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

Amstel, or ‘Am-shtel’ to give its correct Dutch pronunciation, is the little beer brother of Heineken. It is named after the river in the Netherlands that runs through the north of Amsterdam, where the Amstel Brewery was founded in 1870. The brewery was taken over by Heineken in 1969 – a smart move when you consider by this time Amstel was already a worldwide brand with its own breweries located in Suriname, Jordan, the island of Curaçao, Puerto Rico and Greece. It  was first exported to the UK in 1883, and is currently available in over 75 countries. Heineken moved production of the beer to Zoeterwoude in 1982, so Amstel is now produced 30 miles outside of Amsterdam. The beer itself is smooth and malty yet rather watery – surprising, as it is a decent strength 5% ABV pilsner style lager. Keeping the H₂O theme going, while we Europeans get to drink Amstel brewed using fresh clean spring water, the Amstel brewery on Curaçao produces the only beer in the world that is made with 100 percent seawater – desalinated of course. The labels on the bottles have used the famous red and gold colour scheme since first production in 1870. There is a different coat of arms for each variation of Amstel, all based on the city of Amsterdam’s crest. So drink up and dispose of your empties correctly – Amstel’s brown bottles are apparently the most recycled in the world. GT

Amstel, or ‘Am-shtel’ to give its correct Dutch pronunciation, is the little beer brother of Heineken. It is named after the river in the Netherlands that runs through the north of Amsterdam, where the Amstel Brewery was founded in 1870. The brewery was taken over by Heineken in 1969 – a smart move when you consider by this time Amstel was already a worldwide brand with its own breweries located in Suriname, Jordan, the island of Curaçao, Puerto Rico and Greece. It  was first exported to the UK in 1883, and is currently available in over 75 countries. Heineken moved production of the beer to Zoeterwoude in 1982, so Amstel is now produced 30 miles outside of Amsterdam. The beer itself is smooth and malty yet rather watery – surprising, as it is a decent strength 5% ABV pilsner style lager. Keeping the H₂O theme going, while we Europeans get to drink Amstel brewed using fresh clean spring water, the Amstel brewery on Curaçao produces the only beer in the world that is made with 100 percent seawater – desalinated of course. The labels on the bottles have used the famous red and gold colour scheme since first production in 1870. There is a different coat of arms for each variation of Amstel, all based on the city of Amsterdam’s crest. So drink up and dispose of your empties correctly – Amstel’s brown bottles are apparently the most recycled in the world. GT