World Craft Beer Tasting 2013 / 世界のクラフトビールテイスティング2013

What if they held a beer festival and (almost) no one came?

Well, we (almost) found out at the second iteration of the World Craft Beer Tasting, which took place on a hot, sunny weekend (September 21 and 22). Perhaps the heat kept people home or maybe the three-day weekend allowed Osakans to escape the city, but it really was rather lightly attended. Anyway, the upside was that there were never any crowds at the taps, and it was a cinch to sample a wide range of beers.

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Last year's event was much smaller in scale and was held in a little neighborhood park near Umeda. This year, the organizers, Craft Beer Base, moved it to the Minato Riverplace next to the Namba Hatch building and doubled or even tripled the number of offerings.

A whopping 19 U.S. breweries were represented, along with nine from Japan, five from Belgium, four from Germany, and two from the UK. But only about half (or less) of the total beer list was on tap. Due to the low turnout, most kegs were not emptied until quite late in the day, and it was not possible to sample some of the more intriguing brews on the list.

A certain amount of disorganization was evident for much of the day. Many of the event volunteers did not know much about the beer. One poor fellow accidently knocked the tap off a keg, and he froze while maybe half the beer spouted up to the top of the tent. Event souvenir glasses were available somewhere but I got three different answers about where they could be purchased -- and each turned out wrong. Finally, tickets had been available in advance only (and, strangely, in books of ¥400 and ¥100 tickets when nearly all beers cost ¥500) -- but every vendor was accepting cash. Growing pains, perhaps, and these were really minor inconveniences.

Anyway, the beers that were on provided a very considerable selection. Some highlights were the following:

Stone Levitation Ale
Subtle nose of rich buttery maltiness. Dark brown with good lace. Hoppy initial -- a sort of overripe citrus fruit / malt takes over, and a very slight metallic note appears. Light body. Sort of a light hop tea thing, very tasty and pleasant.

High Water Hop Riot IPA
Huge, stinky, near manure aroma, with caramel and peach. Big caramel in initial / the hops go into warp speed in mid / big grapefruity tones in finish. Truly West Coast stuff.

Lagunitas Maximus
A spectacular nose: deep citrus & dark pine, some fresh meat and umami notes, too. Near perfect blanace in initial / mid palate takes it up a notch, with a lovely mix of peach, orange, and tropical fruit / finish fills the mouth with hop bitterness. Mmmm!

Saison Dupont Cuvée Dry Hopping

Big fruity, tangerine aroma. Very pretty deep yellow color with a full white head. Strong lemony flavors, with back-end hop touches and a sourish edge. Quite dry. Not sure what the dry hopping added. Very good, though the regular Saison Dupont is better,

Baird Under the Blue Sky

This was a collaboration beer (w/ Tani Ai of Craft Beer Base) made by Baird Brewing for the WCBT event. Very light aroma with touches of grapefruit and peaches. Somewhat hop- happy initial, well-balanced in mid palate, and light hop tinges in final. Creamy and quite fruity. Light, tasty, and very drinkable

Summer 2013 -- Bend, OR -- Part Three (10 Barrel Brewpub) / オレゴン州 ベンド （10バレルブルーパブ）

We went to 10 Barrel Brewpub on a warm Sunday in mid August. It was really busy, but the server quickly found us a place at a large island table in the middle of the restaurant section. The place has a friendly, open, and welcoming atmosphere. A wide variety of customers: old, young, couples, families with lots of kids, and (of course) dogs, too. Folk music playing low on the sound system. The food was great. We had a huge Greek salad and sandwiches to go with our beers. The pizzas looked very good; the large ones seemed to be the size of a car tire

 

I was familiar with several of 10 Barrel’s more widely available beers, including Apocalypse IPA, Sinistor Black Ale, and ISA – so I focused on several that don’t often make it into beer bars or bottle shops.

10 Barrel Power to the People Stout

Listed as “P2P American Stout," it had a rich chocolate nose with slight alcohol fumes rising. A massive chocolate initial, which fizzed up into a great coffee/chocolate mid palate, and finished slow and deeply satisfying. Smooth and creamy, it packs a lot of flavor.

10 Barrel OG Wheat India Pale Ale

Deep citrusy nose. Hazy bright straw color, with funny little streams of carbonation from the sides of the glass. Balanced with dark hops and big malt. Wheat fruitiness was pronounced. Very tasty stuff.

10 Barrel Red Faucher

This one is named for a cook at 10 Barrel’s Boise brewpub. Good, scratchy and roasty malt aroma. Rather heavy roast malt initial. Mildly hoppy in mid palate, with some buttery or even umami notes. The finish was pleasant and balanced. Very satisfying mouthfeel. Seems more like an amber than an Irish red ale.

10 Barrel Swill Beer

This Berliner Weisse is one of 10 Barrel’s most popular seasonal brews. But I found it a little too thin and quite spritzy. Too sweet, candy-juicy for a Berliner.

