Beer News Blog

This weblog is always bringing you important news about beer…we recently revealed that a cattle farmer in England has begun to serve beer to his cattle hoping to create a more “Kobe-style” beef. That and the daily massages, it is hoped, will produce a more tender and higher-priced product. I even connected that with the “Happy Cows” featured in California’s cheese marketing campaign, suggesting they could be even more content with a liberal allowance of beer.

I never though the twain would meet, but they have. Now, in an incredible twist to the bovine-beer connection, an enterprising Japanese brewer has teamed up with a local dairy farmer who has surplus milk on his hands (so to speak) and now includes milk as a principal ingredient in one its beer offerings.

Milk has never figured very large in the Japanese diet, so that may explain the excess milk supply.

Beer, however, has long been important to Japan’s culture. The beer industry and the banking industry have been partners for a long time. Beer and sake are the national beverages of Japan.

So, it’s all too true—the Abashiri Brewery on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido has begun production of “Bilk”, a name not calculated to generate much sales here in the States. It’s hoped Bilk’s flavor (described as “fruity”) will appeal to women. Since one-third of the beer is milk, will Japanese mothers decide it’s OK to give it to their growing children? That’d give it some market penetration potential.

As only 6 stores are offering it and they are all in the same town, it’ll take a trip to Japan taste it.

I’ll see you in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido!

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 29th, 2007 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Lou's Neighborhood Pub. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.