Alcoholic beverages in Japan

Okay, i'm going to take you to Japan today and and introduce some of their special alcoholic beverages.

Drinking in japan definitely plays an important role in their society. Drinking parties ties and strengthens their business and social lives together.

1) Happoshu - which is also known as "sparkling alcohol", it is a recent invention by the Japanese brewing companies,basically same taste with beer but less malt, resulting in a lighter taste.

2) Third beer - also called "Shin Janru" or the "New Genre". It is the newest development in the industry. It contains no malt, but instead, it uses soya, pea, and wheat spirits.

3) Rice Wine - it is usually known as "sake" outside of Japan. This kind of alcohol is brewed using rice, water and koji mold as the main ingredients. Its alcohol content is about 10-20%. Another thing is that It can be drunk either hot or cold.

4) Shochu - it is a distilled spirit with a rather high alcohol content, usually 20-40%. It is made from sweet potatoes, rice, wheat, or sugar cane. Shochu is often served mixed with water and ice, fruit juice and sparkling, or oolong tea.

5) Chuhai - it is a kind of fruit-flavoured alcoholic drinks with an alcohol content not over than 8 percent. It usually comes with lemon, ume, peach, grapefruit, lime, mandarin orange and some seasonal flavours as well.

6) Plum wine (a.k.a. umeshu) - Basically it is made out of Japanese plums, sugar and shohu. It is sweet, fruity, juice-like flavour appeals to those who dislike other alcoholic beverages. It can be made at home and is served mixed with soda.

Posted by Christopher Wan