Asahi has changed the recipe for its flagship Super Dry, promoting the new version as a better food pairing beer. CNA Luxury visits the beermaker’s brewery in Japan to find out more.
After 36 years, Japanese beverage maker Asahi has updated the recipe for its Asahi Super Dry beer. First launched in Japan in 1987, Super Dry, with its crisp, dry profile, was a huge success, turning the lager into Asahi’s flagship product.
“It has been 36 years since Super Dry was launched. We felt it was time to make the brand more modern,” said Yusuke Matsuhashi, manager of Asahi’s beer marketing department, adding that it took four years for the R&D team to develop the recipe for the new Super Dry, which was launched in Japan last year.
CNA Luxury found the taste of the new Super Dry to be subtly different from the original version — it’s basically still your easy-drinking Super Dry 1.0, which should please longtime drinkers of the beer. The touted enhanced finish is discernible if you are familiar with the beer; it is taut and refreshing with an effervescence that fades quickly on your palate.
Asahi is promoting the new Super Dry as a food pairing beer that works beyond its typical role as a quaff to wash down oily and grilled food. Kubota said the new beer is delicate enough to match withwhile Matsuhashi added that he enjoys pairing it with hatahata, a mild-tasting Japanese sandfish from Akita Prefecture, as well as sashimi.
The slightly cleaner finish of the new beer certainly made food pairing easier, but we’d avoid matching it with anything overly sweet or creamy.At Tenshima, tempura meets kaiseki in a generously proportioned meal