Picture climbing from some hot springs while the steam is still rising from your skin, then kicking back and relaxing at an adjacent brewery restaurant. The ocean spreads out before your eyes as you rehydrate with some craft beer. This luxurious vision is a reality at Nagisa Beer in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture.
Shirahama is mentioned in one of Japan’s oldest historical tomes—the Nihon Shoki—and is one of several hot spring areas in Japan notable for its deep history. It is home to many hot spring lodges and day-tripper hot springs alike. As its name suggests, it also has a long, white-sand beach stretching along the shore, making it equally famous as a marine resort. It’s furthermore known as one of the world’s premier panda breeding centers (besides China, there are several around the world). Shirahama offers year-round entertainment, but for craft beer fans like us, it’s Nagisa Beer’s brewery that’s probably the main attraction!
Nagisa Beer’s head brewer, Manabe Kazuya, was born and raised in Shirahama. In the late 1980s, Manabe was 20 and had moved to Kyoto where, in some izakaya, he first drank Ebisu. The company had turned itself around by highlighting its use of 100% malt. Compared to other mainstream beers at the time, it had a much stronger body, clever naming and slick label design to give it a kind of premium feel—Manabe was hooked.
Meanwhile, back in Shirahama, Manabe’s grandfather was running a lodge and his parents, a barbershop. Both were named Nagisa (a literary, romantic term for “beach”). Manabe, too, held onto a dream of one day running some business in Shirahama called “Nagisa.”
Then one day, while sipping on his usual draft of Ebisu Beer, he realized, “I should make a Nagisa Beer here in Shirahama!” But rather than immediately considering how he would do it, he simply thought, “one day maybe,” and began saving up capital.
During the so-called Microbrew Liberalization that occurred after April, 1994 (when laws changed to allow for craft beer), there were local study sessions to help individuals plan for entering the market. Manabe participated and grew more determined. The Alliance for the Promotion of Homebrewing, which later wrote to former Prime Minister Hosokawa appealing for a lifting of the ban, was established in 1990 and was central to all that activity. In December of 1993, they invited Charlie Papazian (chairman of the American Homebrewers Association; featured last issue) to give a lecture. Manabe actually attended this early lecture on craft brewing and afterwards had the opportunity to meet Charlie directly.
In April of 1996, after the liberalization laws had gone into effect, Manabe began studying brewing in earnest and traveled to America to learn more. At a brewery equipment exhibition in Boston he met Charlie Papazian once again and took a picture with his role model (the old picture is on the Nagisa Beer website). Back in Japan after his sabbatical, he began planning the construction of the brewery, looking into acquiring the necessary equipment and applying for the brewery license.
In September of that same year, his younger brother Koji, with whom he still makes beer today, traveled to Los Angeles where he participated in a two-week course at the American Craftbreweries Academy (ACA). Then in January, he traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area where he trained briefly at Lagunitas, absorbing invaluable knowledge and experience from that powerhouse.
Manabe finally received his license on May 6th, 1997. Revealing how he was able to get his license in such a relatively short period of time, Manabe says, “I bought all my brewery equipment overseas, so as to keep my costs down.” The local tax office, which gives out licenses after studying the feasibility of the brewery business plans, looked at his numbers and gave its approval. Then the trouble came. He had bought the tanks through a broker, but after they had arrived by boat, he discovered that the chiller was broken on one and that there was a hole in the bottom of the other. If he had them reship proper tank by boat, it wouldn’t arrive in time for the impending inspection. He somehow negotiated for them to send the tank by air, which thankfully transpired without further incidence. Looking at the towering tanks around him in the brewery, Manabe laughs, “I don’t even remember which one of these flew over here.”
Finally, the brewery opened. For the first two or three months, he only served one variety, a pale ale. After that, he added an American wheat beer, but since there were only about ten or so bars and restaurants in the area to sell to, he didn’t get very far. After about six months of operation, it looked as if he was going to burn through his operational budget. In an attempt to break from that situation he began bottle sales and shortly thereafter, a beer pub in Wakayama City called Nekomataya (now closed) decided to help its fellow prefectural business and serve the beer.
“Overflowing with subtle taste” might be one way of describing Manabe’s beer in a few words. Malt sweetness is slight and its overall character cleanly conveyed. Its mouth feel is slightly velvety. Anyone who has ever met Manabe would probably say, “the character of the man comes out in the beer.” His seasonal IPA runs counter to the recent trend by suppressing much of the bolder hop character. Nagisa Beer’s fans have been appreciative of this; at beer pubs, you may often hear people say, “it has that Nagisa subtle deliciousness.” There’s another trend, too, to whose narrative he’s adding his voice. He recently began brewing his first dark beer, to be called Eye-patch Stout. (As of this writing, it’s not ready, but should be available around the country when this issue comes out).
Establishments not necessarily known for their beer have also widely accepted Nagisa Beer. In Tokyo’s Shimbashi district, an izakaya called Shimbashi Koju, famous for its many varieties of sake, has been serving Nagisa Beer alongside Ebisu for over ten years; it almost captures Manabe’s life of beer, then and now. Then there is La Tortuga, a French restaurant in Osaka, as well as several high-end supermarkets around Japan, which have been selling the brews for many years.
This past August, Charlie Papazian returned to Japan to participate in the International Craft Beer Days festival in Ebisu, Tokyo. Manabe attended the International Craft Beer Conference on the 3rd day and once again met Charlie. After the conference finished, Charlie traveled through the Kansai region, where he visited Nagisa Beer. For Manabe who, back in 1993, had not yet even begun to brew beer, Charlie Papazian must have seemed then like a presence of holy proportions. Now, some 20 years later, he was finally able to talk to him again as a fellow brewer!
Shirahama is not widely known outside the Kansai region. But as mentioned at the start of the article, it offers ample pleasures throughout the year. Definitely cruise on down to enjoy some of Manabe’s beer, “overflowing with subtle flavor.”
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.
