Summer is over, and autumn is kicking off, so let's crack open some new chuhai flavors to celebrate. Three new ones announced over the past week:
- Asahi is releasing Mogitate Apple again this year, as a limited edition flavor, from October 11 until the end of December. They've slightly altered the flavor profile to make it even more fruity apple-y, down to the aftertaste. This one is 9% abv, 350ml/500ml. Some other news from the company is that they are releasing six packs of Mogitate. You'll get one can each flavor in the series: lemon, grapefruit, grape, orange lime, shequasar, and limited edition apple. Unfortunately it won't save you any money though!
- Kirin is doing Hyoketsu Apple Nouveau again this year, like they have almost every year since the flavor's introduction in 2002. It's 4% abv, limited edition, and coming out on October 31.
- From Suntory we have Horoyoi Winter Mikan coming out on November 14. Mikans are a pretty traditional year-end snack in Japan, so this one should go over well as you sit around at with the family over New Years Holidays. 3% abv, so maybe a good morning-after drink.
By the way, if you're interested in the science behind the development of Hyoketsu and Japan's RTD market, I found this super technical PDF of a presentation Kirin gave at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling's 2016 Asia Pacific Conference.
Whiskey Richard is the founder of nomunication.jp, and has been saying he has lived in Japan for ten years for the past four years. He enjoys drinking basically anything except straight-up Campari.