The most popular beer in each country atop the Tokyo Olympics Medal Count list
What's on tap—where you are?
(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
It's one of the most common elements in sports culture, from the NFL to English Premier League to even the Olympics—proud fans celebrating after one of their athletes or teams wins by raising a beer to the occasion. Cheers! Salute! Kanpai! Budmo! Santé! Tom Brady! And so on. And while we don't see such phenomena play out in real time during the Summer Games, we took at look at the current 2020 Tokyo Medal Count leaderboard and glimpses of the commonality progressed in our minds to another question. Wonder what kind of beer is (most likely) in their glass? Here's what we found out...
China: Snow Beer
(Photo credit should read GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)
China's largest brewery (Snow Breweries) also has the most popular beer—a lager that has been compared to a Bud Light-like taste.
Japan: Asahi Super Dry
(Photo by Budrul Chukrut / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Those celebrating in the 2020 Olympics host country might grab Asahi Super Dry, which is a Japanese rice lager.
United States: Guinness
(Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images for Diageo Beer Company USA)
Hoo boy—let the debate(s) begin! While Americans have certainly expanded the collective beer menu and knowledgeable taste over the past decade—thanks mainly to the flux of craft breweries—the tried and true malty goodness of a Guinness is still winning out...overall... per the stats...when it comes to the most popular beer.
ROC: Baltika No. 3
(Photo by Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Folks in Russia most likely reach for Baltika No. 3 when saluting the ROC. (The image is a Baltika No. 7.) The No. 3 iteration is a light lager, again like a Bud Light, that has "3" ingredients: malt, hops, water.
Australia: Victoria Bitter
(Photo credit should read WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
Those expecting Australians to reach for a Foster's aren't that far off—the iconic Victoria Bitter is part of the Foster's umbrella (Carlton & United Breweries). Fun fact about this brew: To save millions on excise tax, the brew makers cut the alcohol percentage per volume from 4.9 percent to 4.8 percent. Per the company, the taste would remain the same.
Great Britain: Carling
(Photo by Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Film buffs might remember this as the brew Donald "Boon" Schoenstein ordered (seven of them) in "National Lampoon's Animal House." Like most beer conversations, however, some of the U.K. brew enthusiasts don't think all that highly of the tangy lager. But it's still a popular option that sits atop sales lists across the area's pubs.
South Korea: Hite
(Photo credit should read JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images)
One of the best-selling beers in the world, Hite has a similar vibe to Budweiser (also a rice-brewed beer).
France: Kronenbourg "1664"
(Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for the 2019 Nantucket Film Festival )
Kronenbourg "1664" makes a few country's top 10 lists, and if you've ever given it a try, it's easy to understand the ranking. Though it's a lager, the lighter, lemony taste is less bitter than the style's typical signature—this on account of the Strisselspalt hops, which are unique to the region where it is brewed.
Netherlands: Heineken
(Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for 2018 Tribeca Film Festival)
The Dutch have a ton of beer choices. Still, even longstanding history can't compete with mainstream economics—the dark, heavier beers, which make up much of the Dutch brew timeline, don't work as well for sports watching or just hanging out and having 15 of something throughout the day/night. Enter Heineken, with its green bottle—an aesthetic choice simply for conveying "higher-end." The lighter lager has attracted a crowd that has grown worldwide.
New Zealand: Speight's Gold Medal Ale
(Kai Schwörer/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
New Zealand fans pass on the popular lagers and go for an ale—in this case, one that uses ingredients that have been around for over a century. True to form, the dark ale hits on the sweeter side with things like caramel, while the bitterness is still there from the hops.
Germany: Beck's
(Christoph Hardt/Geisler-Fotopres/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)
This was an interesting discovery. And we still think that the German beer crowd could fill an extensive list that would defiantly skip Beck's, with a comprehensive list of reasons why. But the most popular German beer in the world is doing something right, so even if it gets a head tilt here and there, this Pilsner gets ordered a lot more times in Germany than it is skipped.
Canada: Budweiser
(Photo by Yichuan Cao/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
No Molson. Not even something from St.Bernardus Brouwerij. When it comes to the most popular choice, Budweiser is the go-to in Canada. The King of Beers? (The can does match the flag.)
Switzerland: *Trappistes Rochefort 10
(Photo credit should read GEORGES GOBET/AFP via Getty Images)
Searching for the most popular brew in Switzerland came with some discretionary antics. While the Trappistes Rochefort 10 (pictured) is widely considered one of the best libations you can try in the country—like most offerings from Rochefort—the fact that No. 10 is an 11.3% ABV made us wonder just how "popular" it really is. More to the point, this doesn't strike us as something you'd want to, or could, drink over an entire Belinda Bencic tennis match. Not if you still want to see the lines by the second set. It turns out, the more consistent "sports watching-type beer" is the Calanda Lager.
Czech Republic: Pilsner Urquell
(Photo by Mateusz Slodkowski / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
Pilsner Urquell has become another beer that lands on many international lists, and it remains the top choice for Czech Republic sports fans looking for a malty brew they can enjoy throughout a sporting event.
Croatia: Ožujsko
(CTK via AP Images)
Another lager lands on the list, Ožujsko hits with spiciness as well as malty sweetness you'd find in the classic Czech-style iterations.
Italy: Nastro Azzurro/Red
(AP Photo)
It's a Peroni-heavy list in Italy. One might go for the lighter Nastro Azzurro —which means "Blue Ribbon"—or the bitter and maltier option in the Peroni Red. Either way, Cin cin! More Olympics lists: The U.S. athletes with the most gold medals in Summer Olympics history. Incredible underwater images from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics swimming events.
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