Posts Tagged ‘beer’

Beer Can Pouring Perfection

A Japanese news program introduces a new product that helps people pour canned beer:

It’s Beer Hour, a handy beer server created by the Takara Tomy. By attaching the device to a can of beer, one can achieve the perfect balance of beer and head when pouring into a glass.

There is a switch on the side of the device that turns on a spinning mixer. When the switch is off, normal beer will come out. When the switch is on, you’ll get foam.

The device is available at Amazon.co.jp for 2,800 yen.

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• Dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

ANA Offers In-flight Draft Beer Service

ANA today announced that it is the world’s first carrier to offer draft beer keg service on board. From 20JUL10, draft beer keg service is available on domestic routes.

From 20JUL10, service operates on following routes will offer draft beer keg service:

Tokyo Haneda – Fukuoka (after 1700LT)
Tokyo Haneda – Sapporo Chitose (after 1700LT)
Tokyo Haneda – Okinawa
Osaka Itami – Okinawa
Osaka Kansai – Okinawa
Nagoya – Okinawa
Fukuoka – Okinawa

Each costs 1000 Yen, only 20 cups available per flight, except Tokyo – Okinawa with flight operated by 777/747 service offering 40 cups. – Airline Route

Up until now, problems with air pressure prevented airlines from serving draft beer on airplanes. To make its new service possible, new beer keg technology was supposedly developed.

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)

Getting drunk at the Tsingtao Beer Festival

Japan’s NTV news travels to Tsingtao (Qingdao) to report China’s biggest beer festival and discuss how Japanese beer companies are trying to enter the Chinese market:

• Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
• dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
• Kirainet.com – A geek in Japan (Subscribe)

American woman drinks beer on Japanese TV

Wendy, an American living in Hachioji, was featured on ATV last night for her amaziing beer drinking ability:

Asahi to sell more imported beer

Good news for European beer fans:

Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan’s top- selling beermaker, will expand its alliance with Belgium’s InBev NV, importing more brands from the world’s biggest brewer by sales.

Asahi will import a further six brands to Japan, including Stella Artois and Hoegaarden, the Tokyo-based company said in an e-mailed statement today.

The two companies may consider the joint procurement of raw materials, such as malt and hops, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier, without saying where it obtained the information. Asahi also hopes to boost sales of its main Super Dry brand by using InBev’s breweries overseas, the report said.

AstroBeer!

Once again, Japan is on the cutting edge of beer technology. I remember being astonished back during my time studying abroad in Tokyo when my host brother (a marketing executive for Asahi Breweries) explained that Asahi was synthesizing beer from soybeans. Crazy. It wound up tasting…well, bad, in all honesty. But I’m all for pushing the limits of our current brewery capabilities. Sapporo Breweries Ltd. has stepped up to the plate this time around.

TOKYO (AFP) – A Japanese brewery Tuesday said it was planning the first “space beer,” using offspring of barley once stored at the International Space Station.

Researchers said the project was part of efforts to prepare for a future in which humans spend extended periods of time in space — and might like a cold beer after a space walk.

AFP via Yahoo! News

Ah, yes. Drunken astronauts – something which, I think we can all agree, would be worth realizing one day in spite of the plausible tax hikes to pay for the disasters it might cause. Excellent. This dystopia wonderful future is still a long way off, though, considering that the barley to be used is the third generation descended from some that spent a mere five months in orbit at the International Space Station.

Sapporo and Okayama University have grown seeds from barley used for the outer space tests and now expect to harvest 40 to 50 kilograms of barley descending from plants grown in outer space.

In a bid to stir interest in outer space, Sapporo said it plans to produce some 630 liters of beer and some 100 liters of tea, and provide opportunity for some consumers to drink the “space beer” and “space barley tea.”

“If production of barley and other agricultural products in outer space is demonstrated, it may mean that humans could stay in outer space longer while being self-sufficient in foods,” Manabu Sugimoto, an associate professor at Okayama University, said at a news conference.

AP via Breitbart

I can hardly wait until astrobeer is old hat and we’re dealing with space moonshine. Maybe it’ll be ready by the time Astroboy comes of drinking age.

Hat tip: Taro at 3 Yen
(subscription required for Nikkei / WSJ source article)

Also fun: Space yeast in New Mexico beer last year… (Wired Blog)