Tag: Japan
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New Year, New Sake
To start off the new year I tasted a Sake that was picked up when I hiked Mt. Fuji. There is a local superstition that says if you do not hike to the top of Mt. Fuji at least once during your time in Japan you will return. Seeing that this is my third time…
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Baird Brewing Company, Wasabi Japan Pale Ale, Shuzenji, Japan
As my final term paper for school continues along I am getting to the point where I am looking at areas where Japanese craft beer’s exposure can expand. One of the areas I think will help with exposing Japanese Craft Beer is using traditional Japanese ingredients in beer brewing. Japan has a wide variety of…
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Spring Valley Brewery, Kyoto
In 1869 William Copeland, a Norwegian-American living in Japan, started what is believed to be the first beer brewery in Japan. Some 154 years later while vacationing in Kyoto, Japan I visited the Spring Valley Brew Pub. While Spring Valley started as a small brewery through a series of acquisitions and mergers the business is…
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Orion Brewery, Orion The Draft Chiba Cherry Blossom
As most of the northern hemisphere is still in the grips of winter, here in Okinawa spring has sprung. This past week my family and I traveled to the northern end of the island to see the cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms, also called sakura, are the flowers of any number of species of Prunus trees…
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Burns Night, January 25th, 2023, Robert Burns, Blended Scotch Whisky, Isle of Arran Distillers LTD.
Robert Burns was a writer and poet who was able to capture the heart and emotion of Scotland. As Scottish culture spreads across the world many looked to Burns’ writings to give them that link back to their homeland. Many of these expatriates celebrate their Scottish heritage by celebrating Robert Burns on his birthday of…
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Eleventh Beer of Christmas, Chatan Harbor Brewery, Lager
The Eleventh Beer of Christmas brings us back to Okinawa where we started. Chatan Harbor Brewery started in 2016 and is part of the Terrace Hotel Group in Okinawa. The brewery is located just north of American Village on the west side of the island of Okinawa. American Village is a shopping area just outside…
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Tenth Beer of Christmas, Kizakura Brewery, Kyoto Beer, Golden Ale
As we come to the end of the twelve beers of Christmas we return to the Kizakura Brewery. Like many beer breweries in Japan Kizakura has its foundation as a sake brewery. This beer is even more unique as it has been brewed with koji mold spores that are usually used to brew sake. Koji…
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Ninth Beer of Christmas, Echigo Brewery, Niigata Koshihikari
Today’s beer is made by the Echigo Brewery that I highlighted Flying IPA earlier in the beers of Christmas. This lager is a repackaging of the brewery’s regular line up beer Niigata Koshihikari. The art work on the can highlights the characters or mascots of the towns in Niigata. In the Japanese culture there is…
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Seventh Day of Christmas, Yo-Ho Brewing Company, Tokyo Black, Porter
The seventh day of christmas beers takes us back to a previous brewery. Yo-Ho Brewing has produced an English Porter that is just as much to style as the earlier Yona Yona Pale Ale. Earthy bitter hop aroma on the nose. Spicy hop aroma with a slight pine resinous scent. Really the smell if you…
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Fourth Day of Christmas, Karuizawa Brewery, The Karuizawa Beer, Clear
The Karuizawa Brewery takes its name from Karuizawa Japan. This mountainous region in Nagano Prefecture has long been a summer retreat area for the Japanese to escape the summer heat. Situated at the base of Mount Asame the cool temperatures have welcomed those that are trying to escape the summer heat. In 2011 the brewery…
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Third Day of Christmas, Echigo Beer Company, Flying IPA
Echigo Brewing Company titles itself as the “Oldest Brewing Company in Japan”. In 1994 Japan revised their licensing requirements to operate a brewery. Before that year a brewery was required to produce 60,000 mL to receive a license. After 1994 the requirement was lowered to 6,000 mL. Uehara Seichiro received his liscense to operate a…
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Second Day of Christmas, Yo-Ho Brewing Company, Yona Yona Ale
Yo-Ho Brewing company is located in Karuizawa Nagano, Japan. A relatively young brewery having been founded in 1996 Keiji Hoshino. His goal was to produce more of an American style craft beer instead of the German style beers that dominated the Japanese Market. Since then they have produced several fantastic beers that are very much…
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Sake Post: Three Sakes from Niigata Prefecture Japan.
There are some great benefits to living in Japan. One of these is the being able to subscribe to a Sake Post a sake sample box. The website www.sakepost.jp is in Japanese, but with the help of Google Translate I was able to navigate and sign up. For just over $16.00 a month I received…
Luke Pernotto 