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Is Japanese beer sweet? To provide context to the question I asked, the
sentence was extracted from 2 characters talking to each other. Both of them
went into a bar. One of them has low alcohol tolerance so the other character
teases them about it. The teased character retorted back with a "飲める！甘いのだけ!" I
would like to ask about the meaning of "甘いのだけ". Is this a slang, or does it
mean "I can drink! It's just too sweet for me!" which brings me to my question
above if Japanese beer is sweet, because normally beer is bitter right? So why
would he say that it is sweet? Does "甘いのだけ" have another meaning here, for
instance, "I can drink!I'm just trying to go slow"?
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2020-04-30T15:01:52.203
76957
2020-05-01T03:34:53.740
21746
question
meaning translation usage
Question regarding alcohol: Meaning of " 飲める！甘いのだけ”. More context in description below
This is another way of saying 甘い酒だけ (just the sweet/mild one)。There are two
types of 酒, 甘口 and 辛口. Here's a good
[guide](https://www.kuramotokai.com/omosiro/zemi/id/1/).

Now, let's consider the grammar. It's some sort of an [elliptical
expression](https://www.grammar.com/elliptical-expression). Since the
conversation topic (酒) is unambiguous, one can simply drop it, with の takes
the place of 酒.

Here's another sample sentence:

> A:「この本は、山田さんの本ですか？」
>
> B:「いいえ、杉本さんの(本)です。」

Even if you drop (本), it will still be understood.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-30T15:45:05.117
76958
2020-05-01T02:43:43.617
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer
This 甘いの means "sweet ones" where の corresponds to a pronoun "one(s)" in
English. For example, 高いの means "the more expensive one". The sentences mean
甘いのだけは飲める or "I can drink (at least) sweet ones."

I'm a bit confused what exactly is happening in this situation, but are they
really talking specifically about beers? Japanese beers are not fundamentally
different from foreign beers. To me, it sounds like this person is saying "I
can drink (not-so-hard) sweet alcoholic drinks", such as Cassis orange. Can
you double check the context?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-01T03:34:53.740
76971
2020-05-01T03:34:53.740
5010
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answer