Though a Bud or a crisp gentle American lager often is the ideally suited accompaniment when having fun with a BBQ on a sizzling summer season afternoon, if I’m consuming sushi or different Japanese meals I desire a Japanese beer to go together with it.
Japan makes some glorious Japanese craft beers, however they are often troublesome to trace down right here within the US. You’re more likely to see better-known worldwide manufacturers comparable to Sapporo or Asahi in your native sushi lounge than a Hitachino White Nest Pale Ale.
Sapporo Premium is at the moment the best-selling Asian beer within the US, whereas Asahi Tremendous Dry has just about dominated the home market of Japan ever since its introduction again within the Eighties.
Sapporo and Asahi are produced by two of the oldest breweries in Japan and are each traditional Japanese-style lagers. Each beers are brewed similarly utilizing rice (a mainstay of Japanese delicacies) as an adjunct however have very completely different taste profiles.
Sapporo tends to be considerably hoppier, whereas Asahi has extra of a bitter style in comparison with the clear crisp style of Sapporo. Both beer would go together with a pleasant bowl of Ramen or another Japanese fare comparable to sushi.
However which beer is best? Let’s check out each manufacturers, the beers they brew, and specifically examine their two flagship beers Asahi Tremendous Dry and Sapporo Draft (or Sapporo Premium as it’s recognized within the USA).
By the top of this text, you’ll be a black belt in Japanese beers!
The Historical past of the Sapporo and Asahi Breweries
Sapporo is definitely Japan’s oldest beer model and was based in 1876 within the city of Sapporo on Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Sebei Nakagawa, the primary brewmaster on the Kaitakushi (Hokkaido Improvement Fee) brewery, was a German-trained brewer who launched Sapporo’s first lager-style beer, a precursor to the Sapporo Premium lager we all know as we speak, round this time.
Though the Sapporo-based brewery was the jewel within the crown of the Sapporo Beer Firm, most of Sapporo’s beers had been brewed within the Chiba, Shizuoka, Sendai, and Kyushu areas. Later the beers could be brewed in Wisconsin for the US market and Sleeman in Canada. Immediately the world headquarters of Sapporo Breweries Ltd is predicated in Tokyo, Japan.
Asahi is a barely youthful brewery that was based because the Osaka Beer Firm in 1889 in Osaka on the primary island of Japan, Honshu. Throughout World Struggle I, German prisoners of warfare would work within the brewery. Nevertheless, Osaka beers had been just about a minor participant within the Japanese beer market till the late Eighties.
A Japanese Beer Monopoly
For the primary a part of the twentieth century Asahi, Sapporo, and The Japan Beer Brewing Firm (Kirin and Yebisu beers) merged into the Dai-Nippon Beer Firm Restricted. From 1906 till after World Struggle II there was a close to monopoly on the Japanese beer market.
Following the break up in 1949 into the Nippon and Asahi breweries, Nippon Breweries continued to brew Sapporo beers and resumed brewing Sapporo in 1956, with the brewery renaming itself to the present-day identify of Sapporo Breweries in 1964.
Asahi would develop into Asahi Group Holdings and began producing Asahi Gold in 1957, which overtook Asahi Draft as their flagship beer till 1987. Kirn had already been purchased by Kirin breweries and Yebisu was brewed as a separate model by the Nippon/Sapporo brewery as a German-style barley beer.
The Rise of Osaka Beers to Japan’s Largest Beer Brewer
After in depth market analysis within the Eighties, Asahi brewmasters discovered that Japanese beer drinkers needed a high-alcohol, dry-finishing beer much like Northern German beers, and Asahi Tremendous Dry was launched.
The modern beer that’s Asahi Tremendous Dry proved so widespread, surpassing lots of the different established brewers comparable to Kirin and Sapporo, that it ignited a interval which was to be often called the Dry Wars. The extreme competitors noticed different Japanese brewery firms making an attempt to muscle in on the dry beer market.
It’s apparent who received the Dry Wars – does anyone even keep in mind Sapporo Dry, Kirin Dry, or Suntory Dry? Even once they launched a dry beer providing referred to as Ichiban Shibori in direct competitors with Asahi Tremendous Dry, Kirin ended up cannibalizing the earnings of their very own Kirin Lager model fairly than stopping the momentum of Asahi Tremendous Dry.
Immediately Asahi Group Holdings Ltd is a Japanese international beer, spirits, mushy drinks, and meals enterprise group with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Asahi, with a 37% market share, is the most important of the 4 main brewers in Japan, adopted by Kirin Beer with 34%, Suntory with 16% and Sapporo trailing behind at simply 11% of the market.
Uncover Extra of the Historical past in Osaka or Sapporo
Each Sapporo and Asahi are traditional Japanese lagers they usually each have brewery museums the place, in case you are ever visiting Japan, you may study extra concerning the historical past and brewing of those two beers.
Asahi’s brewery in Osaka has a free tour with beer tastings and a brand new museum. The Asahi Beer Corridor situated in Tokyo was designed by the French designer Phillip Starck and is taken into account to be one among Tokyo’s most recognisable fashionable buildings.
