Immediately on walking into the Thrash Zone taproom in Yokohama, you realize that it’s a unique place. The building itself is anything but unique, hidden a block off the main road amid an odd mix of apartments and so-called ‘love hotels’, while the interior features a cement floor and a bar that seats about twelve…
Craft beer is hurtling like a meteor through mainstream consumer consciousness in beer cultures across the world, including Japan. But like those flashes in the sky, is the movement already breaking apart into innumerable pieces? That depends on how you define “craft beer.” Therein, too, lies a problem; the term’s usage and meaning is becoming…
Trivia question! The context: World Beer Cup, that competition where breweries get a little attention when they win. The Japanese brewery with the most medals is Swan Lake, at seven, followed by Hitachino Nest and Shonan Beer at six. After that, the brewery with five medals is? Yes, Fujizakura. Wait! They share that distinction with…
Popeye in Ryogoku, Tokyo, opened in 1985 and in these past thirty years has become quite famous in Japan and beyond. The bar appears in various guidebooks on Japan and is certainly a Tokyo tourist spot in its own right. Popeye also launched brewing operations in 2014. The facility is located in Niigata’s Minami-Uonuma City,…
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is a testament to the American dream, however elusive that dream may seem to many in America these days with concerns about income disparity growing. Founder Ken Grossman cobbled an early incarnation of the brewery together with languishing equipment and minimal resources in the semi-rural college town of Chico in northern…
