Beer and Bean Pretz

Beer and beans go hand in hand in Japan. In bean season (spring) you can’t go to an izakaya (bar/restaurant) without having eidamame (spring beans) thrust upon you along with your nama beeru (fresh beer). It’s no burden however, because chilled half-boiled lightly salted beans go very well with beer, the one complementing the other.

So why not make snacks that equally complement each other, available not only in the spring, but year round? Or at least for as long as the product life-cycle in Japan’s fast-paced novelty foods market.

With that in mind, Glico brings us Beer Pretz (els)-

And Mame (Bean) Pretz (els)-

I extracted the products from their respective bags-

The Beer Pretz tasted distinctly like BBQ chicken, and it was at that point I realized I’d been misled, they were actually Spicy Chicken flavored Pretz, not beer. What a pity.

The Bean Pretz however were most definitely bean flavored, or at least intended to be, though of course they tasted nothing like beans. They were green though, so bonus points for that.

I noticed from the packaging that there are also natto (rotten congealed bean) Pretz, sharkfin Pretz, banned whalemeat Pretz, and ground Tiger penis Pretz, all of them also based on delicacies available in any izakaya worth its salt. Glico says- ‘try them all!’ I’ll look out for them when I’m next in the conveni, though I suspect I’ll have to request them specially from the conveni worker, who doubtless keeps them under the counter alongside the used school-girl knickers, fresh blow-fish sushi, and porn magazines without the rude bits scratched out.

If you like this post- check out other zany snacks and drinks in the snacks/drinks gallery.

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