Craft Beer Live 2018, Part One

Craft Beer Live is an annual festival that brings together breweries from the six prefectures of the Kansai region (Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama, and Shiga).

This year's event was held on May 26 & 27 at the regular venue, the Osaka Minatomachi River Place Plaza located just behind the large Namba Hatch building. Saturday, the 26th, was a warm sunny day, and quite crowded when I arrived, just a few minutes after the opening time. The advance purchase ticket line was actually longer the the on-site purchase line.

Near the ticket both, there were large blue maps of the venue and the brewery stand locations. Also, a cute chart of (most of) the beers at the festival plotted according ranges of light to dark and from fruity to bitter. Useful for some people, I suppose. I used to know a guy who would drink only dark beers....

Thirty-five breweries were in attendance, including several that were established in the past year.

In this post, I'll look at the breweries set on the east side (in Part Two, west side). And here they are, in the order of position at the event (along with comments on the beers I sampled from them).

京都醸造株式会社 / Kyoto Brewing Co.

Kyoto Brewing Hakuhatsu no Futako (Platinum Twins)

(Saison) Nice spritzy, zesty nose, with light yeasty farmhouse notes. Hazy light straw color. Mild fruity initial flavor, gentle bitterness right away, and maybe a touch of pepper. Thin-medium body, very smooth on the tongue. Mild-mannered and balanced from start to finish. A great beer with which to begin the festival.

Kyoto Brewing Suppin

(Golden Ale/Blond Ale)

Very mild nose, a little malty sweetness, with some clear yeasty notes. Very hazy light brown color. Peach, other indeterminate fruit, yeast. Thin body. Hmmm... not bad, but not much going on. A pleasant version of what is usually a boring style of beer.

Kyoto Brewing Urara

(Wheat Ale)

Spritzy and zesty fruit nose. Mosaic. Hazy blond color. Deep overripe fruity initial flavor, citrusy, and then moves a bit darker with the mid palate bitterness. Medium body. Initially a bit rough, but then becomes smoother after a few sips. Very refreshing stuff.

Kyoto Brewing Mariko

(India Pale Ale)

Wonderful nose, Citrusy and zesty: really hits the sinuses. Hazy blond color. Sweet light fruitiness, with an infusion of grapefruit, and bitterness kicks in. Great flavor changes throughout the palate with each new sip. Twists and turns between malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Medium body. Outstanding. This was my last beer of the festival day, when normally my nose and taste buds would be dulled and overtaxed by all the other beers consumed -- yet this one really stood out.

黄桜京都麦酒 / Kizakura Beer

Did not sample any from them.....

丹波路ブルワリー / Tambaji Brewery
Nor anything from them.... 

曽爾高原ビール / Soni Kohgen Beer
Nor them..... though I suppose I should have. A friend in Portland told me that someone he knew would be working as a brewer there. 

城崎ビール / Kinosaki Beer
Nothing from Kinosaki, either. 

Kyoto Beer Lab
This is a very new brewery. They are gaining notice for their tea-infused brews. Hence, their alternative moniker is "Chabeer."

Kyoto Beer Lab / Chabeer Wasabi Gose

(Gose)

Aroma of light crisp celery, citrus, and light stone fruit. Very hazy pale apple juice color. Tangy sourness, cabbage, salt, citrus, gentle wheat, and lacto in mid and final. No wasabi notes at all. Mild, thin stuff. Refreshing.

Kyoto Beer Lab / Chabeer KBL Pale

(American Pale Ale)

Aroma of light roast malt. Slightly hazy copper color. Mild malty initial, with a sort of burnt malt character in mid palate, and gentle bitterness. The roast character starts out fine, but quickly turns too harsh. Too burnt and rough for a pale.

あわぢびーる / Awaji Beer
Nothing sampled from Awaji Beer.... 

道頓堀地ビール / Dotonbori Beer
Nor from Dotonbori.... though their Think Tank collaborations with Akashi Brewery have been quite well made.

BrewPub スターボード / Brew Pub Starboard
I really should have tried out the latest beers from Starboard. The brewer they brought on last year made one of the best beers at Craft Beer Live in 2017.

スプリングバレーブルワリー京都 / Spring Valley Brewery Kyoto
On principle, I avoided Spring Valley. It is not truly a craft brewery, but rather a subsidiary of Kirin Brewery Company -- not that you will see that association stated anywhere.

Heiwa Craft
Didn't get to any of Heiwa's beers....

六甲ビール / Rokko Beer
Nor Rokko's....

Agara Craft
Agara Craft seems to be a rebranding of Sandaime. I tried few of those last year and was not overly impressed. So, I thought I'd see if they have improved.

Agara Craft Weizen
(German Hefeweizen)
Mild fruity, weedy, moldy nose, with a small bit of spice. Dull hazy peach color, and very little head (for a weizen, certainly). Light tangy fruitiness, some modicum of wheat, and slight touch of coriander. Thin body, near watery. Very mild-mannered and rather dull.

Agara Craft Pale Ale
(American Pale Ale)

Nose of small caramel, touch of stone fruit. Cloudy brown color. Flavors of stone fruit, light tangy hopping. Tart sort of fruitiness from mid palate onward. Thin-medium body. Not very well made.

Agara Craft Sansho Ale

Spice/Herb/Vegetable)

Big sansho (Chinese peppercorns) aroma, quite fruity and very spicy. Flavors of sansho, some caramel, and mild bittering hops. Thin body. Mostly sansho, indeed, and somewhat refreshing, overall.

西陣麦酒 / Nishijin Bakushu

Didn't try anything from them. Actually, they brought only one beer to the festival.

ナギサビール / Nagisa Beer

Nothing sampled from Nagisa.... or is it that my memory (in addition to the photo) was foggy?

マルカ / Marca
Did not try anything from Marca, either. Although this brewery is a minor favorite among Kansai-area beer geeks, I've rarely had anything from them that was more than glorified homebrew .

丹後王国クラフトビール / Tango Kingdom Craft Beer
Not even one beer sampled from Tango.... 

Konishi ビール / Konishi Beer

Konishi Yosano Hop Field
(Golden Ale/Blond Ale)
Punchy stone fruity nose (from Yosano hops?) Mild stoner fruit flavor, gentle bitterness. The fruitiness really jumps up in mid palate. Medium body. Balanced pretty well. Rich and fruity. Was not expecting to like this (given the relatively unimpressive beers made with Yosano hops that I’ve had in the past), but this was pretty good.

Konishi Spring Plum Ale
(Fruit Beer)
Tart ume (pickled plum)nose. Reddish/pink color, white head. Flavors of ume, tart red fruit, red grapes. Something a bit like tar (but not phenolic) in mid palate. No real bitterness. Thin body, and a bit foamy in the mouth. Interesting. 

Konishi Yosano Blanche
(Witbier)
Smooth, sweet wheaty nose. Hazy medium straw color. Sweet and wheaty right off. Touch of coriander. Thin-medium body. Okay.... but this is like a watered down version of the regular Snow Blanche. The Yosano hops did not help this one at all.

Next post: Beers from breweries on the west side of the venue. Cheers!