There are various theories, but after all, we get excited to hear about “low-carb” “low-calories” “sugar-free” products.
Due to the recent health fad in Japan, beer lovers have struggled with sugar contains and calories in beer and want to drink a lot but are not comfortable drinking sugar.
Meanwhile, beer companies also have been struggled with the sales amount of beers has been decreasing due to the popularity of “whiskey high-ball” or “Shochu cocktails” which are known as low-carb, major beer companies launched producing low-carb beer to get back beer sales and also support beer lovers’ bothers.
Law-carb beer that you can drink without worrying about sugar contains is called “a new category” in the beer market not only for girls and divas but also for health geeks.
Especially while staying in Japan, you may want to control calories because of Japanese great food (means lots of carbohydrate food).
Isn’t it a great news if you can drink without calculating calories???
Moreover, it is the great opportunity that people who can’t drink any or much can enjoy parties with non-alcoholic beers.
Japanese Nutrition Facts Note
First of all, I am telling you how to look “Nutrition Facts” on Japanese alcoholic beverages.
Sometimes, companies over-advertise their products especially for “Low-carb”, “Non-Calorie”, “Sugar-Free”, and it gets you confused when you can’t understand Japanese.
Nutrition Facts
When you look Japanese Japanese canned beer, you can see “Nutrition Facts” on each can.
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| エネルギー | Calories |
| タンパク質 | protein |
| 脂質 | Fat |
| 炭水化物 | Carbohydrate |
| 糖質 | Sugar |
| 食物繊維 | Dietary Fiber |
| ナトリウム | Sodium |
Sugar Contains Note
According to current Japanese law, the label license of “Sugar-Free” and “Sugar-Zero” can be applied only to products under the following conditions.
•Sugar-Free beverages: Those with a sugar content of 2.5 g or less per 100 ml of beverage
•Sugar-Zero beverages…Those with less than 0.5g of sugar per 100ml of beverage
Since general canned beer contains about 3.1 g sugar per 100 ml. It is important to carefully check the values to make sure that the amount of sugar is less.
Purine-Content Indication
I am not sure when people started caring about the health concerning “Purine”, in Japan, anyway, you can see “Purine-content indication” of Japanese canned beer.
What’s Purine???
“Purine” is a natural ingredient found in all foods such as grains, meat, fish, and vegetables, and is mainly an umami ingredient.
It is also produced and composed by the human body.
It Can Cause Gout Attack???
Normally, purines are decomposed and converted into uric acid, which is excreted outside the body. However, when uric acid exceeds the excretion capacity and accumulates in the body, it is said to cause a gout attack.
The amount of purine in beer is not so large compared with distilled liquor, but it is concerning for people who drink alcohol every day are at high risk of gout.
Understand Zero, Zero, Zero
So Japanese labeling makes you confusing you if you don’t understand Japanese. Sometimes too much Zero.
For example, this is “Asahi Dry Zero Free”, the non-alcoholic beer-taste beverage sold by Asahi Breweries.
Do you see many “Zero”s on the can???
It says,
| カロリー０ | Zero Calorie |
| 糖質０ | Zero Sugar Contains |
| プリン体０ | Zero Purine Contains |
| 人工甘味料０ | Artificial Sweeteners Free |
| アルコール０％ | Alcohol-Free |
How To Say Non-Alcoholic Drinks In Japanese
Asahi; Dry Zero Free
As a non-alcoholic beer released by Asahi Breweries, “Dry Zero Free” achieves various zeros such as zero sugar, zero purine contains and zero calories.
A very clear, dry and refreshing taste recognized by many beer lovers.
| g/100ml | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 0 kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrate | 0.4 – 1.5 |
| Sugar Contains | 0 |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.4 – 1.5 |
| Sodium | 0.01 – 0.05 |
| Purines | 0 mg |
| AVB | 0.00% |
Source; Asahi Breweries
Kirin; Perfect Free
Kirin Perfect Free, a non-alcoholic beer-taste beverage manufactured by Kirin Corporation, is said to have the effect of suppressing the absorption of fat and sugar by the action of the indigestible dextrin contained in this product.
