Asahi Ajiwai

A happoshu/malt liquor hybrid. Oh, happy days are here again!

But really? This isn't bad. Happoshus are made with less than 25% barley (the other 75%? You really don't want to know....). So adding x-amount of malt liquor to the works, in a round-about way, ups the malt content of this to 99.9%. Thus making it just like pretty much any other beer. Confusing? Welcome to the magical world of Biru ala Nippon!

Clocks in at 5%, just like so many other Japanese schwills. Occasionally, a 4.5% or 5.5% (or even a whopping 6%!) will show up. But 5% is the de facto standard for all of the SAKS bunch.

Not as dry as I like `em -- this could do wonders if it didn't have a rather sweet front-end. Thankfully, it dries out in the middle. And the after-taste is fine. Nothing special, that's for sure. But I've had much worse.

Kind of a shame that this is rather rare. For ¥200, it's a bargain for a happoshu-that-really-isn't-when-all-is-said-and-done.
//TB