Old beer posters

Here are a couple of retro Kirin Beer posters that I saw yesterday at an 居酒屋 (Japanese izakaya restaurant).

「大正15年」 (1926) キリンビール (Kirin Beer) poster.

「昭和10年」 (1935) キリンビール (Kirin Beer) poster.

Compare those with a more modern Japanese beer poster:

Tokyo Marathon and spring beer

The 2012 Tokyo Marathon was held today.

Twenty-nine year old Michael Kipyego of Kenya, Africa came in first place with a time of 2 hrs 07.37 seconds.
藤原新 (Arata Fujiwara) came in second just a few hundredths of a seconds later.

Arata Fujiwara of Japan and Michael Kipyego of Kenya show their silver and gold medals, respectively.

I don’t enjoy running…or even jogging, for that matter. So I can’t imagine running a 42 kilometer (26.22 miles) marathon!

Do you like to run or jog? Have you ever run a marathon? The Tokyo Marathon?

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Now that it’s getting closer to the end of winter and 花見 (“Cherry Blossom Viewing”) season will be here before long, many Japanese brewers have begun selling beers in cans decorated with 桜 (Cherry Blossoms).

Winter beer

Beer brewers in Japan are always offering special beers. One of the most common is season beers for spring, autumn, Cherry Blossom season, and starting at this time of year…winter beer.

Around this time last year, I bought Kirin’s winter beer…and today, I bought a case of Asahi 「冬の贈り物」 (“Winter Gift”) beer.

(Actually a 発泡酒 (low-malt liquor)...but tastes like lager beer to me)

Do beer brewers in your country sell “seasonal beers”? Do brewers outside of Japan sell 発泡酒 (low-malt liquor) that is similar in taste and appearance to lager beer…but cheaper?
Have you ever tried a Japanese 発泡酒 (low-malt liquor)? What do you think of them?

Beer posters

I’m sure that many countries have beer posters and advertisements that feature pretty women.

I remember the Budweiser Beer “Bud Girls” ads in America.

I remember this "Bud Girls" poster from the '80s in America

Budweiser Beer has "Bud Girls" in Japan, too.

It’s interesting to see how advertising changes and evolves over time in a particular culture.
Pre-World War II beer posters are quite fun to look at. They’re so different from more modern advertisements. Sometimes Japanese 居酒屋 (pubs) and restaurants will have some of these old, retro beer posters on their walls. I like it when I go to a place that has them.

Old "Kirin Beer" poster

Another old 「キリンビール」 ("Kirin Beer") poster

Old 「エビスビール」 ("Ebisu Beer") poster

This one says 「サッポロビール」 ("Sapporo Beer") written from right to left.

When I first came to Japan, it was very common to see beer posters in Japan that showed girls in bikinis holding a mug of beer.

Nowadays beer posters with girls in bikinis can still be seen…but it seems to be more of the trend to have the models in the beer posters be more “conservatively dressed”.

Beer poster for 「サッポロ生ビール」 (Sapporo Draft Beer).

Beer posters are interesting, especially how they’ve changed over time…but what really matters is that the beer is cold!

Winter beer

I just got a case of Kirin Beer’s latest beer*.
(*Actually, it’s a 発泡酒 (Happoshu) which is a low-malt beer. These are popular because they avoid the high beer tax in Japan and therefore are cheaper. They taste quite the same as “regular” beer, so I like them.)

This new beer is called 「冬麒麟」 (“Winter Kirin“).

It tastes very good. It has a “mild taste” just as it says in the ad.
This is a temporary beer offered by Kirin Beer for this winter season, so if you’re in Japan, I recommend trying a can or two.

(The Kirin Beer Company is named after a mythological dragon-like creature called 「麒麟」 (Kirin)…not a “giraffe” which is also called “kirin” in Japanese but written 「キリン」.)

Autumn beer

In Japan most of the major beer brewers offer “seasonal” beers ever year. Special beers in specially designed cans of spring, summer, autumn and winter.

It’s just a gimmick to help sell beer, of course. But I don’t mind, I usually like to try them when they come out with a new one every year.

On August 25th, Kirin Beer began selling 「秋味」 ビール (“Autumn Flavor” beer).

As I mentioned in a post last year, Suntory Beer sold their autumn beer (called 「秋生」 (“Autumn Draft”)) on that same date last year (2009 August 25).

The design of the Kirin and Suntory beer cans look quite similar.

Do beer brewers in your country offer seasonal beers like this? Are they popular?

March 23 and 31

If the world famous Japanese movie director Akira Kurosawa were still alive, yesterday would’ve been his 100th birthday.

Akira Kurosawa (1910 March 23 - 1998 Sept 6), R.I.P.

I wrote a post last summer about Hollywood remakes of Japanese movies…and of course it includes some of Kurosawa’s classics (such as “Yojinbou” and “The Seven Samurai“).
(Click here to read that post.)

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It has been announced that all homes in Japan must have a 煙感知器 (smoke detector) in every room by 2010 March 31.

A smoke alarm needs to be in every room.

If you live in Japan, and your house doesn’t have smoke alarms, you can buy them at department stores or electronics stores for about ¥2,500 – ¥3,000 each.
(Even if you don’t live in Japan you should have smoke detectors and a 消火器 (fire extinguisher) in your house.)

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What size beer cans are commonly sold in stores in your country?
What types of places sell beer where you live?
In Japan, beer can be purchased 24 hours a day from convenience stores. It’s also sold in most restaurants (including some fast-food places), supermarkets, etc.

There are even beer vending machines in Japan.

Restaurants usually sell beer in mugs or glasses. Or else they’ll give a 瓶ビール (bottled beer), which is usually 633ml.

