Spring 2012

Craft beer season has kicked off! Actually, there is no specific season for craft beer. It tastes great all year long! But the warmer months tend to bring out the festivals. So let’s just say the busy festival season has kicked off in earnest.

It all began with a unique festival co-organized by Shiga Kogen with support from local businesses called Snow Monkey Beer Live. Consisting of three sessions over two days in mid-March, the festival was held in a ski resort area and featured some of Japan’s best craft beer, good food and of course music. It was an eclectic mix of folk, jam music and hip-hop featuring rather notable acts like Nabowa and Afra. The festival was admittedly a risky gamble, but we think the organizers pulled it off well for an inaugural event. Craft beer and music make a great combination and we hope that the event draws even more interest next year as recognition grows. Watch out, Fuji Rock!

That same Sunday, the four breweries of Kyoto (the city with claim to the most breweries at present) jointly held a festival in a subway plaza. While they benefited from city support and massive promotion in the subway stations, this resulted in the booths being rushed by thousands of people. Two of the breweries ran out of beer early in the festival and had to scramble back to their brewery for more kegs. Lines were the longest we had ever seen at any festival—some people waited well more than a half an hour! But at least Kyoto enthusiasm for beer was high and people were patient. Such demand bodes well for the growing Kyoto scene. Craft beer is creeping into traditional local restaurants and we think this trend will continue.

In early April, Akihabara hosted the first Nippon Craft Beer Festival, which folded the Tokyo Real Ale Festival into the Japan Craft Beer Selection festival for quite a huge event. The space was mobbed by 3500 thirsty beer vampires, resulting in quite a squish during the first half of the festival. Thankfully, crows thinned and beer lasted. Audience choice awards went to Okayama-based Doppo, newcomer Outsider Brewing and dark horse challenger Hakodate Beer. The event was planned entirely by brewers and volunteers, and we look forward to a more finely tuned event next year.

Roppondi Midtown hosted Grande Biere in late April in elegant settings. This annual event has two unique features, the first being a emphasis on aromatic beers. The event also boast excellent catering for an additional cost. With so much great beer, why not have some great food, too? We definitely hope more festivals invite more excellent local food vendors.

The Craft Brewers Conference is the most amazing beer event in the world. Held this year in early May in San Diego, the occasion brought several thousand brewers and industry insiders from dozens of countries. CBC features an array of lectures over three days on topics ranging from brewing and sales, to food pairing and craft beer bar operation. There is also an enormous exhibition center with companies featuring their specialty products: brewery systems, parts, bottling machines, hops, tap-handles, label printers and malt. Oh yeah, and a massive amount of drinking went on during local brewery tours and at the host hotel where Jeff Bagby, formerly of Pizza Port, created a 130-tap temporary bar!

CBC is an essential event for every serious brewer and industry employee. We highly encourage brewers in Japan to start planning for next year’s conference in Washington D.C. Check out our website for a fuller report on the event (www.japanbeertimes.com).

The Craft Brewers Conference also hosts the World Beer Cup every two years, and this year’s competition boasted some impressive stats: 811 breweries from 54 countries entered 3949 entries in over 90 categories. There were 218 judges from 29 countries, including nine from Japan (JBT publisher Ry Beville among them). Over 20 breweries entered from Japan and some won the prestigious medals. Minoh won gold in the fruit wheat beer category, while Fujizakura won gold in the smoked beer category. Swan Lake took home silver for their amber. Bronze went to Shonan Beer for their chocolate porter in the robust porter category. Meanwhile, breweries that Nagano Trading imports won a whopping 16 medals while those Ezo beer imports took home a handful as well. Check out our website for more details.

This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.