Wacky Japanese Beers Inspire Sedate American Revulsion

“Kirin is selling 12 cocktails featuring its Ichiban Shibori beer leavened with mixers like pineapple, grapefruit or tomato juice, as well as cassis or lemon liqueur. The company calls them Ichiban Shibori Two-Tone Drafts, for the layers of color created in the glass before the beer and mixer are stirred. Even more unusual is Ichiban Shibori Frozen Draft, which is beer topped with frozen foam dispensed like soft-serve ice cream from a special tap. Asahi’s new offering combines premium Asahi Super Dry beer and Calpis, a syrupy Japanese concoction inspired by a fermented-milk drink from Inner Mongolia and known in the U.S. as Calpico.”