Strong Dry 9% Alcohol
9% alcohol, 98 yen, and designed by someone who hates taste.
Cheap tinny? ¥98. Check. ✅
Boring-ass design? Double check.✅✅
Ladies and gentlemen, whoever designed the packaging for this deserves minus 10 out of 10. It’s silver, has some circles on it, a few rectangles and genuinely looks like my first drawing in MS Paint.
Except worse.
There’s no tiptoeing around this one: it’s FUGGLLEEEEEEE, with the visual appeal of a soggy biscuit. Actually, that’s giving it FAR too much credit.
So what have we got? A 9% chuhai, essentially a vodka-based alcoholic mix with lime, lemon, grapefruit, sea quazar or something, and whatever else they’ve decided to throw in there. Presumably there’s some fruit involved somewhere, although I wouldn’t put money on the makers of this having ever met a grapefruit. They’d probably call it Maurine and insist she works in accounting.
Still, 9% alcohol. Let’s GOOOO!
I poured it over ice and, visually, there’s not much happening. It looks like fizzy water. Which, frankly, was probably the last good thing I was about to experience.
THE TASTE
EXTREMELY UNPLEASANT.
Why did I do this to myself?
Ever wondered what dirty old carbonated water tastes like?
THIS. RIGHT HERE, RICHARD GERE.
It’s harsh, unpleasant and tastes like toilet cleaner with a vague ambition to become a beverage. I genuinely struggled to finish the can, which is impressive considering it cost less than ¥100.
And that’s the problem with cheap alcohol: at some point, cheap stops being good value and starts being a punishment.
THE VERDICT
TASTE: 0/5
VALUE: 2/5
BAD DECISION: 5/5
BDJ SCORE: 1/5
If your only objective is to get 9% alcohol into your bloodstream and make yourself question your life choices, Strong Dry has you covered.
If you’d actually like to enjoy your drink, go and get some Wiz instead.
Christ.
STRONG DRY – ¥98-ish at CAINZ. Prices may vary by store. No matter the price, it STILL wouldn’t be worth it.
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