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Many in Japan are used to the varieties of colas and beer that spring up, seemingly every year. Now JapanTrends reports on liquor store Yamaya‘s new entry, one that perhaps trumps all others: the Gugutto. It is in fact an import from a Korean manufacturer but you can’t argue with the price: just 85 yen!

Of course, as the consumer insight site reveals, this isn’t real beer. It’s daisan biiru, an ersatz beer, which is designed to get around taxes levied against beer by including almost no actual malt. The new Gugutto is also non-alcoholic, which allows the makers to market it as the beer you drink when you want to drive.

The trend towards ever-cheaper beer is the result f a tighter market and a host of rivals. Not only had beer been getting cheaper but the varieties have been multiplying. The marketing for these beers now not only focus on pricing, but also their low fat ingredients and (if they are non-alcoholic) how they allow you still to go about your other activities. They have ever more ridiculous names and ever more cute girls to help you make your mind up. Known to many foreign residents in Japan as a good chain store to pick up import wine, Yamaya ishoping to sell 2.4 million cans of Gugutto Non-Alcohol annually.