Where Should I Go In Japan?

[Henno]

Hey guys,

A few of you know I'm a newbie and off to Japan soon. Somebody on the mirc chat site was telling me there are two guys who come on this site that AG brew in Japan. Does anybody know their nicknames in here and where in Japan they live?

We are going to Osaka where my wife comes from and having a bit of a visit up to Hokkaido where I hope to visit the Sapporo brewery. Any other ideas about interesting beery places to visit there. We are not going to Tokyo though.

Thanks
Henno

 

[Adamt]

I think you'd be looking for Steve Lacey, and just-cj. I think they are both in Tokyo but not sure...

peas_and_corn had a trip to Japan recently, he might have some ideas of some good places to go.

All these pricks going to Japan and not taking me... I can translate... well... maybe not so well now but 2 years ago I could have!!!

 

[NRB]

Yep, Steve and Chris are both there in Tokyo. "Steve Lacey" and "just-cj" are their nicknames on here. It's a pity you're not going to Tokyo, but they have enough contacts over there to point you in the right direction in Osaka.

Shoot them a PM, they're both very approachable guys. I caught up with Chris when I was over there earlier this year.

 

[facter]

dude

can you go to kagoshima for me

then go to a shochu brewery
and find out the exact process as to how they make potato shochu (imo jochu)???

Thanks!!!!!



but seriously, go and check out a sake/shochu brewery. pretty cool )

 

[cj in j]

Hey guys,

A few of you know I'm a newbie and off to Japan soon. Somebody on the mirc chat site was telling me there are two guys who come on this site that AG brew in Japan. Does anybody know their nicknames in here and where in Japan they live?

We are going to Osaka where my wife comes from and having a bit of a visit up to Hokkaido where I hope to visit the Sapporo brewery. Any other ideas about interesting beery places to visit there. We are not going to Tokyo though.

Thanks
Henno

Well crap, no stop in Tokyo means that it's going to be difficult to meet up. But Osaka does have some good craftbeer bars. One of the most interesting is called Beer and Bear -- the top two links should get you info on their two restaurants. I think there's also a beer bar called Beer Belly in Osaka, although I haven't been there. I'm not all that familiar with breweries in the area, but there are some good beers that come out of that area -- make sure you check out Minoh/AJI beers if you can find them. Here's a list of breweries in the Kinki Region: Kinki Breweries.

Up in Hokkaido, about an hour outside Sapporo is Otaru -- there are four or five craft breweries in the town, including one in the old warehouse district (I think it's called Otaru Beer) that's not bad. The info booth at the station should be able to point you in the right direction. I haven't been up there for a few years, but last time I was there, my buddy and I hit three or four breweries and had some fantastic food and beer. The Sapporo brewery is worth going to for the all-you-can-eat-and-drink lamb roast set -- great stuff, but make sure you're hungry and thirsty. Here's a list of breweries in Hokkaido: Hokkaido Breweries.

That should get you at least started on your beer-drinking while you're here. If I think of anything else, I'll let you know. And I'm sure Steve L will have a few things to offer as well.

 

[Henno]

Ok guys, you have been great, thanks heaps. I'm off now. Passport and ticket packed.

I have all this info with me and will try and drink and eat my way around as much as I can.

Would anybody care for pictures to be posted when I get back?

sayonara
Henno

 

[cj in j]

Yeah, definitely post some pics -- and reports of where you went and what you liked/disliked. I'm always working on expanding my range!

 

[JSB]

Hey CJ,

Is that your IPA recipe in the latest BYO ?

Cheers
JSB

 

[Steve Lacey]

Well, I missed this thread when it was first active ... it must have come up over the weekend when I was running around and not looking at the computer.

Anyway, just so as people know I am not as cold and aloof as I may have so far seemed, Henno did PM me and I did reply (in ignorance of the existence of this thread). However I just checked my message center and can't find any trace of my reply, so I hope he got it. I was going to copy it here for future reference. CJ covered most of what I said and more, but I also pointed out that Phred Kaufman's Mugi Shutei bar in Sapporo would be well worth a visit. I also mentioned Hakodate Beer in case he was in the vicinity. Hakodate is a bit of a schlep from Sapporo. It has a wonderful seafood market though, and everybody who visits brings back photos that make me drool...photos like this...

and Hakodate Beer:

Edit:: bahh ... having trouble linking to photos in Picasa Web Albums ...

 

[cj in j]

Hey CJ,

Is that your IPA recipe in the latest BYO ?

Cheers
JSB

Yes, it's my recipe -- it was the origin of the JPA recipe that's popular over at HBA/BrewBoard -- the recipe changed a lot in the FIVE years since I submitted it, but it's still a really nice beer.

 

[Henno]

Hey Steve,

I did get your reply and printed out the names/addresses of lots of places on it. I am currently in Omihachiman north west of Kyoto and am off back down to Osaka tomorrow and hopefully will get to see Beerbelly and some other places.

I also intend to mention the fact that I saw Phred's website and the animated pic of him bending his elbow on the front page to get the freebie when I'm up in Hokkaido next week.

Reports and pics when I get back. Got some beer in the supermarket today which was novel. Not overly impressed with the Kirin Ichibanshibori but for some reason I liked the Yebisu Premiums and had a few Asahi Zeitaku Biyori which I found I found a bit better than the mass produced stuff in Aus, maybe it was just different.