The Sapporo Beer Museum was till latest years Japan’s solely beer museum (Asahi put an finish to that, see above) and is registered as one of many heritage websites of the Hokkaidō Islands. The constructing additionally homes the Sapporo beer backyard within the south wing and is the perfect place to get pleasure from an ice-cold Sapporo among the many cherry blossoms of a Japanese spring afternoon.
Sapporo vs Asahi – The Beers
Though American beer drinkers are conversant in Sapporo Premium and Asahi Tremendous Dry, each of those Japanese beer brewers do make a full vary of beers, a lot of which can be found right here within the US out of your native craft beer bar or worldwide beer importers and wholesalers.
Beers Produced by Asahi
- Asahi Tremendous Dry – the flagship model that remodeled the fashionable beer trade in Japan.
- Asahi Draft – a beer first produced in 1892.
- Asahi Gold – the previous flagship beer first produced in 1957.
- Asahi Soukai – a 3.5% ABV gentle beer with low carbs for carb-conscious beer drinkers.
- Asahi Stout
- Asahi Z – a dry lager
- Asahi Black – a 5% ABV darkish beer much like a German schwarzbier.
- Asahi Prime Time – a German pilsner-style lager (at the moment solely out there in Japan)
Beers Produced by Sapporo
- Sapporo Premium – the flagship Sapporo lager within the US and the highest-selling Asian Beer in America.
- Sapporo Pure – A lower than 100 cals gentle beer.
- Sapporo Premium Black Beer – Sapporo’s tackle the German Schwarzbier black lager.
- Sapporo Premium Mild Beer
- Sapporo Reserve Beer – A Japanese malt beer that incorporates a full-bodied style and 100% malt.
- Sapporo House Barley – A limited-edition beer brewed with barley cultivated on the ISS (Worldwide House Station) – Now not out there
World Manufacturers Owned by the Japanese Brewers Asahi and Sapporo
Along with their foremost manufacturers of beer, each Asahi and Sapporo have aggressively acquired lots of the well-known beer manufacturers recognized globally to bolster their portfolios and brewing capacities.
Asahi Group Holdings, courtesy of transactions with Anheuser-Busch InBev, now personal the Dutch Grolsch Brewery, the Italian enterprise Peroni Brewery, the UK craft Meantime Brewery, SABMiller Manufacturers UK, and SABMiller Japanese European enterprise. Belongings and types from nations comparable to Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary embody beers comparable to Pilsner Urquall, Velkopopovicky Kozel, Topvar, Tyskie, and Gambrinus.
Sapporo, by comparability, has been rather less energetic however has focused on the North American beer market. In 2007, Sapporo Holdings acquired the Canadian brewery Sleeman and all its related beers together with Sleeman Cream Ale, Sleeman India Pale Ale, and the Canadian rights for Stroh beers comparable to PBR, Schlitz, and Outdated Milwaukee. Extra just lately, in 2017, Sapporo Brewing Firm acquired the esteemed American craft brewer Anchor Brewing.
Bringing us bang updated, on the time of writing, Sapporo has simply acquired, in August 2022, the Stone Brewing Firm for a reported $165 million.
Sapporo Premium vs Asahi Tremendous Dry in America
With out even figuring out it you’ve in all probability drunk a top quality beer produced by Sapporo or Asahi within the final month, if not the final day or two (I’ve definitely loved just a few Stone beers now owned by Sapporo this weekend!).
Nevertheless, within the US as we speak, Sapporo Premium and Asahi Tremendous Dry are the 2 Japanese premium beers you’re more likely to encounter in your native Japanese restaurant. Though Asahi Tremendous Dry leads the way in which in Japan, right here within the US Sapporo Premium is the choice of beer lovers.
Each are refreshing beers, however perhaps it’s the clear and crisper style of Sapporo Premium that appeals extra to straightforward middle-American beer drinkers. Asahi tends to be extra hoppy and has a bitter style much like European beers.
Or perhaps it’s simply the advertising and marketing and extra centered packaging of the Sapporo Brewing Firm that makes it a runaway success within the US. Let’s check out these two wonderful beer manufacturers facet by facet in a beer showdown to see which beer you ought to be consuming together with your subsequent sushi banquet.
Asahi Tremendous Dry vs Sapporo Premium: The Taste
Sapporo Premium is the right beer for a sizzling summer season’s day with its crisp and clear style. Not an overwhelmingly strong-flavored beer, Sapporo Premium boasts simply notes of malty sweetness (it undoubtedly has the sweeter style of the 2 beers) and a comparatively full bitterness for a beer however with a minimal aftertaste.
Many would say it’s the same refreshing style to a traditional American adjunct lager however with somewhat extra physique from the add-on of secret components comparable to rice and minimal quantities of buckwheat.
However, Asahi is an excellent dry style, because the identify suggests. Asahi has a extra grainy aroma with a really refined sweetness. The hop and bitterness of the Asahi share the highlight extra, fairly much like a European-style pilsner.
