden

With Golden Week over, it means summer and hot, humid days are just around the corner. Knowing you’ll need a cooling and refreshing oasis to escape to in the months ahead, Mr. Sato headed over to the Mori Trust Garden in Toranomom District, Tokyo to scope out the offerings at Kirin’s Ichiban Garden.

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There are a lot of counterintuitive things about working in a Japanese company. When you come in the door, you always say, “Good morning,” even if you’ve been at a conference all day and it’s 4 p.m.. Office romances are accepted, if not expected and encouraged.

And one of the best ways to put yourself on the fast track to promotion is by getting blotto with the boss. Read More

Sixth-Grader and Friends Served Beer and Other Alcoholic Drinks at Local Pub

On April 24, Kanagawa prefectural police sent papers to prosecutors concerning a pub operator in Yokohama city on suspicion that two of its female staff members violated the Entertainment Business Act by serving beer and other alcoholic drinks to a group of young girls, including a 6th grade elementary school student.
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Sonic Hour: A Perfect Head of Beer at the Touch of a Button!

On April 25, Takara Tomy A.R.T.S will release the “Sonic Hour”, the latest addition to their “Beer Hour” series of foaming products. Hour is a play on the Japanese word awa, meaning foam, or head of beer, and that’s exactly what this gadget delivers to the top of your glass. Retailing for 3,990 yen (US$40), this little portable device creates superfine bubbles in any type of beer, guaranteeing a smooth, creamy head every time. Even if the Japanese do prefer their beer with an enormous amount of head sometimes…

The secret to the sonic foam is ultrasonic oscillation. Simply put your glass of beer on the tray, press the button and the ultrasonic vibrations disperse evenly at the bottom of the beer glass, creating a gush of bubbles that rise and form the perfect head in an instant. And if that’s not entertaining enough, it also comes equipped with an eight-colour LED light-up display. To see it in action, check out the video after the jump.

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We Try Beer Made with Coffee from an Elephant’s Butt!

Readers may recall Kanagawa based brewery Sankt Gallen from their Valentine’s Day Chocolate Beer and Chocolate Glass promotion. Well, they were back to ring in April Fools’ Day with a coffee stout made using ingredients plucked fresh from an elephant’s anus.

The beer was only available in Japan and sold out in minutes. Luckily, we were able to get our hands on some and try it out. Actually, Mr. Sato tried it out. We just watched with a bucket.

Here’s his full report.

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Japan’s Greatest Faux Beers: Everything You Need to Know About Happoshu

Whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably had a happoshu (発泡酒）or “low-malt beer-like beverage” if you’ve ever had a night out in Japan.

The taste of a typical happoshu can vary from “pretty close to the real thing” to “yes, this is definitely weasel urine.” Going into a convenience store and blindly grabbing a beer can is thus a bit of a gamble in Japan, so, ever the masculine, barrel-chested and dashingly handsome role model father to our readers, we’ve done the work for you and chosen the five happoshu brands that are worth your time:

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Japan’s Favorite Alcohol: Beer Outranks Japanese Rice Wine and Shochu

When asked to pick your poison what do you choose? In a recent survey, people in Japan were asked to select their favorite alcoholic beverage. The results, as we’ll see after the break, were quite surprising.

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What’s Better than Chocolate Beer? Chocolate Beer in a Chocolate Glass!

Kanagawa-based brewery Sankt Gallen has been turning heads with their unique brands of chocolate beers. Released on 10 January, these beers provide a welcome change to the typical chocolate gifts of Valentine’s Day (generally, guys aren’t really that into pure chocolate).

But it appears that Sankt Gallen has raised the stakes more with their new combo set of a 330 mL bottle of their Imperial Chocolate Stout, complete with an edible glass made entirely of chocolate.

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  • Jan 18, 2013

Something Dark And Bittersweet Is Brewing in Japan For Valentine’s Day — Chocolate Beer!

If you enjoy beer, I’m sure you’ll agree that beer has no season — a cold glass of beer in the hot summer can be life-savingly refreshing, but a beer in the dead of winter along with a piping hot dish like nabe (Japanese hot pot), can also be heavenly.

One of the reporters from our sister site Pouch introduces us to a unique beer that you may want to savor slowly after a nice meal. It’s a special 2013 line-up of chocolate beer, and it’s available only around Valentine’s Day in Japan! Read More

A research team from Tokushima University discovered that a substance found in hops can prevent the deterioration of muscle tissue.  The breaking down of muscles in old age is a leading cause of elderly people being confined to a bed.

This is great news if only a beer or two would do the trick.  Unfortunately, to harness the anti-aging effects of ale you’d have to drink enough to kill you several times over.

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Japanese Foam Jockey Gives Drinkers Beer Heads That Cause Westerners to Froth at the Mouth

Recently we ran a report on how Japanese netizens expressed their outrage over the way a Korean pop star chooses to eat her instant noodles.  Now it seems that the international outrage shoe is on the other foot as Japan has drawn the western stink eye over how they like to enjoy their beer.

At the center of this controversy is an innocent advert for Jokki Hour (a punny mistranslation of “Foam Jockey”).  Jokki Hour is actually a cleverly designed beer mug that has a lever attatched.  When you push the lever the cup creates a head on the beer.  Not a bad idea in itself, but I think it’s the advertisement that turns westerners off.  Let’s take a look.

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How to Open a Beer With Your iPhone

You buy a beer on your way home, happily thinking of that moment when you can crack it open and relax with a frothy brew. But then you can’t find the bottle opener! You know it was around here somewhere, but no matter how much you search, you can’t find it. Everyone one has had this frustrating experience, right?

Actually, you can get that cap off even without a bottle opener. Of course, a bottle opener is best, and the other methods carry certain risks, but desperate times call for desperate measures! We decided to try out various different methods for removing bottle caps, including one that puts your iPhone to a new use. Read More

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