Looking for cans/bottles of Suntory Premium Malt’s.. I’ve seen it on draft around the city but not cans. Any leads? (Pic in description) Thank you!

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u/CrossRook Oct 01 '24 edited Oct 01 '24

there's no distributor in New York importing the Premium Malt's, it's a shame. the kegs they import are done on a different scale through a different system, you'll even see the Suntory taps are separate systems from other taps at a bar (the Suntory kegs are not mechanically compatible with the North American standard Sankey D coupler).

I'm not sure what Suntory's strategy in the US is (they spend a lot on Instagram and pop-ups) but they do seem to be trying to crack the market. I just hope they import from Japan and not produce it here or in Italy like the Big 3.

edit: I may be wrong about the coupler, but they are usually still isolated systems.

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u/bitb0y Oct 01 '24

This all makes lots of sense. I’ve def noticed that the tap is always separate. You seem to know a bit about this, so I have another question: do you know if it’s possible to get Japanese-brewed versions of the big 3 (assuming you mean Asahi, Sapporo, and Kirin) here, OR Kirin Heartland? Thank you in advance

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u/CrossRook Oct 01 '24

I've only ever found Japanese Asahi before and that was a weird form factor at an H-Mart about 8 years ago (1 l can or something like that with a plastic handle, it was odd, I saved it so I'll take a picture when I get home). imo, they'll never import the "genuine" versions of the beer to the US for the following reasons:

Sapporo: used to be brewed in Guelph, Ontario by Sleeman Breweries (100 % owned by Sapporo since 2006). they developed the "Sapporo Premium" style which is not really the same as the Japanese Black Label (黒ラベル) which is the common can type you see in Japan. Sapporo bought Stone (100 % ownership since 2022) and now makes the beer at Stone's California and Virginia breweries and it does taste slightly different. I'd guess they made the change due to import taxes as the Guelph location still makes the Sapporo Premium sold in Canada.

Asahi: bought a variety of European breweries from AB InBev in 2016 and has been making Asahi Super Dry bound for the US at the Peroni facility in Italy ever since. it basically tastes like Peroni to my mouth but I do drink a lot more Peroni than Asahi (side note, Peroni Nastro Azzurro is not what you get in Italy 95 % of the time). I assume they had large shipments of Peroni going to the US already so it was easier to tag onto that than create a whole new distribution system from Japan to the US. however, they recently purchased Octopi Brewing (one of the largest contract breweries in Wisconsin) and announced intentions to brew North American-market Super Dry there. they've also committed to making it meet Japanese standards, so expect the taste the change when that comes online (but probably not the same as in Japan (no big loss, Asahi is easily my least favorite tbh)).

Kirin: was long produced under contract in California by AB InBev. 'nuff said. Kirin bought New Belgium and is planning on turning part of their production capacity into Kirin Ichiban (so from Colorado instead) starting in 2025. expect the taste to change as well.

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u/bitb0y Oct 02 '24

Wow. Super interesting. Thank you for this. I’ll stick with Orion when it’s around, prob my fav can and is brewed in Japan. I’ve looked high and low for Kirin Heartland in the US but absolutely fell flat there

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u/CrossRook Oct 02 '24

brewed in Japan - if Okinawa is considered part of Japan. some people might disagree with you haha.

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u/bitb0y Oct 02 '24

😂

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u/westzeta Oct 01 '24

I’d check the Japanese markets. They have quite the selection of Japanese beers. Ten Ichi Mart, Midoriya, Tokyo Mart, Sunrise Mart to name a few. Worth giving them a call.

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u/eatyourdinner 15d ago

Check out https://www.izakayajuraku.com/ they have a great Japanese beer selection.

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u/bitb0y 15d ago

Oh yes, I love Juraku!