The Best Japanese Beers to Drink Right Now

American beer has influenced the world—but now, Japanese beer is starting to return the favor.  

Over the past half-decade, a handful of big Japanese brewing companies have made major investments in North America, starting with Sapporo’s purchase of San Francisco’s historic Anchor Brewing Company in 2017. Two years later, Kirin bought Colorado’s New Belgium, followed by Bell’s Brewery in Michigan in 2021. Sapporo fired back by buying another California legend, Stone, in 2022. Then, at the start of this year, Asahi announced its plans to purchase Octopi, a large but mostly under-the-radar Wisconsin brewery that contract-brews beer for several leading craft brands. Asahi initially plans to make at least 700,000 cases per year at Octopi, though additional investments are possible, the company noted. 

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So, what do all these moves mean? You’re much more likely to see beers from Japan’s big producers in wide distribution across the U.S. and Canada. And it’s not just big brands from Japan that are turning heads on this side of the Pacific: A number of the country’s craft brewers have also earned dedicated fans in North America, thanks to their embrace of special techniques, unusual ingredients and often charmingly quirky label art. 

This versatility is what makes the island nation’s beer scene so appealing, says Ry Beville, a lecturer in Japanese literature at U.C. Berkeley and publisher of the bilingual magazine Japan Beer Times.  

“Japanese craft brewers make excellent examples of classic styles, from pilsners to IPAs, but most consumers outside of Japan probably look forward to drinking Japanese craft beers that incorporate native ingredients,” he says. Those unusual local flavors can come from things like sushi rice and yuzu fruit, as well as time in barrels that were used to make shoyu, a.k.a soy sauce, and Japanese whisky. 

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Other producers are taking inspiration from another Japanese beverage: sake. Joe Stange, managing editor of Craft Beer & Brewing magazine, recently returned from a tasting trip in Japan. One standout, he says, was a rice saison from Osaka’s Craft Beer Base, where that brewery’s take on Belgium’s traditional farmhouse ale style was fermented with koji (i.e. Aspergillus oryzae) the mold that is used to make both sake and soy sauce. “The result was crisp, brightly herbal, almost minty, bitterish and dry, reminding me somehow of cool grass, as well as cool sake,” he says. “I loved it.” 

While that beer might be limited to Japan, at least for now, it showcases the unusual processes and ingredients that are available to Japanese brewers, many of whom are now shipping cans and bottles to our side of the Pacific. Those beers seem to be finding an audience: Google searches for “Japanese beer” recently hit a high they hadn’t seen since the end of 2005. Imports of Japanese beer to the U.S. grew by 14.8% from 2021 to 2022, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the most recent year for which it offers data. 

With those new shipments coming our way, there’s never been a better time to learn more about Japanese beer firsthand. So, which ones should you drink today? Check out the best Japanese beer curated by experts. 

FAQs  

Is Sapporo Beer Japanese?  

Yes—mostly. Sapporo is one of the oldest breweries in Japan, founded in the city of the same name on the northern island of Hokkaido in 1876. Since then, however, the brewery has expanded massively. Today, it owns multiple production facilities, including some in the U.S. and Canada, which make most of the Sapporo beer that is sold in North America. As such, the Sapporo you’re sipping might not be Japanese in the sense of it having been exported from Japan, but it is made by a Japanese company with very deep roots in the Japanese brewing tradition.  

How Do You Say “Beer” in Japanese?  

Derived either from the English word “beer” or the German word “bier,” the most common Japanese word for a fermented, malt-based beverage is written “ビール” and pronounced “bi-ru.” Try to say “beetroot” without pronouncing the Ts and you’re pretty much there. 

What Is Japan’s Most Popular Beer?  

By volume, the current best-selling beer in Japan is Asahi Super Dry.  

How Is Japanese Beer Different? 

That depends on the type of beer. For mass-market, so-called “pilsner” pale lagers, the frequent use of rice means that most Japanese beer is less heavy and more “dry” on the palate than beers from elsewhere. 

However, Japan is also home to happoshu, an unusual category of not-quite beers. Literally meaning “sparkling alcoholic beverage,” happoshu includes beverages with less than 67% barley malt, sometimes with very little malt at all, which puts them in a different tax category. They generally offer beer-like flavors at slightly lower price points. 

Does Japanese Beer Taste Like American Beer? 

Generally, yes. In many styles, Japanese beer is just a little bit lighter in body and crisper on the finish, compared to similar versions from U.S. producers. But when it comes to craft beers, the use of local ingredients and equipment—from sweet potatoes to koji—can bring truly unique flavors to each glass. 

Published: March 22, 2024