The beer sampler set was comprehensive and inexpensive: ten 3-oz. glasses for $10. This really is one of the best places in Bend.

Summer 2013 -- Bend, OR -- Part Two (Silver Moon Brewing) / オレゴン州 ベンド （シルバー·ムーン醸造）

Silver Moon Brewing is set along one of the busier streets in town and really appears somewhat uninviting from the outside. 

And inside, to a certain extent. It sort of blends brewpub and roadhouse music bar, and is a touch grimy.

Not that I felt entirely out of place, but perhaps some dreadlocks, tats, or piercings would have let me blend in better than my khaki shorts and a polo shirt did. A fairly loud two-man music group was onstage, and we were asked a couple of times to pay a cover charge (which we ignored).

The food menu was good, if limited: sandwiches, several good appetizers, and salads. Samplers of Silver Moon brews were available: five 4oz. glasses for $8. I had not heard much about this brewery, and my expectations were not so high -- but I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of the beer.

Silver Moon Bridge Creek Pilsner

Smooth, light grassy sweet nose. Clear, brilliant straw color. Tart initial / sweet and grassy mid palate / tropical fruit and lingering hop traces in the finish. Has more body than a typical pils. Very good hopping. Nice grass and floral notes.

Silver Moon Libation Pale Ale

Piney and medium malt aroma. The initial taste is a twisting game of pine resin and caramel. A smooth and pleasant mid palate. It balances out nicely in finish. The flavors develop and blend well. Seems like a mature brew.

Silver Moon Hounds Tooth Amber

Nice citrusy aroma. Light copper color, with good lace. A restrained grapefruit initial taste. Graded bitterness and some decent maltiness in mid palate. Really more like an IPA than an amber ale.

These lighter, commonplace styles were the best on offer. I left with the feeling that Silver Moon is a rather underrated brewery.

Summer 2013 -- Bend, OR -- Part One (Deschutes Brewery & Public House) / オレゴン州 ベンド （デシューツブルワリー）

I had a busy summer traveling throughout the U.S. In Oregon for a week, Athens GA for two, Minneapolis for a long weekend, and then back out to Oregon.

My son and I visited Bend OR for a few days. A small city (pop. approx. 78,000) in the central part of the state, it is home to no less than 15 breweries. We spent most of our time there exploring five of them, and took a side trip out Tumalo Falls for a bit of hiking.

Deschutes Brewery & Public House

 This is where Deschutes started, and where they have grown into the 5th-largest craft brewery in the United States. Deschutes has always focused on making clean, full-bodied ales (such as Mirror Pond Pale Ale), and brews in that style dominate the tap list here. But a few deviated from that line and those were the ones I enjoyed most.

Deschutes Dust Buster American Kölsch

 A pub exclusive. Medium-strength citrus aroma, with tangy citrus flavors. With strong hops in mid palate, it is very flavorful but tastes more like a pale ale than a kölsch.

Deschutes Willamette Weisse

A Berliner Weisse that uses scotch broom and red cedar leaves in place of hops. A dusty lemon juice aroma and a fruity tartness so mild that it is simply an afterthought. Very delicate and smooth. It could almost be a breakfast drink.

Deschutes Belgian Baroness
A pleasant estery nose, with light berries. A fruity mix dominates, and then great bittering folds in smoothly. The finish is balanced, slightly phenolic, and a bit unrefined. Complex, sweet, interesting, and so tasty.

Deschutes Horse Ridge IPA

This is in Deschutes’ best style line -- and is kind of an amped-up big brother to Inversion IPA. I also had it on cask, and that version has a blue cheesy initial flavor but overall is a bit milder and gentler and not quite as full bodied as on tap.

 

More or Less?

Some interesting trends in the Japanese craft beer market.

Imports of U.S. Craft Beer

Figures from the U.S.-based Brewers Association show that Japanese imports of U.S. craft beer rose by 57 percent in 2012

and

the sales amount of all beer imports rose to 5.49 billion yen in 2012 (from 5.41 billion yen in 2011)

and

the volume of beer imports fell in 2012 to 40.7 million liters (from 42.4 million liters in 2011).

So, sales of U.S. craft beer are rising rapidly, and sales of imports from all countries are rising slightly, yet the overall total of imports is declining. This seems to mean that U.S. craft brewers are taking a larger share of the Japanese market, while the volume of imports is decreasing. Perhaps old stand-bys in Japan, such as Budweiser and Heineken, are losing ground to craft breweries.

Japanese Craft Breweries Expanding

Japanese craft beer production rose by 7.7% last while sales at Japan’s biggest breweries fell. In fact, the five major brewing companies have seen sales declines in each of the past eight years.

Both large and small Japanese craft breweries are ramping up production.

One expert believes that Japan in the midst of a “second microbrew boom.”

Yo-Ho Brewing Co., the biggest craft brewery in Japan, has seen a year-on-year sales increase of 40 percent. The company, founded in 1996, is one of the survivors of the first craft beer bust and plans to increase production and double its sales in 2013.

