Aqula beer has made its way into the consciousness of many a Japanese craft beer drinker these days, in part because of its growing availability. We stopped in during a snowy night in March, taking a brief respite from relief efforts in Tohoku, and then again during Golden Week to make sure it was really…

Iwatekura brewer Niwa Satoshi was back and it was good to see him doing what he does best: making some of Japan’s finest craft beer. The boiler had been repaired where, weeks before, just after the quake, they had propped it up with kegs to keep its legs from buckling further and falling over. A…

Yokohama is the birthplace of beer in Japan. Present-day juggernaut Kirin was, in 1870, a small facility founded on the Yamate bluff by one William Copeland, a young Norwegian who had Anglicized his named after having naturalized in America. Called the Spring Valley Brewery for the spring from which it sourced its excellent water, it…

Launching a small brewery in Japan is not, at present, that easy to do, in large part because you have to obtain a brewers license from the tax department. This is a painfully intricate process. It starts with submitting the necessary forms to the tax department. These include a license application, a business plan, a…

In early January, George Juniper left his native England and his job at Dark Star Brewery to join the “international sales and product development” team at Kiuchi, makers of the popular Hitachino Nest beer. We sat down with him to hear his opinions about craft beer, as we learned he started homebrewing when he was…