Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Asahi 9 pm

It seems that "night" and "adult" are themes for marketing products for late in 2010. I think this is because early in the year tends to be a focal point for selling things to young folks as they study and gear up for taking entrance tests. This is the reason why so many KitKats are released in the first part of the year and so few at this point in time. KitKats are mainly seen as something for kids or as special souvenirs.

This is my second "evening" themed food to review. Asahi recommends that you enjoy an "adult themed soda". That doesn't mean that you tipple from a beverage composed of gladiator sweat with a rich pheromone-based blend that only someone who has made it beyond puberty can appreciate the nuances of. It means you should kick back and enjoy this calorie-free drink after dinner or a bath. Yeah, I like the gladiator sweat idea better.

I first saw this beverage at AM/PM for 147 yen ($1.76), but being an incredibly cheap person, I waited for it to show up in my local Lawson's 100 for 100 yen ($1.20) for a 500 ml. bottle. It was sitting next to the Asahi Ultra Fiber Vitamin C that I tried before.

The advertising for this says that it includes orange and curacao. Curacao is a liqueur flavored with a citrus peel. It's also supposed to smell like vanilla and oak. To me, it smelled very faintly of orange and tasted like weakly carbonated club soda with a twist of orange. There is a little hint of bitterness, but not enough to put off someone who isn't incredibly sensitive to bitter flavors.

This is marketed as a soft drink, but there's really not much to it. If you like club soda with a bit of ever so slightly bitter orange, then this will fill the bill. The flavor is light and there is almost no sweetness to it (despite having artificial sweeteners). I think this would be best used as a mixer for alcoholic drinks or to mix with juice. It's not bad, and I'd buy it if I needed a bottle of water and this was the same price and I wasn't in the mood for plain water. The chances that I'll buy it again though, are exceptionally low.

2 comments:

Ikkin-bot said...

I think you should market gladiator sweat . . .

Orchid64 said...

I would if I could find a gladiator. ;-)