For every bad Budweiser there's a crummy Kirin -- don't fret though -- there's a microbrew revolution bubbling in the Pacific. Dozens of Japanese cities and prefectures now boast a locally made beer or three. Many takes on traditional European styles are mezurashi (intriguingly different). Some are even superb, like lusciously rusty Machiyo Kuro, available in Kyoto where Tonchin-tei pub comes highly recommended. I intend to find it someday -- in Kintetsu Meiten gai (a mall across the street from Kyoto Station) -- out the hachiyo-guchi (south doors).
an ad for Wasabi-tinged beer from Miyamori Brauhaus in sedate Iwate prefecture since 1997.
Yona Yona brews are a vast improvement over the old standbys but their good-looking graphics don't compensate for a signature taste that's just not as alluring as other new options. Word has it that real rishiki (Sumo wrestlers) prefer stronger spirits to beer. Better is 108-year-old Torokko Beer company's attractive weizen so fresh and lively the 'pull-tab cap' sounded like fireworks.
have you imbibed the alluring 5.5% "alcoholicity" of Rubin Rot?
The epicenter of beer in Japan is a tiny tavern in the Ryogoku section of Tokyo, where Mr. Tatsuo Aoki runs BakushuClub POPEYE, which I first heard about via the time-tested tasters blogging about Japanese food and drink at bento.com.
Tappin' with Tatsuo in my Sabit-wear!
The enthusiasm of Japan's service industry is unparalleled, and no one's happier about their job than Tatsuo. His pub features 40 taps (gravity taps and hand-pulled ales included) covering the range of Japanese microbrews. The ever-changing selection may include vintage casks of strong ale and barley wine from Hakusekikan in Gifu, or the supreme Teikoku IPA made by Sayuri and Bryan Baird in the shadows of Shizuoka's Mt. Fuji. Tatsuo is deep into the craft and creates his own unique styles of beer. Savor his India Black Ale called Divine Vamp 3 - 'tis aptly named indeed.
When you first sit down at Popeye, you'll be given a complimentary snack designed expressly to provide stamina for beer drinking. Once we got chicken in miso, another time a soft-boiled egg with green onion and soy flavor:
Popeye's food goes well beyond spinach. There's a large bar menu including scrumptous eisbein (German for "ice leg" aka ham hocks); intriguing baked avocado, and fresh Buffalo Wings that are tasty if slightly inauthentic.
In other beer news, despite mass quantities of lackluster suds, Japan's brewing giants have come up with a sneaky way to avoid heavy Federal taxes. Asahi, Sapporo, Yebisu and others have devised non-beer beers with clever names like this one from Kirin:
Skirting taxation by making products that look like beer but don't fit the governmental definition allows a c. 30% savings to be passed along to consumers. These products taste almost as "good" as standard brews and are being marketed ferociously with billboards and come-ons like free otsumami (snacks):
Hurry if you want to sample the wares. While Japan's govermental bureaucracy can't move as quickly as corporations, they're onto the scheme and backpedaling furiously to update their regulations.
Ahhhh, tsume tai birru (cold beer) -- beautiful in drinking, ne?
