Finally! Craft beer at Japanese baseball games…

Baseball season has kicked off in earnest in two of the world’s largest baseball cultures: Japan and America. What drink goes better with baseball than beer?

Many baseball stadiums across America serve craft beer. As we noted in Japan Beer Times previously, San Francisco’s AT&T Park serves more than a dozen local and national craft brews. Seattle’s Safeco stadium is simply amazing; it offers more craft beer than most bars! Sadly, while beer is a big part of Japanese baseball games, craft beer is not. At least not until this year!

When we interviewed Suzuki Shinya of Yokohama Bay Brewing for Japan Beer Times #24 (Autumn 2015), he spoke about brewing the official beer for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Called Baystars Ale, that brew is now being served at the stadium in Yokohama’s Kannai district. It went on sale on March 29th and is available at seven locations in the stadium complex–five inside, two outside. And, of course, there will be uniformed beer servers walking the seating areas ready to fill up your next cup. The beer is an American Crystal Wheat at 4.5% alcohol and costs ¥700 (400ml).

The beer has actually been previously available. Suzuki unveiled it for six games late last August for what he called “YOKOHAMA BAY BEER FESTIVAL 2015.” Now, however, it will be available the entire season at home games.

If you want more beer after the game, Biere Cave Jan Bar is located just one block away and has a good selection of craft beer. Suzuki’s own brewpub is also only about a ten-minute walk from the stadium. In fact, that whole central district of Yokohama is craft beer rich. You would probably need more than a day to visit all the bars. Maybe you’ll need to see more than one game, too.

Suzuki Shinya and his father