What if you can drink a beer with perfectly creamy foam on top right at home? 

Asahi Breweries has made that dream come true. The new product is called “Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Kan”, which means Asahi Super Dry in the style of draft beer in a mug. 

The 340ml (11.5oz) cans, with 5% alcohol at $2, were quickly sold out right after it was released on April 4 at convenience stores and on April 20 at supermarkets nationwide in Japan. The production of the special can has been backed up and the company had to suspend the sales of the new product from April 23 until June 15. The subsequent releases are scheduled for July 13, August 3 and September 7. 

Here is why the product is so popular: pull the tab and the entire head of the can comes off. Fine foam immediately develops as if the beer was just poured from a tap. Don’t transfer the beer into a glass so that you can keep the perfect froth intact. You can drink the beer directly from the can since its edge is specifically designed to prevent any injuries. 

According to Asahi, the fully opened top, instead of the tiny mouth of the pull tab, increases the quantity of aroma going into your nose as well as the liquid flowing into your mouth, both of which enrich the tasting experience. 

The uniquely engineered coating inside the can makes the foam finer and creamier than regular beer.  “The new can is the polar opposite of the standard cans. If a regular can generates foam when you open it, it a defective,” says Aiko Shima, Communication Representative at Asahi. The uneven surface imitates the bottom of the high-quality champagne flute, which is intentionally etched by lasers to create delicate bubbles.

“The subtle difference of beer’s temperature inside the can dramatically changes the quality of the foam. We made dozens of prototypes for the can to achieve consistent results at a wide range of temperature, such as in the door shelf and in front of the cooling air vent of the fridge.”  

The Japanese beer market has been dominated by the four major players for decades: Asahi and Kirin are the distant top two, followed by Suntory and Sapporo. Asahi is known for Asahi Super Dry, which was introduced to the market in 1987 and became the company's flagship brand for its crisp, dry taste. Inside the Nama Jokki Kan is also the signature Super Dry. 

The company started developing Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Kan four years ago in response to consumers’ enthusiastic requests. The release of the product became timely to meet the increased demand for at-home beer consumption due to the pandemic. According to the Japanese government data, the beer consumption of households with two or more individuals increased by 6% in 2020 from the previous year and by 3.6% in the case of single households. 

Asahi is not planning to expand the production of Asahi Super Dry Nama Jokki Kan at this moment.