Japanese Craft Beer Breweries on Twitter / ツイッターで日本のクラフトビール醸造所

In early November the 生ビールブログ (Draft Beer Blog) took a look how many people were Facebook fans of (or "Like") various Japanese breweries. Have a look HERE:

So, I decided to see how Twitter is being used by the craft beer industry in Japan. Or more specifically, I wanted to see how many “Followers” craft beer breweries currently have.

Although Facebook by far the larger of the two social networks, Twitter is growing faster. Twitter is also the quickest way to find out what’s happening, in politics, business, and probably in beer as well. It’s for real-time conversations, not what happened yesterday, last week, or when you were in high school.

Some breweries have Facebook pages as promotional tools but do not yet have Twitter accounts. Below are the ones I could find.

Japanese Craft Beer Breweries -- Twitter “Follower” numbers on 11/22/2012:

Yona Yona Ale 6,445

Sankt Gallen 5,060

Minoh 3,457

Aqula 3,194

Kiuchi 2,543

Baeren 2,115

Fujizakura Heights Beer 2,023

Swan Lake 1,879

Kamakura Beer 1,878

Gargery 1,726

Gotemba Kogen Beer 1,686

COED0 1,419

Bay Brewing Yokohama 1,384

Yokohama Brewery 1,378

Otaru Beer 1,170

Taisetsu Ji Beer 1,094

Tazawako Beer 1,094

Banya Beer 1,066

Ise Kadoya 1,061

Nagisa 984

Baird Brewing 814

Kisoji Beer 710

Zakkoku Beer 592

Echigo 420

Kagua 410

Nippon Beer 406

Brimmer 257

Ichioji Brewery 301

North Island Beer 216

Rokko Beer 200

Matsue / Beer Hearun 196

Ginga Kogen 44

Hakusekikan Beer 10

Nagahama Roman Beer 4

Notice that the top spot is occupied by Yona Yona, the beer -- not Yo-Ho, the company which makes it. It is one of the most widely available of craft beers in Japan, certainly much more so than the other brews they produce. Near the bottom is Hakusekikan, a very interesting and experimental brewer, but one which went out of business at the end of August this year.

Also, several popular craft beer makers are not listed. Perhaps they are busier brewing beer than promoting it. But I imagine it won't be long before they too are tweeting and gaining followers.