Asahi Breweries Pushing Fast-Cooling Kegs in the U.S. - Beverage World

Asahi Breweries Pushing Fast-Cooling Kegs in the U.S. - Beverage World: "Asahi Breweries Pushing Fast-Cooling Kegs in the U.S.
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 09:29

Tokyo - Japan's Asahi Breweries Ltd. has begun to tap the urban eateries market in the U.S. for rapid-cooling kegs of its Super Dry brand of beer.

Beer kegs typically need to be chilled in a refrigerator before use, but Asahi has developed a keg server that uses ice-cold water to cool the beer instantly.

This setup allows even small establishments with no space for a keg refrigeration room to serve beer on tap. Small restaurants that currently only serve beer in bottles and cans will be able to add a fresh brew to the menu.

Asahi is already testing the business in Los Angeles and San Francisco and plans to start sales in New York this month. By 2012, the company hopes to have 150 shops signed up for its Super Dry kegs.

Marketing will be targeted at smaller pubs and clubs, steering clear of establishments that already offer multiple beers on tap. One focus will be Japanese restaurants, which tend to carry only one choice of beer.

With beer sales down in Japan, Asahi is working to position Super Dry as a strategic global product. Its goal is to double volume sales of Super Dry in foreign markets over the next three years, expanding the scale of overseas sales to reach some 10 percent of the current domestic tally.

(C) 2010 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd."


This is a good idea. Not sure it is as innovative as claimed, but definitely something in a different direction.