Happōshu

Happoshu (Japanese: 発泡酒, Hepburn: happōshu; lit. 'sparkling alcoholic beverage'), or low-malt beer, is a tax category of Japanese liquor that most often refers to a beer-like beverage with less than 67% malt content. The alcoholic beverage is popular among consumers for having a lower tax than beverages that the nation's law classifies as "beer" (ビール, bīru). Although the happoshu label is most frequently found on low-malt beer or beer-like products, alcopops that contain malt are also categorized as happoshu.