A Little Luck on the Road | Convenience Store Canned Beer Recommendations

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🤗 01 Asahi cans

Asahi raw cans (unopened and opened)

This beer was produced and released in April 2021 by the famous Asahi Breweries (the same company that is famous for its silver cans of beer “Super Dry”). The main purpose of this beer is to make it possible to drink a beer that is as good as the beer brewed by the store's beer machine when it is inconvenient to go to the store. Therefore, the lid is a round cap that snaps off directly from the top, and you can enjoy the thrill of root beer using only an easy-open can.

The taste of this is a little heavier on the hops than a super dry beer, and the foaming is very dense. This foam is so much better than regular canned beer. Take a big sip through this dense foam, the aroma of the foam coupled with the freshness of the liquid is no worse than what the machine beats in the store. However, it should be noted that the can should be prepared before opening, foaming too quickly, open the can immediately take a sip, or it will certainly overflow. In addition, this beer is also available in large capacity, so if you feel that a small can is not too much, you can try a large one.

🤗 02 Galaxy Highland Beer

Unlike other beers that are commonly made with barley fermentation, Galaxy Highland is a soft wheat beer. The light blue bottle also conveys this warm and soft atmosphere, like a healing fireplace on a cold winter day.

In the mouth, it has a soft yeastiness, mild but spreading orange flavor, elegant and solid wheat flavor, like eating a piece of freshly burnt toast, and after swallowing, it has an elegant and soft aroma of clear hops mixed with wheat flavor, and the finish is long and full of wheat flavor. Like other Karuizawa beers, it has the unique aroma of Karuizawa beer. ...... It's gone without realizing it after a few big sips.

🤗 03 YONAYONA

This beer is a little more special. It is best served at around 13 degrees. At this temperature, the aroma is especially pronounced and rich. Therefore, it is not recommended to keep it in the refrigerator for a long time.

I was chilled to about 10 degrees and poured into a glass, the first smell is citrus hops flavor, the first sip of hops bitterness is obvious, and then the more you drink the softer. As the temperature rises the aroma gradually open, obviously feel the aroma and bitterness of orange peel, sweet and sour orange juice, sweet grass, clean grain malt flavor. The finish is clean and crisp with a pronounced sweet aftertaste, perfect for a can out of the shower at night.

Another thing that is different about this one is that the smell is delightful, a very refreshing citrus and citrus leaf aroma. The nose is excellent compared to many other beers. The aroma is especially noticeable towards the end of the glass, and it doesn't have that weird boozy flavor that some beers have.

🤗 04 KIRIN CLASSIC

This is a reproduction of a Showa-era Kirin beer. Moreover, it is the only beer in this recommendation that is a blend of malt, rice and corn.

Because of the rice and corn, it's a bit like a blended whiskey, with a softer flavor than pure malt, and some micronized aromas can be tasted. Because of the soft and smooth flavor, it goes well with almost any dish, even eating sandwiches! Personally, the author finds it quite a bit better than regular Kirin malt.

🤗 05 Amber Ebisu

How great is Ebisu beer in Japan? It was synonymous with premium beer during the Showa period, and even Tokyo's JR Ebisu station, was named after it.

Ebisu Beer releases an amber ale every fall. This beer has a percentage of roasted malt in it, and the liquor has a beautiful deep red color, like the red leaves in autumn, which is very fitting. Unlike regular Ebisu, the flavor doesn't emphasize the hops very much, but it is balanced and smooth with roasted and softly fermented malt aroma and just the right amount of acidity unlike regular beers. It's a premium beer from years ago, with just the right balance and finish to make it worth tasting.

🤗 06 TOKYO CRAFT

The packaging may seem mediocre, but this beer is actually a canned craft brew produced at the Suntory Musashino Brewery plant, the same plant as the famous Premium Malts beer.

Since they use the same water, the flavors are similar, but this one has a richer aroma than the regular Premium Malts, with more citrusy notes such as orange, and is much more solid than the Premium Malts ale without being too heavy. It's a good combination of the best of both worlds.

🤗 07 Lazy Soft Pale Ale

This is a beer with cute and cuddly packaging that makes it hard not to notice, and is said to be the earliest local beer in Japan. The nose is a delightful fermented wheat aroma, a little sweet and floaty, but clean and refreshing. The citrusy aroma from the hops slowly gives way to a lemony atmosphere, which is even better in an open-topped glass.

The mouthfeel is soft, with a fluffy, cakey feel. Unlike beers brewed along the same lines, there's no bitterness at all in the first sip, and the hoppy aroma is mild and long, which makes the name of this brew completely understandable, as it's really relaxing and fluffy in the mouth. The best thing is that there is no sweetness at all like a regular pale ale, it is clear and clean but soft and fluffy, like a piece of premium cheesecake.

🤗 08 Wednesday's Cat

The name is an instant hit. Wednesday's Cat is a white ale craft beer, a “soft and cuddly” beer that instantly relaxes the social animal when it meets Wednesday, the most physically and mentally exhausting time of the week.

The nose offers orange peel, lemon, and herbal notes (with coriander seeds), which is a particularly bold move for many craft beers, somewhat along the lines of a gin. The mouthfeel is soft and complex, with wheat flavors followed by a variety of citrusy herbal richness that fills the mouth and brain at once. The finish is clean, with no particular flavors remaining, giving a healing and then relaxing feeling. On the road, if you want to have a small drink, why not have a can of Wednesday's Cat?

📎 How beer is brewed and its ingredients

No matter what kind of alcohol, as long as it belongs to the alcohol, it cannot escape the process of brewing. Basically, sugar is fermented with yeast to produce alcohol, and then this liquid is obtained for drinking directly or after distillation and other processes. Interestingly enough, beer is brewed in a similar way to whiskey, in that the malt is roasted and crushed, then sweetened and fermented.

The beer is made as follows:

① Malt crushing: Crushing malt or malt and other grains to the appropriate size using machines, etc;

② Saccharification: Add the crushed raw materials and water at the appropriate temperature to convert starch into sugar, and then filter to obtain the saccharification solution (wort);

③ Boiling: the obtained wort is added to the cooking vessel “copper” and heated for about an hour to bring it to a boil, during which time the proteins coagulate, the saccharification enzymes are inactivated, and the off-flavors are removed. Hops are also added during the boiling process;

④ Cooling: The boiled wort is rapidly cooled to below 25 degrees Celsius to prevent microorganisms from proliferating, and hops can be added during the cooling process to increase the aroma. In some cases, sterile air is introduced into the wort after cooling in order to provide enough air for the yeast to ferment later;

⑤ Fermentation: After the wort reaches the right temperature, yeast is put in to ferment. Fermentation: After the wort reaches the right temperature, the yeast is put into the fermentation. Fermentation is divided into primary fermentation (primary fermentation) and maturation fermentation (secondary fermentation), after which some brewers put hops into the wort to make the aroma of the hops more layered;

(6) Filtration and heating: The fermented liquid is heated to about 60 degrees Celsius to inactivate the yeast, and then filtered and canned. If the yeast is not heated and filtered out using special filtration techniques, the beer is draft beer. Nowadays, there are also many craft beers that use non-filtering techniques, which make the beer cloudy but richer in aroma.

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There are many beers available in Japanese convenience stores, and these somewhat different and eye-catching beers are waiting to give the traveler who discovers them a little surprise!