Japanese brewers will release a record lineup of canned cocktails this summer as fizzy concoctions come to the fore in efforts to offset a decade of declining beer sales.
Brewers such as Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. have long tried to retain drinkers by making cheaper beerlike beverages. But changing tastes among Japan's youth have seen near-beer giving up fridge space to highballs, white-wine spritzers and pineapple-flavored rum cocktails.
These so-called ready-to-drink cocktails, like the cheapest beerlike drinks, fall into a low-tax category of Japan's complex liquor tax regime and can be priced far less than traditional tipples.