Perhaps no craft beer is more closely associated with the Kansai region than Minoh. Launched in 1996, it produces a nationally distributed line-up of beers and now has three pubs in Osaka by the name of Beer Belly that are managed by a business partner—the most recent one opened in a funky neighborhood of narrow backstreets and shopping arcades just this last April and looks to be their best one to date.

Minoh is owned and operated by the Ohshita family, which had run a liquor retail shop for thirty years prior to the brewery’s opening. Kaori, the head brewer and oldest of three daughters in the family, relates the story of when that all changed.

“The family went out for dinner one night and on the way home, my dad drove by this place and said, ‘Tomorrow, that’s where you’re going to make beer.’ I was like, ‘who?’”

Papa Ohshita was joking. And not. He really did buy a brewery system from New Zealand and Kaori really was going to brew there, just not “tomorrow.” Kaori first trained for a month at a plant in Kobe, and later spent time working on a really small system at the National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB) in East Hiroshima. Her real training came on the job.

Kaori claims the first year was really tough. For starters, learning the intricacies of their equipment, which differed from what she had trained on, became an issue. And by late 1996, the original beer boom was starting to peter out and breweries were going bust. Gaining acceptance was an uphill battle in a shrinking market with negative public opinion.

“There was nobody to teach me the styles,” admits Kaori, “I had to fail forward and keep tweaking my recipes. Thankfully the taste gradually got better.”
Since Kaori used extract in the beginning, the demands of brewing were slightly diminished, though she switched to using grain in 2002. Information exchange among brewers was extremely helpful as she was maturing as a brewer, too. Kaori acknowledges that Nakanishi, of Isekadoya, was a great mentor.

“Here in the Kansai area, brewers are really tight and share a lot of information about brewing with each other.”

Kaori’s shift to grain for most of their recipes came at a particularly trying time. The craft beer industry was reaching its low point, she claims, and they couldn’t seem to sell their beer. People still complained that craft beer was bad and too expensive, a legacy of the late 90s. Regional characteristics may have contributed to Minoh’s troubles as well. Osaka natives like a good deal and tend toward being thrifty and frugal in their entertainment expenses. Osaka is the only major city in Japan where craft beer couldn’t seem to get a firm foothold. Until a spate of recent craft beer bar openings and announcements, Eni-bru and Q-brick were the only stalwart craft beer bars beyond the Beer Belly bars.

“Craft beer hasn’t caught on in a trendy way,” says Kaori, “but we are seeing steady growth. Also, a lot of bar owners saw the way craft beer was taking off in Tokyo and have taken initiative here.”

Some of Minoh’s growth is no doubt tied to the popularity of their stout and imperial stout. Typically rich in flavor with good aroma and body, Minoh won gold twice at the World Beer Awards in recent years. The recipes are all Kaori’s, though she says her sister sometimes describes to her a kind of beer she would like to drink, and Kaori gives it a try. One of Minoh’s more interesting beers is their Cabarnet. Minoh has been making fruit beer from the beginning, and this technically counts as one because it uses extract from the grapes, but it’s more akin to a sour beer—perhaps one of Japan’s first. This is a trend taking off with great popularity in the U.S. and we hope to see Minoh continue experimenting.

On her position as an iconic female brewer in Japan, Kaori states, “I want people to focus on the beer, not me. I want it to sell because of its quality.”

Stop the Press!

At the World Beer Cup gala awards dinner, a cheer went up from the table seating most of the contingent from Japan when Minoh claimed gold in the fruit wheat beer category for their Yuzu White Ale. Instead of orange peels, which are commonly brewed in wheat beers like Hoegaarden, Minoh used their local citrusy Yuzu with coriander. Although this is normally a winter seasonal for Minoh, after their award announcement, they promised to release in the summer as well!
http://www.minoh-beer.jp

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.