Up in Hokkaido sits Otaru Beer, a Japanese brewery dedicated to brewing strict German styles. Luckily, you don’t have to visit the little town of Otaru to sample their beers as they are available in central Tokyo. The Beer Horn bar, in Akasaka, serves up Otaru beers in actual animal horns. This was something my […]
This week, we have another beer from Japan, Kirin Ichiban Shibori Stout. Kirin had its beginnings in 1885, when it took over the assets of another company, Spring Valley Brewery, which had been established by a Norwegian-American in Yokohama, Japan in 1869. The brewery was originally known as Japan Brewery Company, but three years after […]
In a perfect world there would always be a delicious craft beer close at hand. We don’t (yet) live in that world, especially in Japan. A friend and I did a blind taste test of Japanese macro-beers, to help in those moments when your only option is whatever is on sale at the local convenience […]
Japanese craft beer can be hard to find. Luckily for beer aficionados some people have made it a point to gather as much excellent beer as possible in one place. So it is with Aoki Tatsuo’s craft beer pub Popeye. Aoki has long been a supporter of the Japanese craft scene, and Popeye is one […]
Beer can seem pretty one note before you dive into the colorful world of craft. All over the world mass market brewers produce a very similar pale lager. Crisp, clear, and almost boringly “beer-flavored” it still represents the basic and most quaff-able brew around. However, things can get a little confusing after you poke around […]