There’s undoubtedly extra taste with a drying end that causes the bitterness to linger. Craft beer lovers and people who choose an assertively bitter beer will recognize the flavour of an Asahi Tremendous Dry greater than the refreshing however barely bland Sapporo Premium.
Meals-wise, each beers are thought-about to be meals beers and can accompany most Japanese dishes. They’re each gentle and refreshing to steadiness out the sturdy Unami, citrus, and salt flavors in Japanese delicacies.
For spicier meals, most would advocate the Sapporo Premium as its refined flavors received’t conflict an excessive amount of with the sturdy spices and can simply serve to refresh and funky down your style buds.
Asahi beer pairs with tempura, yakitori, and ramen dishes notably properly. As a dry beer product, Asahi is extremely carbonated which might scrub the palate clear of the wealthy style of sauces or the oily fish flavors.
What Offers Asahi Its Distinctive and Distinctive Taste?
Each Sapporo and Asahi are brewed utilizing conventional German strategies of lager manufacturing. They each embody malted barley, hops, water, and yeast of their components listing however a significant ingredient added to each is the rice adjunct (Sapporo additionally provides different adjuncts comparable to buckwheat in smaller portions).
Each might be classed as rice lagers that are recognized for his or her clean, clear style as a result of strains of yeast used through the fermentation course of and the prolonged chilly cellaring (layering) time, which works to melt the sharp aftertaste and get rid of any undesirable flavors of extreme sulphur notes.
Asahi brewing historical past is thought for its breakthroughs in brewing know-how in a manner solely the Japanese can obtain. Asahi even calls it “dream know-how” which serves to take care of the beer’s high-quality style.
Trendy machines use particular conveyor methods that don’t hurt the malt, milling machines don’t excessively mash the grain, and the malted barley is chosen utilizing over 100 standards together with the grain species, its origins, and the strategies of germination. Asahi is thought to be very strict with millers who oversoak their seeds
This meticulous consideration to element makes the Asahi Tremendous Dry an all-natural beer with distinct flavors coming from conventional components. Moreover, Asahi makes use of the specialised yeast pressure Asahi Karakuchi 318 which contributes to its sturdy, tremendous dry style.
Look and Packaging of Asahi Tremendous Dry vs Sapporo Premium
Each Sapporo and Asahi Tremendous Dry pour as clear, pale, yellow beers with gorgeous readability. The top on both beer doesn’t final too lengthy as you’ll count on with a beer, however the head of the Asahi has somewhat extra substance as a result of larger ranges of carbonation of the Tremendous Dry. The white head might be good and foamy, settling simply when poured right into a glass.
With regards to packaging and the way the beer appears on the cabinets of the native 7/11 and even within the cooler of your native bar, Sapporo wins fingers down. One of the recognizable issues about choosing up a can of Sapporo Premium in America is the traditional silver can which appears indestructible and has even been referred to as “bulletproof” (I’ve not examined this but, I can consider lots higher issues to do than shoot a can of high quality beer!).
Many of the gentle refreshing All-American beers are available a silver can, assume Coors Mild, Bud Mild, and so forth, however the Sapporo can is manufactured from metal for that premium look fairly than the aluminum of American beer cans.
Initially, the Sapporo can got here with a totally detachable prime so you possibly can recreate the beer-drinking expertise of consuming Sapporo from a glass while simply utilizing the beer can. Though the Sapporo Premium cans don’t characteristic the detachable tops anymore, they do nonetheless have that particular beer glass-like form to the can which appeals extra to the fashion-conscious youthful beer drinkers.
By comparability, Asahi Tremendous Dry is available in a regular brown glass bottle that includes a silver beer label on the entrance. It’s fairly plain by as we speak’s requirements and received’t stand out an excessive amount of from the opposite Asian beers within the cooler on the grocery store cabinets. This can be a small level when speaking concerning the high quality of the 2 beers, however, for sure, it may be thought-about a significant component within the advertising and marketing of the 2 beers within the US.
Sapporo vs Asahi – Remaining Name
Though there are extra similarities than variations between Asahi Tremendous Dry and Sapporo Premium, there’s a clear line within the sand between the 2 beers. Sapporo has a agency foothold within the American beer market due to its clear, crisp style and is a agency favourite of avid beer drinkers within the US. Asahi Tremendous Dry is the popular beer in Japan, and likewise all through Asia and Europe, the place they’ve very completely different beer tastes and like extra European-style beers.
As you may in all probability inform, I like my Japanese beers, practically as a lot as I really like my Japanese meals. After I’m out at my favourite sushi bar you’ll at all times discover me reaching for a can of Sapporo Premium or an Asahi. They’re each high quality refreshing beers but when I had to decide on one, it will in all probability be Sapporo for its cleaner, much less fussy style. If I desire a beer with a extra complicated taste profile I’ll ask if they’ve a Hitachino White Nest Pale Ale.
