Suntory Kin-Mugi

Official Link, complete with hyperbolic hype, and some sort of Asian-Spanish fusion music. Oh joy!

Suntory, the youngest of the SAKS¹ Bunch, has in the past always tried to step outside of the norms that it's competitors have set. For example, I still remember with a fair amount of whimsy their Table [Red] Beer, complete with mini-booklet hanging by a string from the bottle's neck, that explained that a "fine" beer should be poured into a wine glass. Points for shooting for the high-end of the beer market, I say.

But as time has gone by, I see more and more offerings from Suntory that dumb-down their message, as they seemingly fall in lock-step with the rest of the Japanese Big Three.

This beer, for example? Might as as well be a rebranding of a dozen other Happoshu offerings from any of the SAKS'ers. Not necessarily the very worst of the bunch -- many other Happoshus out there worse than this, that I have unceremoniously dumped down the drain -- but hardly worth much mention or attention.

As much as I have quietly rooted for Suntory to kick ass and force the other Japanese brewers to raise the bar, it just looks to me that Suntory is simply pumping out shite to compete for the bottom end of the marketplace instead. With snoozers such as this leading the charge.
//TB

¹ Sapporo-Asahi-Kirin-Suntory, in approx. order of quality....