Asahi's canned 'draft beer' gains popularity among beer lovers

A consumer holds Asahi Super Dry Draft Can products at a GS25 convenience store in Seoul on May 1. Courtesy of GS25

By Kim Jae-heun

Retailers are going all out to get their hands on Asahi's new super dry draft canned beer, imported by Lotte Asashi Liquor, as they have quickly run out of stock due to high consumer demand since its launch on May 1, according to industry officials, Sunday.

The new offering is the world's first canned beer that, when opened, produces a fine foam that tastes just like a tap-poured draft beer.

“Asahi Super Dry Draft Can was already popular among local beer lovers, even before its launch in Korea. The product went viral on social media in Japan at first and many Koreans have waited long to taste it here,” a 33-year-old office worker surnamed Han said.

Lotte Asashi Liquor launched a limited quantity of Asahi Super Dry Draft Can in Korea on the first day of this month. It instantly grabbed the attention of local consumers and went viral on social media as it did in Japan.

Retailers are competing against one another to secure as much supply volume as they can to meet soaring consumer demand.

“Asahi Super Dry Draft Can has three unique characteristics. First, we designed the whole top part of the container to open. Second, the soft foam naturally sparkles as the beer product is opened. Third, we made it taste like a real draft beer based on our four years of research since 2017. We believe all these strengths have played their parts in attracting beer lovers' attention,” a Lotte Asahi Liquor official said.

Asahi Super Dry Draft Can product launched by Lotte Asahi Liquor / Lotte Asahi Liquor

At the chain convenience store, CU, the beer ranked top in sales in the imported beer category for three days from May 1 to 3.

Another chain convenience store, GS25, made an unprecedentedly large initial order of 500,000 cans of Asahi Super Dry Draft Can, and 80 percent of it has already been sold.

“The Japanese beer product is sold out at many of our convenience stores across the country,” a GS Retail official said. GS Retail is an operator of GS25.

Emart24 has already put a limit on its convenience stores to place only one box of the Japanese beer product's order per day in its stores as many of them are rushing to make more orders. Asahi Super Dry Draft Can is also their best-selling imported beer currently.

Lotte Asahi Liquor is expected to increase the local supply of the popular beer after it officially launches the product in July.