Summer 2011
As always, summer is a busy season on the beer circuit. We’ve been to most of the festivals and are excited to see the continued growth of the craft beer nation.
Kyoto’s Yamaoka liquor store (which stocks bottles of craft beer) successfully hosted the Kyoto beer festival for its second year in late Spring—time to look for a bigger venue next year? Kyoto is also now home to a new brewery, bringing that city’s total to four.
Tokyo had a big craft beer week that kicked off with the Beer Rise festival in Ebisu Garden. All that week, craft beer bars and restaurants all over Kanto carried special selections of a given brewery’s beer. The following weekend, JCBA hosted its annual Tokyo Beer Festival, drawing several thousand over three sessions.
From there, we journeyed out to Toyama for the Tanabata Beer Festival organized by Johanna Beer. This quiet coastal town comes alive for the annual event, which is known among craft beer pilgrims all over Japan for its laid-back atmosphere. We’re grateful to our friends at Swan Lake Brewery for giving us space at their stand to hawk our T-shirts. The after-parties were lively and Sonoda of Harvest Moon transformed Honda of Swan Lake into a darling little girl.
Next stop, Osaka, for another JCBA event. Osakans are generally festive people and they didn’t disappoint. 2000+ guests attended over the three-day holiday weekend and the festival saw some new faces, including Baird Beer. The hotspot that night was the newly opened craft beer bar above Enibru, called 2nd Vine, where brewers gathered for way too many pints.
The Hakata beer festival in Fukuoka, in its second year, followed the next weekend. It felt like a greenhouse in Riverain’s atrium, but that sure kept the beer flowing. We were pleased to see Fukuoka finally taking off as a craft beer destination, with several bars and restaurants now serving good suds. Keep an eye on this city!
Finally, Nagoya hosted its first craft beer festival in early August under the auspices of JCBA. Around a thousand people showed up over the two days, no doubt exciting the likes of local brewery Kinshachi, bottle retailer Okadaya, bar-restaurant Craft Beer Keg, and craft beer & yakitori (grilled chicken) joint Chicken Boy.
As we go to press, we prepare for the big Ichinoseki Beer Festival! Check next issue for our rundown.
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.
