Kinmugi Becomes a Beer: Suntory Changes Its Brewing Method

From “New Genre” to “Beer” After the Liquor Tax Reform

For a long time in Japan, beer-like drinks were divided by liquor tax into three categories: “beer”, with a high proportion of malt; “happoshu” (low-malt sparkling drink), with less malt; and the “new genre” (also called the “third beer”), which also uses ingredients other than malt to keep the tax rate lower still. Suntory’s Kinmugi was launched in 2007 as a new-genre drink and has been enjoyed for about 20 years as an affordable drink that suits the everyday dinner table. With the October 2026 liquor tax reform removing this difference in tax rates, Suntory has switched Kinmugi to a beer recipe. Keiyo Saito, section manager in the Beer and RTD Department, explains that the fact that, in Japan, the beer category has a better image than happoshu also helped drive the decision.

The “Dilemma” of Adding More Malt

To be called beer under Japanese standards, a product must use at least 50% malt. According to chief developer Ikuma Mizuguchi, adding more malt strengthens the savoury depth (umami) of the barley. The challenge, however, was that this flavour lingered too much into the aftertaste. Balancing barley umami with a clean finish was something only possible because the new genre uses less malt, and he says even a slight change in ingredients could upset it. So the team combined “Zeitaku Mugi” malt, a blend of umami malt and domestic Japanese malt, with aroma hops for fragrance and bittering hops for bitterness. These proportions were decided down to 0.1%.

Drawing Out Umami with Decoction and a Three-Stage Temperature Process

The brewing uses the decoction method, familiar from German and Czech lagers. In this method, part of the wort is boiled in a kettle during mashing to draw out the umami and richness of the malt. This is combined with the “Umami Three-Stage Method”, which slowly extracts the barley’s umami at three different temperatures. By finely controlling how much of the components that affect the aftertaste are extracted and broken down, the aim is a crisp finish while preserving the umami. The new Kinmugi and Kinmugi (75% Sugar Off) have been on sale nationwide in Japan since 6 October, and Kinmugi (Hojun), a lager with an even stronger barley umami, since 13 October.

What makes this story interesting for European readers is that a major Japanese brand, prompted by a change in tax rules, has engaged with traditional European brewing techniques. If you come across a Japanese lager in an Asian grocery shop, check the label (beer or happoshu). Comparing it with a decoction lager from the Czech Republic or Bavaria may make the difference in style easier to see: the Japanese ideal of “plenty of umami, yet a light aftertaste”. You could also serve it well chilled with yakitori, fried food or Japanese-style home cooking.