Canned beer is usually sold in 350ml or 500ml cans. But other sizes are available too.
Japan has very small 135 ml and 250ml cans, the “regular” 350ml can, the “tall boy” 500ml, and a very big 1,000ml can.

135ml, 250ml, 350ml and 500ml cans of Kirin Beer.

300,000 hits and 1000 beer

I started this blog almost exactly two years ago.
It didn’t get many visitors at first…but the number has steadily climbed.

After eighteen months, my blog got 100,000 hits.

It was only four months from that point to reach 200,000 hits.

But currently this blog gets an average of over 1,500 hits a day. It took only two months to get another hundred-thousand hits. My blog reached 300,000 hits today.

So, thank you to everyone that reads my blog posts, especially those that comment.
Please continue…it’s the feedback that make blogging enjoyable.

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Kirin Beer released 「キリン・サウザン」 (“Kirin 1000 (thousand))“) beer yesterday.

Ad for "Kirin 1000" beer.

Kirin 1000 beer is actually a 「発泡酒」 (low-malt beer) which are much cheaper than “real” beer because there’s no beer tax added to their price.
Some people don’t like 「発泡酒」 (low-malt beer). I don’t know why…they taste good to me. Any type of cold beer (except “lite”, “diet” or “non-alcohol” beers) are good to me. 😉

Kirin 1000 got it’s name because it’s made with “hard water” container 1000 mg of magnesium per liter of water.

I haven’t tried this beer yet. I just bought a case of Suntory 「金麦」 (“Kinmugi”) beer (in the special “spring season” cans decorated with sakura).

Ad for Suntory 「金麦」 beer 2010 spring edition with sakura design.

This beer doesn’t taste any different than it always has…the cans just have a sakura design added to them.
(It’s a good beer at a good price either way).

Anyways, once my case of Suntory is gone, maybe I’ll choose Kirin 1000 next.

Kirin Beer’s 120th

Kirin Beer is 120 years old.

To commemorate, they are selling beer in retro cans in all of their past designs.
The blue can from the 「明治時代」 (Meiji Period), white can from the 「大正時代」 (Taisho Period), gold can from the 「昭和時代」 (Showa Period), and the current silver can from the current 「平成時代」 (Heisei Period).

Of course, I have bought many of the current silver cans. I don’t save those once they’re empty…but I like to save special edition unique beer cans.

I already have the gold 「昭和時代」 (Showa Period) special Kirin Beer can.

I want the other two.

Re-issue special edition "Meiji Period" Kirin Beer can

Re-issue special edition "Taisho Period" Kirin Beer can

How about you? Do you save special-edition or unusual beer cans?

To all the beers I’ve drunk before

I don’t claim to be a beer ソムリエ (sommelier), but I know what I like.

I’m gonna try and make a list here of as many of the different beers I’ve tried that I can remember. And I’m gonna try to rate them (with a rating scale of 1-3 stars (★ ～ ★★★). One star (★) being the lowest, and three (★★★) is the highest).

I also wrote the beer’s country of origin.

The star ratings are simply my personal opinion. Kirin Beer is my favorite. And I think any cold lager is good.

Just so you know where I’m coming from.

• Kirin Lager (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Classic Lager (★★★) – Japan

• Kirin Ichiban (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Strong Seven (★★★) – Japan

• Kirin Tanrei (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Tanei Double (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Tanrei Green Label (★) – Japan
• Kirin Nodogoshi (★★) – Japan
• Kirin Enjuku (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Koku-no-jikan (★★★) – Japan
• Kirin Aki-aji (★★) – Japan

• Budweiser (★★) – America
• Bud Ice (★★) – America
• Bud Dry (★★) – America

• Heineken (★★★) – Netherlands

• Guinness (★) – Ireland

• Hitachino Nest Beer (★★★) – Japan

• Asahi Super Dry (★★★) – Japan
• Asahi Hon-nama Draft (red can) (★★★) – Japan
• Asahi Hon-nama Aqua Blue (blue can) (★ ) – Japan
• Asahi Hon-nama Gold (gold can) (★★★) – Japan
• Asahi Cool Draft (★★★) – Japan

• Orion Draft (★★★) – Japan
• Orion Southern Star (★★★) – Japan

• Suntory The Premium Malts (★★★) – Japan
• Suntory Malts (★★★) – Japan
• Suntory MD Golden Dry (★★★) – Japan
• Suntory The Straight (★★★) – Japan
• Suntory Jyokki-nama (★★) – Japan
• Suntory Gold Brew (★★★) -Japan

• Carlsberg (★★★) – Denmark

• Beck’s (★★★) – Germany

• Yebisu Premium (★★★) – Japan
• Yebisu Premium Full Malt (★★★) – Japan

• Sapporo Draft One (★★) – Japan
• Sapporo Nama Kuro Label (★★★) – Japan

• Satan (★★★) – Belgium

• Singha (★★) – Thailand

• San Miguel (★) – Philipines

• Corona (★★★) – Mexico

• Samuel Adams (★★) – America

• Miller Genuine Draft (★★★) – America

• Kamakura Moon (★★) – Japan

• Coedo Ruri (★★★) – Japan
  

  "Coedo Beer" from Kawagoe (Koedo), Saitama, Japan

I may have tried others that I’ve forgotten. This is all that I can remember off the top of my head.

As you can probably tell by my ratings, I love beer…and I’m not real picky. But I’ve tried Guinness Beer and I didn’t think much of it. やっぱり、I like lager beer.

What do you think of my list? Have you tried any of these beers? Are your impressions different from mine?  What’s your favorite beer? How often do you have a beer? I have a couple with dinner everyday.