By Eli Raffeld The 2011 Craft Brewers Conference, held in San Francisco at the Union Sq. Hilton Hotel, hosted a record 3,900 attendees and held 50-plus educational seminars. The welcome reception was a sight to behold. Located at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, craft beer made its appearance on the historical…

Those who live in Sapporo love it. Most who visit do, too. If you’re a craft beer drinker, then let the affair bloom. Spring can be slushy in Hokkaido’s largest city, but visitors from Japan’s more southerly islands come in droves in the summer to escape the humidity. Cafes and restaurants open out onto the…

Aqula, Tazawako, Baeren, Iwatekura by Ry Beville Tohoku is a vast region, characterized by great swaths of agricultural land and jagged elevations largely unadulterated by civilization’s uglier industrial side. The vistas are beautiful, the diversions, abundant. And travel to the bulk of it is safe by most rational standards. The triple disaster of March 11th…

Baeren was having their Spring festival, by fortuitous chance, when we came to Morioka. Hundreds had converged on their brewery by the town’s edge to drink delicious German-style beers under festival tents erected in the parking lot. Children drew colorful pictures with chalk on the pavement. A small contingent from the foreign community came, one…

Tazawako has more than a few unique charms, including one craft brewery whose consistent excellence we can’t overemphasize. We first visited years ago and were pleased to recently discover that Tazawako Beer has only gotten better with time. Too few people beyond this quiet corner of Akita are familiar with the beer, but it’s never…