Japanese: アサヒスーパードライ （辛口） (ASAHI SUUPAA DORAI [ karakuchi (“dry taste”) ] )
Brewery: Asahi
Style: Dry lager
ABV: 5%
Price: 207円
Strapline: “Asahi Super Dry is brewed using carefully selected yeast and ingredients utilising advanced brewing techniques. Enjoy the taste and silky smoothness of Asahi Super Dry!”
This is a product which has made it all the way to the UK, where it can often be seen on supermarket shelves alongside the Tsingtao, Cobra and Tiger – its value (and absurd price) deriving from the association with its exotic country of origin. Having said that, it is not a beer which should be dismissed as a gimmick. In Japan (and in Osaka particularly) it is totally ubiquitous. One of the easiest ways for a foreigner, who can’t read kanji, to identify a bar at a distance is the inevitable poster outside advertising that their Asahi Super Dry is only 500円. Like Carlsberg or Fosters in the UK, no-one goes out of their way to seek the rare flavour of Asahi – it’s everywhere. Unlike Carlsberg and Fosters, it’s not a terrible beer.
The taste certainly is dry. Not bone dry, but noticeably different from the Kirin Classic. UK residents may notice in the name a strange similarity with a popular clothing brand. SuperDry clothes are, of course, British. The nonsensical Japanese they are adorned with is apparently a clever joke at the expense of the Engrish you see on Japanese clothes. Though it pains me to say it of a large corporation – especially one in the fashion industry – it’s a pretty good joke. Well done. Even better considering that most people wearing it don’t realise that the language is mangled, or if they do they don’t understand why. Everyone has seen the pictures (if not, just google ‘engrish’) so the only example I’ll give is that on my very first day in Japan I saw a lady wearing a T-shirt urging people to “SAVE MORE FOODS.” SuperDry simply parodies this.
Nevertheless, in spite of the Japanese-style branding, SuperDry clothes have nothing to do with Asahi, other than what I believe is an ongoing legal dispute over that very name (hint: the beer is older). To return to the point: it’s a dry lager with a pleasant colour and a reasonable, if rather typical flavour. If you like lager then buy one when it’s on offer in your local supermarket. Don’t expect new worlds of taste to be revealed though.
Please also note the Hanshin Tigers sponsorship emblem. There was no bias in this entry.
フレ！！フレ！フレ！フレー！Go! Go go go!
Konbini Beer 