You can still feel as if you are drinking a full-fledged beer although it contains alcoholic-free.
The hint of lime-like flavor.
| g/100m | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 0 – 0.7 kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Fat | 5.6 |
| Carbohydrate | 2.2 |
| Sugar Contains | 0 |
| Dietary Fiber | 5.6 |
| Sodium | 0 -10 mg |
| Purines | 0 mg |
| AVB | 0.00% |
Source; Kirin Corporation
Asahi; Dry Zero
Aiming for “the taste closest to full-fledged beer” as non-alcoholic beer-taste beverages, “Asahi Dry Zero” is achieved the top sales on the non-alcoholic beer taste beverage market according to Asahi Breweries official homepage.
You can enjoy the beer-like refreshing texture and “creamy foam”, and goes well with any kinds of meals.
| g/100m | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 0 kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrate | 0.4 – 1.4 |
| Sugar Contains | 0 |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.4 – 1.4 |
| Sodium | 0.04 |
| Purines | 0 – 1.0 mg |
| AVB | 0.00% |
Source; Asahi Breweries
Asahi; Style Free
“Style Free” is the first Happou Shu as “a Sugar-free” beer in Japan. It is a sugar-free, artificial sweeteners-free Happou Shu (Law-Malt) sold by Asahi.
It is a light taste, so it’s suitable for people who want drinks but doesn’t like rich beer taste.
| g/100m | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 24 kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrate | 0.1– 0.7 |
| Sugar Contains | 0 |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.1– 0.7 |
| Sodium | 0 – 0.03 |
| Purines | 3.1 mg |
| AVB | 4% |
Source; Asahi Breweries
Suntory; All-Free
This is a non-alcoholic beer-taste beverage with zero-sugar, non-carb, purines-free, and zero calories. The great thing about “All-free” is its rich taste.
To achieve the refreshing taste of authentic beer, 100% malt is used, and it is made in the same process as beer.
It was used to the top sales of non-alcoholic beer from 2011 to 2015 until “Asahi Dry Zero” jumped to the top instead of “All-Free”.
However, “All-free” won several prises on beer competitions worldwide, and also most people say “it is like an authentic beer” on Suntory’s survey.
| g/100m | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 0 kcal |
| Protein | 0 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrate | 0.4 – 1.5 |
| Sugar Contains | 0 |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.0 – 0.1 |
| Sodium | 0.01 – 0.02 |
| Purines | 0 mg |
| AVB | 0.00% |
Source; Suntory Corporation
Kirin; Green Label
“Green Label” has been popular as low-sugar contains beer since its release in 2002.
The perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness, and you can enjoy the scent of hops reminiscent of grapefruit extracted by Kirin’s original method.
It contains a little sugar (reduced 70% of sugar compared with Kirin regular products), but no fats, artificial sweeteners, or caramel pigments.
| g/100ml | |
|---|---|
| Calories | 28 kcal |
| Protein | 0.1 |
| Fat | 0 |
| Carbohydrate | 0.5 – 1.2 |
| Sugar Contains | 0.5 – 1.1 |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 – 0.1 |
| Sodium | 0 |
| Purines | 2.0 mg |
| AVB | 4.5% |
Source; Kirin Corporation
At Last…
There are more low cal, low-sugar beer-taste beverages in Japan, first of all, if you already have the favorite Japanese beer brand, try the same company’s products first.
So you can find easily the favorite low cal, low-carb beer or alcohol-free beer.
For example, I prefer Kirin products because they keep beer rich taste.
Asahi products are for beer lovers who like the dry and light taste.
Suntory products put values of carefully selected ingredients.
Also, non-alcoholic beer can be enjoyed casually by women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or drivers.
However, it’s always important to be careful of how much beer you actually consume!!!
If you care about alcoholic calories, want to care about healthy nibbles right?
Other popular Japanese alcohol with low-carb.
