Aeon, JAL and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank upcycle Oita's kabosu peel into a craft ale, the second in a regional series
Aeon has teamed up with Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and two smaller partners to turn the peel left over from pressing Oita's kabosu citrus into a craft ale, sold from October across Aeon, Maxvalu and Tokiha Industries stores in Oita and at Aeon's Fukuoka store — the second release in a regional-upcycling series that began with a Wakayama mikan ale.
Aeon, Japan Airlines, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, kabosu grower Hamano Kakoen and craft brewer Beer the First will begin selling Oita Prefecture Kabosu Craft Ale from October 12, the companies said in a joint release. The 350ml can uses both the juice and the peel of kabosu, the citrus fruit for which Oita is Japan's largest producing region.
The peel is the point: kabosu juice production leaves peel as a byproduct that is hard to use in volume, and the companies said the drink was built specifically to put roughly 2% of it, by brewing weight, to work as a flavouring ingredient rather than waste. It is the second release in a joint upcycling series that began in January with a craft ale made from Wakayama's Arita mikan, and it will sell for ¥398 (¥437.80 with tax), at 5% alcohol.
Five partners, one role each
Each partner has a defined role, according to the release: Aeon leads overall and product planning plus sales, with Aeon Kyushu handling the Kyushu rollout; JAL contributes to product planning and promotes the product alongside Oita's tourism appeal; Hamano Kakoen supplies the juice and peel; Beer the First handles product development and brewing; and Mitsubishi UFJ Bank led the overall project and coordination, having first raised the idea with Hamano Kakoen while discussing regional revitalisation with Oita Prefecture through the bank's separate work on the prefecture's space industry.
Sales begin at Aeon and Maxvalu stores and Tokiha Industries outlets in Oita, plus Aeon's Fukuoka store, before what the companies called a planned expansion to supermarkets across Kyushu and nationally. The can's design references Beppu's hot-spring 'hells' and tower, Oita's ambition to develop a spaceport, the prefecture's mascot Mejiron and the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System recognition held by the Kunisaki Peninsula and Usa area.
For Aeon, the series is a low-cost way to put its name on regional storytelling without the capital a new store or distribution line would take — a can does the work a tenant floor usually does, tying a prefecture's identity to a shelf-price product. Pairing a retailer with a bank, an airline and a small local producer also spreads a niche product's marketing cost across four brands rather than one, which is likely the more replicable part of the model.