Photo/Illutration Akiyoshi Sugitani of Konishi Brewing Co., left, and Katsuhiko Hara of Seiwa Industrial Corp. at a stadium in Kobe (Junichi Takitsubo)

ITAMI, Hyogo Prefecture--A sake brewer and a steel products manufacturer spent eight years perfecting their dual-temperature beer faucet. They now face the task of selling the concept of “hot suds” to Japanese consumers.

The beer dispenser developed by Konishi Brewing Co., which has a 470-year history, and Seiwa Industrial Corp., a stainless steel products maker, both based here, serves beer both cold and hot.

Households in Germany and Belgium reportedly consume glasses of hot beer, particularly when people catch colds or are unable to sleep. The beer’s temperature is kept at 50 to 60 degrees by warming the brew in pots or putting the bottles in hot water.

Shintaro Konishi, 67, president of Konishi Brewing, hopes to cement the European practice in Japan by providing a hot tipple to help people warm up on cold winter days.

The company has been importing Belgian beer for 30 years while brewing Japanese sake.

Konishi knew that hot beer is consumed in Europe, but he thought a dedicated dispenser would be needed to maintain a frothy head of foam as well as carbonation to meet the tastes of Japanese consumers.

He asked Seiwa Industrial to develop the hot beer server after learning about its erosion-resistant stainless steel processing technology in 2012.

A dispenser was completed the following year based on water heater technology. Immediately before serving, it heated sweet and fragrant fruit beer from Belgium kept at normal temperatures.

But restaurants reacted coolly to a promotional campaign, with some saying they could not introduce equipment that could be used only during winter. Others said they would consider installing the tap only after hot beer proves a hit.

So the two companies decided to pitch their brainchild mainly to operators of stalls and kitchen-equipped vans for use at outdoor events.

But they continued to improve the invention.

Katsuhiko Hara, 44, president of Seiwa Industrial, was involved in the project since he was sales promotion division chief. He visited a food industry fair in Germany four years ago and gained confidence because no dedicated hot beer servers could be found there.

“We are creating a product that has never existed in the world,” Hara recalled thinking at the time.

On returning to Japan, Hara and his colleagues reduced the dispenser’s size and added features to provide both cold and hot drinks throughout the year.

After obtaining an alcohol-sales license in December, Seiwa Industrial started selling beer along with the server. It also rents the beer tap to businesses that buy a certain amount of fruit beer imported by Konishi Brewing.

Kayo Takauchi, 33, a company employee from Higashi-Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, who tried hot beer at a rugby match in Kobe in February, explained the benefits of the tipple.

“It is nice to drink beer hot when watching a sports event in winter,” she said. “Its sweet and sour flavor is easy to drink.”

Akiyoshi Sugitani, 64, an official of the marketing department of Konishi Brewing, said: “Hot beer has proved popular especially among young women and those who rarely consume beer. We will open up the market first of all.”