Japan: Kirin hopes to increase its market share through a new 7 pct alcohol beer

Japan’s Kirin Breweries on August 26 unveiled a new type of beer with 7 percent alcohol content – higher than most beers – in a bid to gain a bigger share of the market, Mainichi Japan posted on August 27.

The company announced that it will begin selling its "Strong Seven" third-category beer on Oct. 22. Over the past few years demand has been increasing for light-tasting beer with low alcohol content, but Kirin decided to develop a new genre targeting male beer drinkers aged from their 30s to 50s.

The price of the new beverage will be set around 141 yen for a 350ml can, and 197 yen for a 500ml can.

The regular alcohol content for beer is 5 percent, but over the past few years, beer manufacturers have been selling third-category beer and low-malt beer with an alcohol content of 3 to 4 percent to attract young people and women as customers. However, this year Kirin and Suntory had hits with high alcohol-content shochu liquor-based drinks, and Kirin decided to boost its share with low-priced, high-alcohol third-category beer.

28 August, 2008