I spent the night before I flew out at the Brisbane German Club and fell in love with some of their beers. I had never had a wheat beer I enjoyed before but the erdhinger changed my mind about that.

Henno

 

[NRB]

As far as mass produced lagers go, Yebisu is fantastic IMO. Sure it's nothing on a craftbrew, but sure as hell shits on VB!

 

[Steve Lacey]

Cheers Henno, that's great to hear that you got the PM.

And when trawling around craft beer bars in Kansai (Osaka area), keep your eye out for Baird Beer. They have two seasonals out at present that are worth trying. One is Four Sisters Spring Bock (a maibock, and one of the best beers I've ever drunk), the other is Saison Sayuri. I have not tracked it down yet, but also reported to be excellent.

As for mass produced beer, it is true that a number of the mass lagers are better than VB and the like, but that is not saying a lot, really. Sapporo have a new Yebisu out at the moment called The Hop, and despite the name it isn't really all that hoppy. But it has more hop flavour than the regular Yebisu and a cleaner, maltier malt flavour making it an altogether more enjoyable drop than the regular Yebisu. Here is what it looks like:

Learn how to identify and avoid happoshu and Frankenbeer (beer-like alcopop made from yellow peas and industrial enzymes) -- for a 350 mL can, things priced 140-180 yen are most likely happoshu. Anything under 150 yen and definitely under 140 yen is probably Frankenbeer.

 

[cj in j]

Mmmmm, Frankenbeer! :wacko: Yeah, stay away from CRAP! Drink real beer, even if it is industrial.

As for Baird, great great stuff. If you make it to Beer Bear or Beer Belly, they will have at least some of the Baird beers.

 

[Henno]

Hey guys

We had a fantastic time in Osaka last night and found all the places we wanted to go to with ease.

We started at beer belly 1 and enjoyed the excellent Minoh range before heading to Dolphin about 50 metres down the road. I had heard of this chain before but was a bit shocked when there was NO english on their beer menu, or food menu for that matter. My wife translated as best she could and Duvel is Duvel I suppose.

I was going to give up going to the other beer belly and go to q brick but as the owner of the first beer belly had given us a voucher for a free beer my wife was not giving up on that. I`m bloody glad we didnt follow my instinct. Steve Johnson at beer belly 2 is great and for me speaking english for the first time in 3 days was great, but to be able to speak about beer and surf and japanese food etc was bliss! We had more Minohs there but steve finished me off with a barley wine which had a strange effect on my shoes that didnt seem to go where i wanted them for the rest of the evening!

My plan was then to stagger to Q brick but Steve told us he had recently found a quirky little place that had a great range of Belgium beers. Did we like belgium beers? Do we bloody what? came the reply. He went above and beyond and called us a taxi and came out to give the driver directions to get us there. Thank god he did as this place is under a train line in the middle of woop woop, or woopu woopu i suppose youd say here.

The bar known as Doll Dress is unique to say the least. It is one half a belgium beer bar and the other half a place to buy weird gothic style dresses. The female staff are all dressed in black and have dark eye make up but not too full on, no facial piercings. Ill put up some pics when I get back I hope. Again more amazing beer but the wobbly boots were really kicking in by then. I had kept a running diary of every beer we had drunk and we then realised we had left it at beer belly 2 so it was back to that side of town to pick it up and by then the trains had stopped running. Panic didnt last long as we found an excellent hotel right outside the subway station. This morning we staggered across the road to starbucks for coffee and pancakes.

Sorry about the dodgy typing but I am on a japanese lap top with a crazy keyboard.

Do you reckon I will find the Four Sisters Spring Bock in Hokkaido Steve? I dont think we are going back to Osaka until we leave.

Oh yeah, the Osaka aquarium is amazing and must be seen to be believed.

 

[Henno]

This is on the last beer of the evening. One my gothic hostess tells me is one of Leffes new ones. Simply called `Leffe 9` as it is 9%




Somebody has obviously inserted smashed jaffas into my eyes by this stage.

 

[Steve Lacey]

Thanks for the nice update Henno. Sounds like you had a blast in Osaka.

I would be surprised if you find Baird Beer in Hokkaido. There are beer geeks here in Tokyo who have not yet been able to get their choppers around the Spring Bock as it has been a keg here and a keg there. But Phred might have some of the bottled range, which are also worth trying, provided you don't mind assertive American style hopping.

Keep up the updates on those "weird" keyboards. (I've forgotten what an English keyboard looks like).

Steve

 

[Henno]

As this is more of a review now I have continued this theme of my trip in the beer/pub/brewery reviews section. linky san

 

[browndog]

Great effort with the posts from Japan Henno, I'm loving this thread. Would you believe, Iron Chef on SBS is my favourite show on TV and has been for years. When I win lotto I am definitely going to head over there to try out all those culinary delights I have seen and put their brewers to the test.

omm cuisine

Browndog

 

[PistolPatch]

This is on the last beer of the evening. One my gothic hostess tells me is one of Leffes new ones. Simply called `Leffe 9` as it is 9%

View attachment 12726

I'm pretty sure I slept with the one on the right. Well, I'm totally sure it wasn't the one on the left - though I had had a few Leffes :blink:

Steve and Henno, say hello to her for me and the cheque's in the mail.


Pat