A beer for kids?

Japan has a different set of expectations and beliefs when it comes to alcohol.
Here, a person can call "drinking " one of their hobbies. (Meaning that they drink, alone, almost every night.) Here, it's perfectly acceptable to get black-out drunk in front of your boss. In fact, it can help you score points with him to do so. Showing up to work hungover is more likely to elicit good natured ribbing than a stern reprimand. To be honest, I don't think that they have the same concept of alcoholism here. The common sentiment seems to be that so long as a person shows up for work in the morning, even if that person had a drink with breakfast, they don't have a problem.

Beer wine, and hard liquor are all easily available at grocery stores and konbini (Convenience stores. Image a gas station that doesn't sell gas.) Beer can still be purchased out of vending machines, although some of them now require legal ID.

With that speck of background I would like to introduce a product that Caleb and I stumbled upon:

THE KIDDIE BEER.

We found this in the candy section of the local grocery store. The name roughly translates to "Cheeky beverage". It was supposed to be "cider" flavored, and no, it wasn't alcoholic.


It came with a little plastic beer mug that you filled up to a line.

Afterward you poured in the powder.

The powder made so much foam, it overflowed onto the table.


I'm not sure what kind of taste we were expecting, but what we got was... well
It was sickly sweet. It didn't taste anything like beer, or cider.
It did look impressively like beer though.