Beans for Malt

Japanese beer giant Asahi is expecting to increase sales of their lower malt beers. As you know, the traditional recipe for beer is malted barley, hops, water and yeast. Throughout history other ingredients, universally called adjuncts, have found their way into the mix.

The reasons for adding adjuncts are various. In the most pleasing of cases it is to add flavor. Fruit, spices, unusual grains and sugars like honey can all contribute to a more complex and flavorful beer. In other cases adjuncts are added to increase or maintain alcohol without adding to the flavor profile. The best known beer with this sort of adjunct is Anheuser-Busch Inbev's Budweiser. A significant portion of the grain bill for this brew is rice which adds fermentable sugar while adding very little flavor resulting in an incredibly light beer with the same alcohol as beers with more flavor.

But perhaps the most depressing reason to use adjuncts is Asahi's.

The Japanese beer tax is based on the amount of malt that goes into the brew. This is one of three ways that beer has historically been taxed. The other two are based on original gravity and the final product. Taxing malt and the original gravity can severely affect brewers' recipes as they look for ways to cut costs and remain competitive. In the UK the recipe for stout was radically altered during the Victorian era as brewers dealt with the original gravity tax.

In this case Asahi is looking to other sources of sugar such as corn or beans (Beans?!? Yes, beans) in order to produce cheaper beer. Their customers are feeling the effects of the bad economy and Asahi is responding by looking for ways to reduce the amount of malt and therefore the bottom line.