While my friends in the western world find craft beer made by small and independent Japanese craft brewers hard to comprehend, Japanese beer enthusiasts are now beginning to “get it.” With the 18 years persistence of the pioneering Japanese craft brewers and the hundreds that have followed, there’s a sense that demand is beginning to approach capacities and supplies. The approximately 250 small and independent Japanese craft breweries seem to sense they are finally tapping into the thirst of Japanese beer drinkers.
At the Craft Beer Market Jinbo-cho in Tokyo a wide variety of quality Japanese & American ales & lagers are served with a pleasure
It’s helped that several American craft brewers are importing their distinctive beers and have helped nurtured excitement for all craft beer. You can walk into an upscale western style shopping mall in Rappongi, Tokyo and walk into a coffee shop order a well made espresso and gaze incredulously at a display of American craft beers, complete with elaborate brand and style descriptions on display.
I recently spent 10 days in Japan, judging the Japan Craft Beer Association’s International Beer Competition, attending and presenting at their International Craft Beer Conference, attending their first upscale food and beer event, Le Beau Mariage (inspired by the Brewers Association’s SAVOR) and visited dozens of small breweries and craft beer pubs and restaurants in the Tokyo, Yokohama, Wakayama, Kyoto and Osaka areas.
I had visited Japan in the early 1990s,when Japan was in the early stages of their homebrewing, craft beer awareness. The laws were evolving at the time to permit the opening of small breweries. There was an effort to legalize homebrewing, but that has yet to happen. In 1993 or 94 the brewery laws changed. It is currently legal to open a small brewery, but the minimum (this is not a typo) amount that must be brewed annually is 60 kiloliters (that’s 600 hectoliters or about 512 U.S. barrels). While that may be seem small by most standards, this has presented a challenge in the early stages of Japanese craft beer, at a time when the awareness of specialty beers is still being cultivated.
There is an exception to 600 hl minimum rule. There is a type of “beer” in Japan called Happoshu. It is a type of “beer” that must have a minimum of 65% non-malt adjuncts, in other words no more than 35% malt. There is a significant reduction in excise tax on this type of product. Recently it was realized that Happoshu also can include any beer that includes flavor additives such as spices, herbs, fruit, honey, unusual sugars and other non malt specialty ingredients. Small nano breweries are now popping up, most started by Japanese entrepreneurs skilled in the art of homebrewing.
My last time in Japan was in 1998. There were some quality beers that were brewed in that time, but small brewers struggled with both quality and making beer that resonated with Japanese beer drinkers in those earlier days. What’s changed in 14 years? Lots. The quality and diversity of Japanese craft beers from small brewers has improved dramatically. Why have Japan craft beers improved so much in the past decade? In the early days Japanese entrepreneurs were only just embarking on their brewing education. Often, then, young German brewers brewed at the request of Japanese small companies. Japanese brewers have since increased their brewing skills and passion for brewing dramatically. Perhaps more importantly, they are recognizing that integrating their own sense of Japanese culture into their brands, flavors and styles has created a growing demand for their beers. Pride, skill and a sense of local culture - in what you do is worth a lot. And the Japanese beer drinker is beginning to respond.
Two great resources for Japanese craft beer enthusiasts are:
Japan Craft Beer Association – their site offers a link to English translations. Complete with a listing of several of the most popular annual beer festivals in Japan
Japan Beer Times – Excellent resource for both Japanese and westerners. Online and print magazine both in English and Japanese. Brewery listings, forum, back issues, reports, bars and brewpubs, Craft Beer Japan App for iPhone & Android
