The Bigger the Mug, the Better
2026-09-16
By Ryuji Takahashi
Some people say that large beer mugs are a bad idea because the drink gets warm or the ice melts and waters it down. But the simple answer is to finish drinking it before it gets warm or diluted. If you cannot do that, then you should simply use a smaller mug. On the other hand, for people who can drink a lot, a large mug is by far the better value. Today, the quality control of sake has improved so much that there is no longer the same need to worry about storage temperatures as there was in the past. Even so, more and more breweries now offer a wider selection in 720ml bottles than in the better-value 1,800ml bottles. Many breweries even bottle their seasonal sake exclusively in 720ml bottles. Generally speaking, the larger the package, the better the value—not only for sake, but also for food and everyday household products. Yet fewer people are buying sake in 1,800ml bottles, and as a result, breweries are gradually reducing the number of products they offer in that size. Even though prices have been rising across the board due to inflation, fewer consumers are buying the better-value 1,800ml bottles of sake. This is despite the fact that more convenience stores and supermarkets now offer delivery services than ever before. The main reasons given are that it takes too long to finish the bottle, the flavor may change, it does not fit in the refrigerator, or it is simply too heavy to carry. In recent years, fewer convenience stores and supermarkets have continued to stock 1,800ml bottles of sake. Curiously, however, many of these same stores still sell 2-liter and 4-liter plastic bottles of kōrui shochu. Somehow, those large bottles remain on the shelves. In the end, there are still plenty of people who buy 4-liter bottles of shochu because they offer better value. But if those same people are unwilling to buy approximately 2 liters of sake—even though the total weight, including the bottle, is only about 3 kilograms—it makes one wonder whether the real issue is simply that sake is no longer in demand. Perhaps reasons such as “it is too heavy to carry” or “I cannot finish it before the quality changes” are, in the end, nothing more than excuses for not buying sake. It may even be that the sake industry itself has elevated sake too much. By emphasizing ideas such as “every drop of sake is as precious as a drop of blood,” promoting sake as Japan’s national drink, and placing titles such as “Sake Brewery Master” at the forefront, the industry may have gone too far in presenting sake as an exceptionally delicate and sophisticated beverage. Perhaps if sake were the kind of drink that no one would object to selling in plastic bottles, larger-volume containers would still be selling well today. After all, people would not normally place a large container directly on the dining table. They would simply transfer the sake into a katakuchi or a tokkuri before serving it. If that is the case, then the charm of a small glass bottle becomes irrelevant. If you want to chill the sake in the refrigerator or pour it from a glass bottle, all you have to do is transfer it from the plastic bottle into a glass bottle yourself. As the price of sake continues to rise across the board, perhaps it is time to provide the atmosphere yourself and enjoy the better value of buying sake in larger volumes.
酒のジョッキは大きければ大きい程良い
大ジョッキは酒がぬるくなるとか、氷が溶けて薄くなるなどと言う人がいるが、ぬるくなる前に薄くなる前に飲んでしまえば良いだけのことで、それが出来ない人は小さいジョッキを使えば良いし、グビグビ飲める人は大ジョッキが断然お得である。今は日本酒の品質管理が良くなり、昔ほど酒の管理温度を気にしなくて良くなったのにも関わらず、お得な1升瓶よりも4合瓶の種類が多い酒蔵が増えてきた。季節の酒は4合瓶しか瓶詰めしませんという酒蔵も多い。内容量が多ければ多いほど、お得になるのは酒に限らず食品でも日用品でも同じはずなのだが、1升瓶で酒を買う人が減っているので、酒蔵も段々と1升瓶の種類を減らしているのである。物価高騰で色々な物の値段が上がっているにも関わらず、お得な1升瓶買いは減っている。最近はコンビニやスーパーもデリバリーを実施する業態が増えてきたにも関わらずである。なかなか飲み切れないとか、味が変わってしまうとか冷蔵庫に入らないだとか、運ぶのが重いとかが主な理由である。最近はコンビニやスーパーマーケットで1升瓶を売っている店は少なくなってきた。しかし、なぜか2リットルや4リットルのペットボトルの甲類焼酎は売っていたりするのである。結局、4リットル焼酎はお得だから買う人はいるのだけれど、約2リットル日本酒（瓶の重さを入れると約3キロ）は買わないとなると、これはただ単に日本酒が求められていないのではないかと考えてしまう。運ぶのが重いとか、飲み切れないなどは、あくまでも日本酒を買わない言い訳に過ぎないのではないだろうか。これは業界自体が、日本酒を持ち上げすぎたのかもしれない。酒の一滴は血の一滴とか、国酒とか、杜氏を前面に打ち出して緻密で繊細な飲み物とした打ち出しをやりすぎたのではないだろうか。もしかしたら、ペットボトルで販売しても誰も何も言わないような酒ならば、今も大容量の方が売れていたかもしれない。そして大容量の容器を、そのまま食卓に乗せることはせず、それこそ片口や徳利に移して食卓で飲むはずなので、そこに少容量のガラス瓶の風情とかは関係無くなる。冷蔵庫で冷やしたいとか、ガラス瓶から注いで飲みたければ、自分でガラス瓶にペットボトルから移し替えれば良いだけである。酒の値段も軒並み上昇しているので、風情は自分で用意するとして、気軽にお得に大容量の日本酒を買ってみてはどうだろうか。
