We think every season is beer season, but in terms of festival activity, it basically kicks off in the spring.

Unless, of course, you are Suzuki Shinya of Bay Brewing. His Japan Brewers Cup and Festival at Osanbashi Hall, Yokohama, celebrated its second year at the end of January with thousands attending. From what we remember through the haze of inebriated memory, it was as much a celebration of music as craft beer. We weren’t fans of the J-pop idol band (the music world’s equivalent of industrial light lager) but were blown away by the blues trio headed by guitarist Shoka Okubo. When was the last time you saw a young Japanese woman channel Stevie Ray Vaughn while you were drinking good beer?

We think we remember this…

Not to be outdone, Shiga Kogen hosted its craft beer and live music festival, Snow Monkey Beer Live, in March. The food was so good that the venue was overrun by hungry snow monkeys. No, not really. But in its third year, the festival proved that it’s doing everything right by balancing beer, food, music and local attractions (skiing & hot springs). Maybe we’ll host a summer version called “Monsoon Water Buffalo Beer Live.”

This year’s “Craft Beer Festa in Hiroshima” was held several months earlier (in the early spring, rather than early fall), perhaps to avoid the festival fatigue that starts to affect everyone’s liver and wallet as the summer winds down. The organizers (which also run Hiroshima bars Golden Garden and Raku Beer) also switched to a tickets-for-drinks system rather than all-you-can-drink. The former seems much more popular among typical mainstream drinkers who are new to craft beer and don’t necessarily want to drink everything. The event was also held in the more scenic old baseball stadium. Have you guys ever heard of keg softball? (Seriously, look it up online).

Meanwhile, back in late January, Good Beer Club celebrated ten years of craft beer education and advocacy. For those that don’t know, this registered NPO/NGO hosts tastings and events, and also shares information via mailing lists, its website and a small, quarterly publication called Good Beer Times. As one of Japan’s first craft beer support groups, GBC definitely deserves our applause for its decade of activity. For more information, please visit: www.goodbeerclub.org (information in English can be obtained from: beers@goodbeerclub.org)

Wow, is craft beer really that popular? Yes, it is…

The buzz of the beer world earlier this spring was the world’s most prestigious conference and beer competition. While the Craft Brewers’ Conference (CBC) in America is an annual affair, every two years it overlaps with the World Beer Cup (WBC). This is a week of beer, beer and more beer. And a lot of other good things like presentations, exhibitions, meetings, events, local brewery tours. And more beer.

As an official endorser of WBC, the Japan Beer Times traveled to beautiful Denver, Colorado for the festivities. The welcome reception party was held at Coors Field, home to the Colorado Rockies professional baseball team. The irony of holding an event celebrating craft beer at a venue sponsored by one of the world’s major breweries was not lost on people. Imagine if the place were named after a Colorado craft brewery, like Left Hand Brewing… Left Hand Field? Would that upset right-handed players? We digress…

CBC itself launched with a handful of speeches and presentations from members of the Brewers Association of America to nearly 9000 attendees—a 40% increase over the previous year. Director Paul Gatza and others provided some eye-popping stats about craft beer’s growth in America. If you think a “boom” is going on in Japan, then America is a supernova. Toward the end of his presentation, however, Gatza offered some stern, cautionary advice to brewers, “Many of you have devoted your lives to building this industry. So don’t fuck it up!” He was talking about putting bad product out on the market (he’d love our Bad Beer is the Enemy shirts). We highlight this moment only to point out that even a market as robust as America’s struggles with quality control. We hope Japanese craft brewers will reach out to other more experienced brewers for help and seek feedback if they need to.

What would Paul wear?

Several awards were handed out at CBC, including the annual “B.A. Recognition Award” to Teri Fahrendorf. A female brewmaster with over 25 years of experience, she is also the founder of the Pink Boots Society, an organization that works to empower female beer professionals. Incidentally, the women of Watering Hole in Tokyo held an associated event in March to celebrate International Women’s Day. It was the release of Unite Pale Ale, a collaboration brew with Loco Beer, whose brewer, Momoyo Kagitani, is female. Many may actually be surprised to learn that Japan has a much higher percentage of female brewers than America and other countries with rich beer cultures.

The Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing this year went to Mitch Steele, of Stone Brewing. As some may remember, Mitch, Baird Brewing and Ishii Brewing (in Guam) brewed a collaboration beer shortly after 3-11 to raise funds for victims of the earthquake and tsunami disaster. We suspect a collaboration brew between Stone and Coedo may be on the horizon, as well as a visit to Japan by Mitch.

Our favorite part of CBC is the BrewExpo, held in an exhibition hall the size of a soccer/football field with rows and rows of businesses connected with the brewing industry. Exhibitors include everyone from equipment manufacturers to hop and barley growers. It’s really quite mind-blowing to see and gives visitors a chance to reflect on the scale and complexities of this fascinating industry. We highly encourage all brewers to try to attend at least once.

Later in the week, at the World Beer Cup awards ceremony, Coedo added another award to its collection. This time, the brewery received silver in the American-Style Amber category for their Kyara. Fujizakura Kogen Beer, another brewery familiar with the awards podium, also took silver for its Weizen in the German-style Hefeweizen category. Finally, credit where credit is due: Asahi Beer won gold in the International-Style Lager category. Remember, this isn’t the World ‘Craft’ Beer Cup; industrial breweries can enter, too, and sometimes do win. We have a suggestion for you: try drinking an Asahi lager beside one of Japan’s delicious craft lagers, like those brewed by Fujizakura, Coedo, Tazawako, Baird, Yokohama Brewing and others. What did you think?

Coronado Brewing out of San Diego won the Champion Brewery/Champion Brewmaster Award for a mid-size brewery. Imported by Nagano Trading, the brewing team visited Japan last year to participate in some festivals and also do a collaboration brew with Coedo. Could a Japanese craft brewery one day win one of these awards? Some people don’t like contests and awards, and think it is like gambling. Still, it’s fun to think and dream about…

Meanwhile, at Craft Brewers Stadium…

Tsutsui Michiko of Watering Hole: mother, brewer, BOSS. And that Two Beers EVO IPA ad to the right: that’s from mother & female importer Kon Yuko.

Big men on a big stage: Asagiri & Uetake of Coedo Beer

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.