Since Sapporo uses European hops, should it really be considered as a Japanese beer?!
Answers: If a brewery in Chicago used hops from Japan would you consider it to be American? Shouldn't the origin of the beer be considered as more important than where it is brewed? Is it true that Budweiser uses hops from Bavaria? Should Bud be considered German?
Sapporo in the U.S. and Canada is brewed in Ontario Canada.
Only in Japan is it actually Japanese, but since Japan had no beer style of it's own it's more of a German Style beer since that's who the Japanese learned how to make beer from. Many beers from China are German style too since Germany had a colony there early on.
Until the End of WW2 Sapporo, Asahi, and Yebisu were one big brewing company anyway, and didn't get broken up until the Zaibatsu were outlawed post-occupation.
In contrast, a Thai beer like SingHa is more of an English style because they had dealings with the British Empire and learned beer making from them.
So the company is Japanese
The beer is Canadian
and the style is German
Either way it's a nice beer. You should go to Sapporo Japan and check out the beer park they got.
no. The beer is brewed in the us with our rescipes.
Beer making originated from Germany. However, beer is an international drink now. They take beer making from germany and trys to make it better or follow thier own philosophy about it. Sake is a Japanese drink. It's made out of rice and California make a lot of them. Can you say it's a California drink? Same goes for Vodka, Gin, Scotch and so on. It's orgin of the method that determines the drink, not the location.
I think it is where it is brewed and where the recipe comes from is how the origin of the beer should be labeled.
And if your shorts were made of silk from India but made in the U.S., would you say you have Indian boxers purchased in Cleveland? Or your car parts manufactured in Mexico but assembled in America, would that make your car an illegal alien vehicle? Don't think so.
Remember even beers like Michelob use hops from Bavaria. And a lot of brewers yeast strains could be traced back to the "old countries". Put it in perspective, the coconut you use, or the banana you use to bake a pie didn't come from the U.S. Is the pie you made "foreign"? Scotch whisky is aged in old bourbon barrels, does that make it part American?
The term to use is "style". A beer made in japan is a Japanese beer. Even if it tastes like a Corona. So, you would refer to it as a Mexican-style, Japanese made beer no matter the origins of it's ingredients. Belgium beers are really big in the states now. Even if all the ingredients come from Belgium they can only be called Belgium Styles Ales. Make Any Sense???