Japanese Beer in Japan

A Japanese colleague told me that I should try Japanese beers when I travelled to Japan. Apparently the taste is different compared to the Japanese beers brewed in Malaysia. 

I was curious at what he meant by "the taste is different", and since my colleague loves to drink, I believed him and decided to give it a try.  

Since I prefer beers that are not too bitter, I made sure I selected the correct ones. Luckily beer cans are labelled in English in Japan!

I had also put in my bucket list for Japan to try at least 3 different types of Japanese craft beer but only managed to try 2 types, one in Tokyo and one in Kyoto: 

Saison by Suntory - this is my favourite beer in Japan because it fits my description of a delicious beer and has a nice flavour to it.

Kyoto beer

Here are the other types of Japanese beers that I had the privilege of tasting:

Asahi 

Kirin Ichiban

Yebisu

All of 'em are more smooth and flavourful compared to the Japanese beers brewed in Malaysia. Now I know what my colleague meant when he said Japanese beer tastes different back in Japan. Maybe it's the water that they use.

Here are the zero alcohol beers that I didn't like because there's no kick:

Ichi

Suntory

Later when I returned to KL, I tried the Azahi Zero and it tasted much better, almost similar to a regular 5% alcohol Asahi.

Just to give you an idea how much beer costs in Japan, here are the prices:

Since we're on the topic of alcohol, I'll end this post with this photo of different types of Japanese alcohol (shochu, sake, yuzushu, etc.) sold in milk cartons in Japan:

A friend asked whether they also have them in smaller packets with straw. I replied that would encourage juvenile drinking.