Japanese: ザ・プレミアム・モルツ (ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU)
Brewery: Suntory
Style: Pilsener
ABV: 5.5%
Price: 227円
Strapline: “A premium pilsener beer, brewed with selected ingredients and pride.”
I wanted to start this blog with the flagship products of each of the major breweries in Japan for the sake of a useful comparison. There is no doubt that I would have got round to this one sooner rather than later since the name is drilled into my skull daily on the television. The advert annoyingly (and cleverly) repeats “ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU” over and over. In a Japanese accent it is a reasonable approximation of the name in English, but luckily I am immune to such advertising tricks.
On the other hand I nearly left it, expecting there to be a more obvious “SUNTORY NUMBER ONE” or something. Actually ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU seems to be their classic beer – it is certainly the most widespread. ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU is another beer originating in Osaka (notice the pattern) but it is very different from it’s equivalents elsewhere. For a start, ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU costs a little more, which might reflect a higher – or extant – barley content, as opposed to a rice-based beer. This is turn leads to a richer flavour. A can of ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU is clearly designed to suggest 20円 worth of opulent extravagance with its gold and blue colour scheme and ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU obviously occupies a different niche in the market, being more expensive than other standard offerings but cheaper than the usual “premium” products, in spite of the name ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU.
To check whether I was being drawn in by the marketing of ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU I conducted extra side-by-side tastings (all for you, dear reader) but had to conclude that the taste is indeed actually better than the other, cheaper beers. Does this mean you should drink ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU instead? Not necessarily. If you’re on a budget, 20円 each time does add up after a while. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves – there are still so many more beers to try besides ZA PUREMIAMU MORUTSU before we can reach any kind of conclusion about the best or worst.
Konbini Beer 