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.

Upcoming Beer Events in Western Japan

The weather is warming up, and so is the beer season in western Japan (or, as they say in "Spinal Tap,"  in "the world and elsewhere." Here's a quick rundown of beer events where you can find out what the nation's brewers have been up to.

Kyoto Craft Beer Festival / 地ビール祭京都 5/11
Now in it's fourth year, this has grown into a very pleasant festival. Centered in a small children's park, it stretches for 100 meters or so along a quaint Kyoto shopping arcade. You can stroll from booth to booth, pop into a restaurant for a meal, and do some shopping if you like.

大阪・CRAFT BEER LIVE 2013 in なんば -- 5/25 ~ 5/26
This festival focuses on Kansai (or western Japan) area breweries.

 Belgian Beer Weekend - Osaka / ベルギービールウィークエンド大阪 6/05 ~ 6/09
A large event, featuring a variety of high-octane brews from the little country that could, can, and has been brewing great beers in myriad styles for about 1,000 years.

Tanabata Beer Festa Toyama 2013 / 富山・タナバタビアフェスティバル・トヤマ -- 7/05~7/07
Very much a local festival, but it attracts beer lovers from far and wide.

Great Japan Beer Festival - Osaka / BeerFes大阪 7/13~7/15 
The big one, which has always had the potential to be a great one. High-priced, small pours, but probably the widest variety of any event.

Winter 2013 -- West Coast -- Zwickelmania in Portland

Our visit to Portland coincided with the annual Zwickelmania event. On a single day every year, breweries across Oregon open up to the general public for tours and free sampling. This year it was held on February 16, from 11am to 4pm, with some 80+ breweries participating, more than 30 in Portland alone.

What is a "zwickel," and why should we be maniacal about it? It's a small valve near the bottom of fermentation or conditioning tanks, from which brewers sample the maturing beer for quality control. This event offers people the chance to taste beer the same way the brewers do.

Anyway, my friend and fellow beer blogger (who has the good fortune to live year-round in Portland) picked us up early and off we went.

First stop was Gigantic Brewing, which was voted one the top five new breweries in the world for 2012 by Rate Beer. We sampled the IPA and The Royale (Belgian Blonde), both very tasty.

Next we went to Hopworks Urban Brewery, where the owner and brewmaster, Christian Ettinger was serving up the excellent HUB Lager.

Third up, Coalition Brewing, which offered their very pleasant Cascadian Dark Ale.

Then to Migration Brewing, which was celebrating its third anniversary. We had the very sessionable Glisan Street Dry Hop Pale Ale. Also, the Triploid IPA, a 8% 100+IBU brew made especially for the event.

For lunch, we headed to Columbia River Brewing Co. and had two beers with our sandwiches: Stumblers Stout and War Elephant Double IPA.

At this point, we decided to get serious, and moved over to Hair of the Dog Brewing Co. This is one or Portland's most respected breweries, and the crowd was among the largest of the day. We got very generous samples of unfiltered Blue Dot IPA, which is certainly one of the best exemplars of the style.

Last stop, best stop? Maybe so, since it was Upright Brewing, which makes ambitious, often very experimental and open-fermented beers. We had Captain Beefheart, which contains actual beef hearts..., and Saison Truffle Rahsaan, aged in a rum barrel with black truffles that had been preserved in Fernet Branca. Whew! Those Upright guys really do push the limits.

Well, the day ended, and we were somehow still upright ourselves.Thanks to Red, who ferried us around and gave us a great time. Check out his Japanese-language blog: オ州酒ブログ

Winter 2013 -- West Coast -- Fred Meyer supermarket (Portland) / 冬2013 - 西海岸 - フレッドマイヤースーパーマーケット（ポートランド）

Just before I arrived in Portland, a friend posted a couple of photos of himself marveling at the huge wall of beer at this recently revamped Fred Meyer supermarket in the Hollywood District of Portland. He said that he sort of went into a "standing coma" as he tried to take it all in.

So, of course, one of the first things I did after hitting town was to go check it out myself.

Really, the selection is that good, especially for well-known Oregon, Northwest, and West Coast brews. It definitely has the largest number of beers I’ve ever seen in a supermarket. Two long aisles: one filled with US macros and imports; the other loaded with maybe 300+ kinds of micros in packs and bombers. Also, lots of discounted bottles pile high in wire bins.

No, you are not going to find many great lambics, sours, or rare barrel-aged brews here - but for the exceptional selection and reasonable prices, it is a very good place.

Fred Meyer

3030 NE Weidler St.
Portland, Oregon United States 97232

Winter 2013 -- West Coast -- Arch Rock Brewing Company / 冬2013 - 西海岸 - アーチロック ブリューイング

A total of 409 new breweries opened in the United States in 2012. Here's one of the first to open in 2013.

Arch Rock is a very small brewery in Gold Beach, OR (actually just down the road, in Hunter Creek), which opened on January 25, 2013. Only two beers (a lager and a porter) were available when I visited, though apparently they have just added a pale ale. As they grow, they plan to add seasonals and others (IPA, triple, stout). So far they are making 15-barrel batches, and the brews are available at several local bars and restaurants, as well as in 32oz and 64oz growlers at the brewey. A small taproom fronts the brewery, but it didn’t appear to be in operation yet. I had a chance to talk briefly with the friendly owner, Larry, and the brewer, Charles. Charles worked at Uinta Brewing in Salt Lake City for five years and later at Grand Teton Brewing in Idaho.

Gold Beach Lager
Has a mild grassiness, and low hop nose. Hazy dull yellow color, with a creamy off-white head. The initial flavor is of slightly harsh grass and grain / mid palate is lightly sweet, with milled cereal notes / pleasant traces of bitterness in final. Thin-medium body. Actually, a bit heavy for a lager. Not bad at all, though.

State of Jefferson Porter
This one features a smooth chocolate aroma. It's pitch black, with translucent edges. A gentle coffee initial / chocolate notes come out in mid palate / very good balance in the finish. Medium body. Though it was served too cold, it's a pleasant, well-balanced porter.

I'll certainly stop in again next time I'm in the area to see how they are developing.

Baird Beer Brunch in Hong Kong / 香港で ベアードビールブランチ

Here's a post on Martyn Cornell's excellent blog, Zythophile, about a recent beer breakfast held at The Globe in Hong Kong, in which each of six Baird beers was matched with a different dish. Bryan Baird's comments are summarized succinctly, along with the author's detailed evaluation of each beer. Have a look:

Baird Beer and Breakfast

The six pairings:
1) Cured ocean trout, cream cheese, and cucumber + Single-Take Session Ale
2) French toast and bacon +  Rising Sun Pale Ale
3) Chinese steamed buns with sugar-braised pork and hoisin sauce + Red Rose Amber Ale
4) Cumberland sausage and cheddar roll + Angry Boy Brown Ale
5) "Mini-burger" + Suruga Bay Imperial IPA
6) "Chocolate and Caramel Beignets”(actually, deep-fried Mars bars!) + Kurofune Porter

                                                          Source: Zythophile