Once again this year, Anglo Japanese Brewing Company (AJB) in Nagano will be hosting the SSBB Festival in scenic Hokuryuko, Nozawa Onsen. SSBB stands for saisons, sours, barrels and ‘brett’ (brettanomyces). Like the inaugural event last year, it will feature a lot of sour beers and other eclectic varieties not often seen in Japan. Expect…

Quality is essential to success in a market as crowded as craft beer’s, where there are thousands of breweries and tens of thousands of brands for consumers to choose from. Disappoint consumers once and you’re not likely to get another chance to impress them. Good branding is essential, too, and label art is central to…

Rogue Ales has been a powerhouse of the craft beer movement in America for over 30 years. Founded in 1988 in Oregon, Rogue was one of the first American craft breweries to be imported to Japan thanks to the trailblazing efforts of Phred Kaufman, founder of Ezo Beer in Hokkaido. For thousands of people in…

Summer is beer season, even if in our hearts we believe that every season is beer season. Consumption is always up among consumers. It’s something about the warmer weather that seems to make us thirsty. Naturally, craft beer producers are going to release certain styles that suit the weather. How does that work? Let’s let…

The craft beer world can be fickle at times. Trends that seemed sure to grow are suddenly displaced by new, unexpected ones. Even industry veterans find themselves surprised on occasion. Conversely, sometimes they see the change before it turns the corner. This was a topic of conversation during our long interview earlier this year with…