Beer Market Drying Up – Alcohol-Free Flavored Beer Introduced

Posted by Bill Belew on January 9th, 2009 in Japanese Products | Comments Off

Japan’s beer market is expected to further dry up by 1-3% in 2009, the fifth straight year says the four major breweries’ forecasts.

The beer market shrunk 3% in 2008.

“Two percentage points of this can be attributed to price hikes,” Kirin Brewery Co. President Senji Miyake says.

The beer market is down 16% from its 1994 peak.

Asahi Breweries is the industry leader and forecasts the market will contract 1-2%.

Second-ranked Kirin is projecting a 3% decline.

Suntory Ltd. and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. are each predicting a drop of about 2%.

Meanwhile -

Kirin Brewery Co. will start offering a nonalcoholic drink in the spring that tastes like beer.I don’t know why anyone would want to drink the stuff just for the taste.

The new brand is called – The Free.

The Free is is Kirin’s contribution to curb drunken driving.

Beer-flavored drinks normally use beer yeast, generating a small amount of alcohol. But the Free achieves its beer flavor without using beer yeast.

So, why does beer go through the body so quickly?

Answer – the drink doesn’t need to stop and change color before it goes out.

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