Baird Beer, one of the most highly regarded Japanese craft breweries, and also quite visible on U.S. store shelves, is currently building a new facility that should greatly expand its production.

Brimmer Brewing K.K., which started business only two years ago, is planning to triple its capacity in 2013.

A final factor: the yen has weakened against the U.S. dollar by around 15% in the past six months. Ideally, this should help Japanese craft beer makers export their brews, while also making imported beer more expensive and hence less attractive to Japanese drinkers.

A few thoughts:

Japanese craft breweries' sales comprise only 1% of the beer market in Japan. In 2012, American craft beer makers had 6.5% of the U.S. beer market by volume and 10% of sales, and those percentages are still growing.

Japanese craft beer fans seem not to mind the high price of beer as much as Americans do. Many commonly pay 1,000 – 1,200 yen ($10-12) per pint, and they will likely continue to do so. Also, they will probably not drink any less if prices rise or drink much more if prices drop.

Also, except for their novelty factor, Japanese craft beer makers have not yet distinguished themselves enough to really stand out on the crowded shelves of large beer stores in the U.S. Not next to wild and crazy and (yes) very tasty brews from Belgium, Scandinavia, and the U.S. Perhaps more marketing is called for? Or perhaps the recent favorable move in the yen/dollar exchange rate will help? On recent visit to the U.S., I noticed several bottles from one of the Japanese breweries mentioned above gathering dust in a liquor store discount bin. When I asked the manager about this, he replied that they were so expensive to import that he had to price them too high and could not sell many.

Finally, many friends have noticed that the quality of Yo-Ho’s flagship brew, Yona Yona Ale, has declined over the past year or so. Making more yes, but not better, or even as good. Boom or bust?

Craft Beer Festa Kyoto / 地ビール祭京都 2013

Do rain and beer mix? Yes, indeed.

The 4th annual Kyoto Craft Beer festval was held along the Sanjo Association Shopping Arcade on a dreary, drizzly Saturday afternoon in mid-May. But the rain really didn't matter, as the arcade is covered and a few drops didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

More breweries were serving this year (I counted 29), and the booths stretched the entire length of the shopping arcade, maybe 500-600 meters. Lots of the arcade shops and restaurants, too, got into the action, setting up impromptu storefront stands and selling a range of snacks (best deal: Y100 cups of edamame).

It was also certainly much more crowded than in the past. At one point it became nearly impossible to move from one beer stand to another.

This is a festival where one needs to pick and choose carefully, as some of the regularly participating breweries are fairly well known for making less-than-stellar brews, many of them omiyage beers for their regional tourist trade. But the top brewers in attendance had some very satisfying and interesting quaffs.

Here are a few:

Shiga Kogen Even Prime White IPA
Nice fresh whiffs of lemony saison-like notes, great stinky hops. Cloudy unfiltered honeyish color. Deep bittering from the start (dry-hopping?), wheaty notes, and a good balance in mid palate. Hops reemerge right at the end. Very smooth palate. This done just right ... from the best brewery in Japan.

Shimane Golden Sparkling
Interesting nose of cat piss and some shoe polish. Slightly hazy amber/straw color. The hops (Nelson Sauvin) are right there, front and center, in the initial / light sweet malt in mid / finish drops out fast. Clean and palate-cleansing stuff. Those hops give it a little extra punch.

Akashi Kuro Beer Yukyu no Toki
Nice roasty nose, sweet and with some light coffee notes. Dark, near black, thin filmy tan head. Good mild chocolate initial / mid palate is much the same. Not so complex. But a smooth, solid schwartz brew.

Baird Pawa-hara Golden Ale
Fruity aroma of pears ad peaches. Some honey, too. Very hazy light straw color. Good, deep maltiness in initial / subtle hopping in mid / maybe some wheat in the mix, too? Smooth, light/medium body. 6.5% seems a bit high, but the alcohol is not apparent. Good stuff ... with a weird name.

This festival, like so many, seems to be growing too large for its venue. The toilet situation was unchanged from last year, with a single small children's park toilet that had a near-constant line of imbibers in search of relief.

In any event -- and in this event --, the beer and cheer took precedence over any inconveniences. Raise a glass to the main organizer,Yamaoka-san (of Kyoto's Yamaoka Liquor Shop), and his staff of volunteers.

Japanese Craft Beer Exported to the UK / 日本の地ビールは、英国に輸出

Japanese craft beer has made modest inroads into the beer scene in the United States. If you visit a large liquor or specialty beer shop, you'll easily find bottles of Hitachino Nest, Baird, and Yona Yona. Addtionally, a few Japanese-oriented restaurants and bars, especially in U.S. large cities, feature some of the nation's microbrews

Now, a few representative Japanese brands are making their way to Britain.

Number One Drinks Company, which has been exporting British craft beer to Japan, will begin selling Japanese brews in the UK. The company, which began business by importing smaller Japanese whiskey brands, will sell beer from three Japanese micros: Baird, Minoh, and Brimmer.

For more details, see the report on the Just Drinks site HERE.