Third beer is an intriguing and new kind of beer being brewed in Japan today. Third Beer is a category of beer, which uses vagarious malt substitutes such as vegetable protein as a raw ingredient in manufacture. These new beers are mostly a product of the Japanese beer tax, which increases dramatically with the amount of malt content in the ingredients. As a result, a whole slew of beers are flooding the market, some with less than 25% malt content. But is this Third beer any good?
The term third beer is a direct reflection of the three malt categories of the Japanese beer tax system. The highest tax category is beer made with 67% or more malt content, as measured by weight of the fermentable ingredients (that would be first beer). Beers with the next level of malt content are considered low malt beers: 50 to 67%, 25 to 50%, and less than 25% – all of these are considered happoshu, or “second beer. Third beer is a beer-like beverage that contains no malt content at all.
Third beers are the result of the biggest beer companies in Japan trying to find loopholes in the beer tax laws. Sapporo, the leader in third beer innovations, spent nearly 4 years experimenting with different malt substitutes. After attaining unsatisfactory results from millet and corn, Sapporo decided on pea protein for its beverage Draft One, which appeared on the market in 2004. Part of the marketing strategy of the third beer seems similar to Smirnoff Ice. The goal is to appeal to adults that have been raised on sweet tasting sodas, and to whom the bitterness of beer is unwanted.
Instead of malt, Sapporo’s Draft One contains sugar and pea protein, in addition to yeast and hops. Advertisements boast that this beer has less carbs and more fiber. Third beer is also becoming a venue for “healthier beer” as an advertising slogan. After Draft One’s initial success in 2004, Sapporo immediately began to put forth other varieties of third beer such as their “Slims” brand. Other beer companies in Japan have jumped on the third beer bandwagon, putting out their own varieties on the theme.
Ki-rin launched their Third Beer product in 2005, Nodogoshi Nama. Their variety is made with soybean protein, and has also been financially successful, with pre-orders topping 1.6 million cases. Part of the success of the Ki-rin Brewery’s product is the “browning” technique employed to give their third beer the characteristic golden brown hue of actual beer.
Asahi is another Japanese beer company that has entered the Third Beer market. Already going strong in the Happoshu, or second beer market, Asahi’s version of Third Beer, Shin Nama, is based on a malt substitution of soy peptide.
So far, the third beer market in Japan has found little in the way of improvements that actually make any of this third beer taste better than regular beer, at least to the palate of most beer fans. The goal has been predominantly a financial one on the part of the beer companies. Never the less, bold innovations in the field of brewing have been the direct result of these financial and industrial tax evasions. Who would have ever thought that beer would some day be made of soy or pea protein? Third beer is not available for export, but, if you go to Japan, you can get it from a vending machine.
