First you Pushu!! Then you Pita!! Then you Awa Awa!!

So, during my recent trip to Japan, we were visiting the gift shop at the Suntory Beer Brewery, when I saw this little thing:




BEER SMOOTHER II? What the heck is a BEER SMOOTHER?

Well, apparently it's a gadget that will ensure your canned beer is even smoother and tastier than if you pour it without it. The inside of the er.. spout is supposedly made with a special sort of clay that will make your beer even smoother. Ok, THIS I had to see.



So, being a sucker for this sort of thing, I decided to buy one back, just for the heck of it.

The one I got is apparently the Beer Smoother II. Makes me wonder what the first version of it was like...

Anyway, I only got around to trying it out when I got back (nope, didn't get to use it during the Great Japanese Beer Pyramid session). I was wondering what sort of beer I should use it on, when I figured that since Japanese beers tend to be mostly lagers anyway, I'll just try it on a lager.



Yeah, it kinda looks like some sex toy, doesn't it?

Anyway, off I went to get two cans of Cap X lagers (ok fine, it was Carlsberg Gold) to try the Beer Smoother on.

Now, I wasn't really sure how to use it at first, but the instructions in the back of the box had some nicely illustrated guides, so I decided to follow them:



So... following the instructions, I was supposed to PUSHU!! the tab on the can.

So, first you PUSHU!!



After that, I had to PITA!! the beer smoother on the can.

Now... PITA!!



And finally, with the glass tilted at an angle, I had to AWA AWA!! the beer into the glass.

AWA AWA!! WHEEE!



I only poured one of the beers using the device, since I also needed to compare the beer with. And suprisingly, the head WAS smoother, and the beer WAS slightly smoother than the one that didn't use the can. Not by much though, which makes me wonder why go through all the trouble of making such a device when the differences don't seem to be very significant.

Then I figured, maybe it's the beer... so I went out and got a can of Suntory The Premium Malt's (hey, I bought the thing from Suntory, makes sense to use their beer to test the thingy right?), and tried the same thing again. AAAAND... Well, maybe it's just me, but there really wasn't much significance between the one poured with the Beer Smoother and the one without.

In the end, I really didn't get the point of the Beer Smoother. Yes, it apparently makes the beer "smoother", but when it's just a lager, I don't really care about the "smoothness" of the beer. If it's smooth beer, it's a smooth beer, and I'm guessing that no Beer Smoother is going to make an Anchor or a Skol any smoother (or easier to drink).

Oh well, at least it was fun PUSHU-ing, PITA-ing and AWA-AWA-ing...

-----------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE (5/12/2012):

I decided to write about this in the regular column, so together with Fireangel, we tried it out again, just to be sure of the result. One glass of Suntory without the Beer Smoother, and one with. And what do you know, the difference WAS actually quite distinct. The one that was "smoothed" was well, smoother, and creamier. It didn't have as sharp a tang as the other one. Then we tried it with a Guinness FES, and though the taste didn't really differ much, the FOAM was excellent when the beer was pour through the Beer Smoother, almost Guinness Draught quality.

So there you have it, the Beer Smoother actually works!