business

Sapporo Beer doubles sales target for non-alcohol beer

18 Comments

Sapporo Breweries has doubled the sales target for its non-alcohol beer Premium Alcohol Free, aiming at a total sale of 1.2 million cases for the current fiscal year.

The company released Premium Alcohol Free on March 16, five days after the Tohoku earthquake, and initially set their sales objective at 600,000 cases due to an expected stagnant market. As a consequence of the earthquake, the company had to temporarily stop production of several products, including the popular Ebisu beer, as their factories in northeastern Japan had suffered major damage.

However, the brewery that produces Premium Alcohol Free was located in Oita Prefecture and was not affected by the quake. Sales have been increasing over the last two months, already reaching half of the initial objectives as of this month. Looking forward to the beer season, Sapporo has increased production of the non-alcohol beer in its Tochigi plant as well.

© Compiled from news reports

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18 Comments
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They actually call is near beer and it may be nearer than you think because even non-alcohol beer does contain a small amount of alcohol. If you're wanting to remain sober, you should avoid the temptation because some research indicates that the smell might be enough to trigger cravings and a subsequent relapse did occur among certain alcoholics. Both alcohol and the anticipation of alcohol can raise the levels of the brain chemical dopamine, which plays a role in feelings of elation and pleasure. In a laboratory experiment, rats were trained to self-administer alcohol or a bitter, white substance called quinine when they smelled either orange or banana. The smell of banana was used when the rats consumed alcohol, while the smell of orange was presented to them when the rats tasted quinine. Hence, this study was cited as an important step in the possible development of medications that might prevent relapse and perhaps provide a reliable tool that allows the scientists to investigate brain mechanism and neurochemical systems so that they can embark on a more educated approach to find effective medications.

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But what are the reasons behind the surge in sales of non-alcoholic beers? Hard to believe most people would substitute non-alcohol for alcohol.

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Hard to believe most people would substitute non-alcohol for alcohol.

Lots of Japanese people are alcohol-intolerant. Add to that the fact that drink-drive laws are very strict.

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i will never, ever, ever drink non-alcoholic beer. what a waste of money!

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So you get to experience all the bad taste of drinking alcohol without any of the wonderous benifits.

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novenachama,

I am pretty sure anyone wanting to get OFF booze that non-alchol beer is a stupid idea, this isnt why the stuff was invented!

Me, I buy some during the summer months for when it hot & after some yard work want a beer but want to still be able to do other things, save the normal brews for evening once stuff is done & I am staying put!

There are a few good European non-alchol brews that are way way better tasting than all the fake & non-beer poison that has been coming out the last 8yrs or so, will try this Sapporo but it had so be good tasting & cheaper then pop otherwise I will stick to the German non-alcohol stuff which is fine stuff!

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Me, I buy some during the summer months for when it hot & after some yard work want a beer but want to still be able to do other things, save the normal brews for evening once stuff is done & I am staying put!

But if you are going to drink calories, why not drink something yummy like apple juice?

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haha its not like I ONLY drink beer, I have a little shochu & scotch on occassion I will have you know haha

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But what are the reasons behind the surge in sales of non-alcoholic beers? Hard to believe most people would substitute non-alcohol for alcohol.

Doctor Stoppage?!

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What a waste of money. Near beer doesn't taste anywhere near as good as beer does. If you don't want any alcohol, lots of things would do better than this stuff.

As far as the surge in non-alcohol beers goes, it seems to me that there was a car accident like 4 or 5 years ago where a drunk driver rear ended a car and it went off a bridge and some kids died. After that, it seemed like everyone in Japan's thinking all changed at the same time,, like a school of fish, and massive peer pressure to not drink and drive became the norm. Before that not so much. I don't know if the laws changed or not, but people's thinking did with that event. I've had a few people tell me that you aren't safe to drive after drinking one beer until 24 hours has passed. And there is no legal blood alcohol limit at all when driving. I think they are going overboard a bit, personally.

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As far as the surge in non-alcohol beers goes, it seems to me that there was a car accident like 4 or 5 years ago where a drunk driver rear ended a car and it went off a bridge and some kids died. After that, it seemed like everyone in Japan's thinking all changed at the same time,, like a school of fish, and massive peer pressure to not drink and drive became the norm.

And thank goodness!

its getting better but I still see many cars swerving around on the roads where I live(semi inaka) & the ramen joint near my place where I WALK to have a couple once in a while at night almost every car that leaves the driver has been drinking, its better but still pretty bad as far as I can see

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Premium Alcohol Free is not beer. There's no alcohol in it. Beer has to have at least 4.5% alcohol.

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The stuff is cheap, because it's not taxed. If you have to drink something and don't want carbonated soft drinks or coffee-milk beverages, it's not a bad choice. I get German stuff for just 88 yen a can and find it quite tasty.

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Just get a Coke already! Leave the beer to us professional alcoholics!

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But there aren't enough North Americans in Japan to reach that sales target.

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By the way, if you wanna know which factory your Sap beer is coming from...

The codes on the cans:

TA:群馬県内の協力工場

MF:静岡県駿東郡にある委託工場 MH:長野県の工場 H:大分県日田工場

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Has this stuff gotten any better in taste? Happoshu gives me a massive headache, and the 0.0000000% stuff tastes, well, like a ginormous 0 in my mouth.

Also, drinking non-alcohol beer is kind of like eating a vegetarian hotdog. If you are craving a hot dog, it is most likely for the taste, so why try and fake it? And if you are a vegan craving a hot dog, that says something...

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