gaijin-in-japan wrote:
> Asahi Super dry is actually real beer, whereas the crap I was drinking
> was happoshu which is less than 25% malt yet 5% alcohol.

ASD is a real beer. So though are many happoshu - they have a bad
reputation in this country because most happoshu in Japan are brewed
for the tax dodge. Many quite good brews are actually happoshu - take
for example Hoegaarden White. Unmalted wheat, malted barley, coriander,
orange peel - its anything but beer, more chemistry than brewing, but
not too shabby all the same.
http://www.zigzag.cc/english/hoegaarden.html

The particular happoshu you were drinking is definitely shit though. No
class at all.

> And yes, Dan, I had 5 and then switched to shochu. I never get a
> hangover with shochu but I did have the haze with the "beer."

You can get a decent hangover with anything if you drink enough of it.
Some additives make the hangovers more painful for some, so a "pure
beer" such as the ones brewed by Otaru Beer in Hokkaido tend to develop
a reputation for not causing hangovers.