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It was a sad day for beer lovers across Japan on Jan 8, when Sapporo Breweries put the lid on an exclusive new brew release just four days before it was due to go on sale.
According to the company, the new beer, called Kaitakushi Beer Tailored, used the same traditional manufacturing methods as Japan’s first beer factory, Kaitakushi Brewery, founded in Sapporo, Hokkaido, in 1897, and was set to be sold exclusively at FamilyMart convenience stores around the country on Jan 12.
However, the beer’s release was pulled from sale before even making it to stores, and the problem wasn’t connected to the beer itself but the cans they were packaged in, as they were found to contain a spelling mistake on the label.
▼ The cans had “Lagar” instead of “Lager” printed on them.
Sapporo decided this was an error that warranted cancellation of the new release, issuing a statement of apology that read: “Due to incorrect spelling found in a section of the Kaitakushi Beer Tailored product design, we have decided to discontinue sales. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to customers.”
However, customers were quick to let the company know on social media that they didn’t care about the spelling error – they just wanted to taste the beer they’d been waiting so long for. Others expressed concerns about unnecessary wastage, wondering what would happen to the product, given that it was likely to be canned and ready to go out to stores by the time the mistake was discovered.
As it turns out, Sapporo and Family Mart were carefully listening to their customers, as the companies sent out the following statement today: “On Jan 13, we cancelled the decision to suspend sales and would like to inform you that the product will now go on sale on Feb 2. We would like to thank you for your warm opinions and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to so many customers due to the policy change.”
They also explained the reason for the decision to go ahead with the launch, albeit now slightly delayed, saying: “We announced on Jan 8 that we would cancel sales due to a spelling error in a part of the design on this product. However, following the announcement, people voiced concerns about what would happen to the product and a large number of people expressed their desire for it to go on sale. Therefore, after careful consideration by both companies [Sapporo and FamilyMart] we took the opinions of our customers seriously and decided to revoke the decision to cancel sales.”
Both companies made it clear that the cans would be going on sale with the incorrectly spelt “Lagar” printed on them, while reminding customers that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality or ingredients of the beer inside the cans.
Needless to say, customers were thrilled with the announcement, peppering Twitter with celebratory emojis and comments like:
“Thank you, Sapporo! I’d been looking forward to this so I’m thrilled!”
“No need to apologize–these cans will become rare collectors’ items!”
“I don’t usually drink beer but I’ll be making an exception for this one!”
“I’m so glad the beer isn’t being wasted! I’ll definitely be buying them!”
“A happy result for everyone involved! Cheers to Sapporo!”
With so many businesses, and customers, doing it tough these days during the pandemic, it really is nice to see this story of a beer in limbo wrap up with a happy ending. With all the attention surrounding the new beer, it’s likely to become one of Sapporo’s quickest-selling limited-edition releases, though, so keep your eyes peeled for it at your nearest FamilyMart from Feb 2, where it will be available in 350-milliliter and 500-milliliter cans for 219 yen and 286 yen respectively.
Source: Sapporo Beer, Family Mart
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- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2021/01/14/sapporo-decides-to-sell-new-japanese-beer-with-english-mistake-on-label/
33 Comments
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kurisupisu
I’m Japan, English labeling never has any meaning.In the case of beer, the important thing is what is inside the can
Mr Kipling
And in doing so got free advertising on JT and many other outlets.
Great marketing by Sapporo.
Bernard Marx
Good to see decades of English education in Japan has paid off!
gaijintraveller
An English spelling mistake is not news. This is news because they noticed the mistake and are going to correct it.
Haaa Nemui
The article says they are not going to correct the mistake and the cans with the mistake are still going on sale from February 2.
Mickelicious
Why should we expect a blonde beer brewery to know how to spell something as obscure as 'lager?'
commanteer
It's a silly mistake... but how many brewers in other countries can write lager in Japanese?
albaleo
That which we call a lager,
By any other word would smell as sweet.
Chico3
I don't care if there are mistakes on the label. As long as the beer is good. That's good enough for me.
Alongfortheride
Unopened these can with the mistake on them will be collector items in the future
Ken Holcomb
Sapporo is my beer of choice, so I will be buying a case of this special offering, spelling error be damned.
And to those educational elites who commented on the error as a slam on the educational system here, I invite you to spend 15 minutes browsing any social media platform in your home country. Then come back and talk about how "decades" of teaching in your native language is working out back home.
Brooks Slaybaugh
I recommend Sapporo's beer brewed in Shizuoka. Draught beer is very smooth.
Brian Wheway
After a few cans of this beer at 6% the writing is going to be a bit blured any way! I think the brewery should send out some free sample cans, does any one agree? ( medicle research of course )
Asakaze
Big deal! Near my JR station there is an Italian restaurant which offers "flesh" pizza. After that "fresh" pizza sounds so boring!
serendipitous1
My favorite was a Caesarian Salad on a menu in an Italian restaurant in Kawasaki (and it's not even a spelling mistake!)
Charlie Sommers
Incorrect spellings don't just happen to the Japanese. When I was stationed at Yokota AB as an air traffic controller back in the 1960s the AF printed a proficiency manual with the printed name "proficeincy manual" on the cover.
YuriOtani
The product is what is important not the label.
bo
Nice, another new word to play with :)
starpunk
Mistakes (and sometimes mispelling pranks) can and do occur. In 1993 in a Sunday paper there was a review written about a free concert by Aaron Neville at a local food fest. It stated that his songs were a rich stew of various styles and genres - soul, calypso, rock'n'roll, reggae, salsa, tex-mex, and a certain dirty word that stood out! It was supposed to be 'FUNK' but there was 'C' where the 'N' should've been!
starpunk
Language translations and spellings can be confusing at best. Have you ever seen how some rock groups use the German umlaut in their names and rarely get it right?
Motörhead has it right. 'Motör' is German for 'motor' and it's pronounced as 'motor'.
Blue Öyster Cult has it wrong. The 'Ö' is pronouced as 'oe' but here we say 'Blue Oyster Cult' and the spelling is incorrect.
Mötley Crüe is grossly inaccurate here. The 'ö' and 'ü' are horribly out of focus, and the second word in the band name is a total mess. Yet it's pronounced as 'Motley Crew'. Look at the band, that's four glam metal rockers - not what I'd call a 'motley crew'. Now the Village People, that's a 'motley crew'! LOL
Luddite
Oh come on, this poor English is everywhere, why should Sapporo be any different. No one checks with an English speaker, on the rare occasions they do and mistakes are found they just ignore the English speaker. I can guarantee that if an English speaking country used incorrect Japanese it would be on the 7 o’clock news here.
SandyBeachHeaven
@expat. Not true about the Katakana. It would be rageru in romaji for the Katakana.
Personlly I am ok with both spelingsz as I cannnot spell anyting
commanteer
Sorry to break it to you, but ラガー (raga) is correct and brings back 20 million search results. Nobody spells it ラゲル.
Desert Tortoise
I have some mundane Japan market 100 volt appliances and their data tags have their information printed in a mixture of Japanese and English characters. I have also noticed that the appliances that are made in Japan say so in Japanese characters while those made in China say "Made in China" in English.
Desert Tortoise
Good for Sapporo ! Wasting good beer would be alcohol abuse ^_^