ASAHI
Shepherd Neame
Japan, 5% ABV
The Asahi Beer Hall is one of Tokyo’s most notable modern landmarks and serves as a symbol for the Asahi Beer Company at the location where they have been making beer for over a century. The building was put together by swanky designer Philippe Starck and, with its black granite exterior topped off with a shiny gold flame-like structure, it looks to be the perfect headquarters for this achingly trendy brand. A symbol of style over substance? Hmm… The lager first came to light in this country in the late 80s and early 90s when it could regularly be found splashed across the pages of the style press with glossy ads taken out in the likes of The Face and ID magazines. It was a period when style slaves stopped drinking lager of a generic variety and needed to be seen with a branded drink so as not to detract from the brilliance of their vastly over-priced trousers. In short, it was one of the first designer lagers, and people went along with the notion that, if something comes from Japan, it must be cool. That’s the style, but what about the substance? Its ‘super dry’ taste is admittedly fairly crisp but it has something of a metallic after-taste which is prone to linger, as if you’d been licking a robot for a while. Such an unsavoury image hasn’t stopped Asahi from becoming the top-selling Japanese lager in the UK. (Pub quiz: If you can name the second top-selling Japanese lager in the UK, without the help of Google, I’ll get the next round in.) RM
