This week’s brewery is a major player in the Japanese craft beer scene. Originally established in 1823, Kiuchi Brewery got started as a brewer of sake (Japanese rice wine). As collectors of rice as tax for the ruling family at the time, founder Kiuchi Gihei used surplus rice to begin brewing. After World War II […]
The hardest part about homebrewing is the waiting. Once your brew day is over you have to wait through the fermentation, dry hopping, and then carbonating and aging in the bottle before it is ready to drink. Even though I have been back in the US for a while now, the two beers we have […]
This week’s beer is Sierra Nevada Ruthless Rye IPA. While we featured an IPA a couple months ago, the use of rye in this week’s beer gives us a chance to take a look at a relatively uncommon ingredient used in making beer to see what it has to bring to the table. The Sierra […]
A few days before I left Japan I had the great fortune to stop by the Zakkoku Kobo brewery in Saitama. A friend recently discovered this out of the way brewpub, and I knew I had to go while I had the chance. Located in Ogawa, Saitama Zakkoku Kobo may well be Japan’s smallest brewery, […]
A couple of shady mobsters form the stylish design of this week’s beer, Speakeasy Ales and Lagers’ Big Daddy IPA. With an ABV of 6.5% and 60 IBUs, this India pale ale promises to be a hefty hop showcase. Founded in 1997 and stationed in San Francisco, Speakeasy Ales and Lagers offers a lineup of prohibition […]
Baird Beer is certainly one of the most well known brewers in the Japanese craft scene. They have diverse line of year-round beers supported by a very wide variety of rotating seasonal and one offs. On top of that, the excellent beer goes really well with the quality food available at the Baird taprooms. The […]
There is a lot to talk about today, so lets get to it! As always there was plenty of great beer and good food at the Fall Keyaki Hiroba Beer Festival. This year there were a couple of things that negatively impacted the enjoyment of the biggest collection of craft beer in the North Kanto. […]
The twice yearly Keyaki Hiroba Beer Festival returns to Omiya in just a few days. This fall it runs from Friday the 19th to Tuesday the 23rd of September, a little extra since Tuesday is the Fall Equinox and a public holiday. This festival remains one of the best beer gatherings in Japan. There will […]
I love brewery tours. Any time you get a glimpse behind the scenes there is potential to learn some pretty interesting things. While the basics of brewing are the same around the world, each brewery brings a unique spin to the process. I tried to visit Great Divide’s brewery/ taproom in downtown Denver some years […]
Colorado has long been a craft beer haven, but over the past couple of years people have really gone craft crazy. And not just in the Centennial State. All over the country there are tons of interesting new brews from the traditional pillars of the craft scene along with plenty of upstarts with something […]
