Japanese Breweries at the 2018 World Beer Cup

The 2018 World Beer Cup winners were announced on May 3, and this time only two Japanese breweries won awards.

The WBC, which calls itself "the most prestigious beer competition in the world," and may very well be, has been held every two years since 1996. The awards were given out on the last day of the Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

This year’s event was the largest ever: 8,234 beers were entered by 2,515 breweries (807 from outside the U.S.) from 66 countries. A total of 15 countries’ breweries received medals.

Forty-seven Japanese breweries sent 151 entries and won two awards, for a 1.32% success rate.

Here they are:

Bronze – Shinshu Roman Original Ale (Golden or Blonde Ale)

REIJIN Brew Co.

Silver – COEDO Shiro (South German-Style Hefeweizen)

COEDO Brewery

                                                                              Photos © Brewers Association

                                                             

This is quite a decline from the nine awards Japanese brewers received in 2016 ...

….. compared to three in the 2014 competition

and  four in 2012

and five in 2010

nine in 2008

ten in 2006

five in 2004

two in 2002,

fourteen in 2000

nine in 1998

and one in the inaugural year of 1996.

The competition is stiffer these day. This year 25% more breweries entered the WBC than in 2016, and it has surely become harder to stand out in the crowd.