Japan: Craft beer sector slowly getting busier

In 2014, Japan surprised the world when connoisseur Jim Murray made his pick for “World Whiskey of the Year.” Rather than something Scottish, or Irish, Murray gave a nod to the Japanese Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013, giving it a 97.5 out of 100, Forbes reported on March 19.

“Near incredible genius,” he wrote. “A single malt which no Scotch can at the moment get anywhere near.”

Since then, Japan has taken the whiskey world by storm, with critics heaping praise on houses like Nikka, Suntory, Kirin and Chichibu, the darling of Japan’s independent whisky scene. But for all their talent with whisky, the Japanese have yet to master another Western beverage: craft beer.

“The macro brews are of course still very popular,” said Ioanna Morelli, co-owner of Niseko-based Bar Gyu+ with her husband, Hisashi Watanabe. “Japan is a hot country in the summer time and the major players like Asahi and Kirin have 'super cold' or 'sub 0' pilsners that are really popular.”

In the past few years, a handful of Japanese craft breweries have opened around the country, to varying degrees of success.

“The good breweries are really good,” said Australian Mick Nippon, owner of beer and wine bar Mick’s Place, also in Niseko. “The bad ones are just awful.”

Part of the problem stems from Japan’s lack of a home brewing culture. In the United States, easily the hub for today’s “new wave” of craft breweries, home brewing was federally legalized in 1978. Alabama and Mississippi didn’t make it legal until 2013, but in the majority of states, one could home brew with impunity.

The legislation created demand for hop farms, malt houses and labs specializing in different types of yeast, as well as a strong base of knowledge that would one day support a thriving industry. By contrast, in Japan, it’s still illegal to home brew beer over 1%. Locals say that no one cares as long as they don’t advertise loudly, but the legal red tape ensures that the home brewing community stays small.

Today, the Japanese home brewing industry is mostly run by foreigners who learn the craft in another country and bring their own equipment into Japan. When they leave, they often sell their equipment to other ex-pats or locals.

Hamilton Shields, owner of craft beer bar Mikkeller Tokyo, has been in business for almost two years — he actually spent a summer working at Mick’s Place in Niseko.

“Of course we get quite a few beer geeks and beer tourists at the bar, and we love serving them whatever crazy stuff we can come up with,” he said. “But it’s been really encouraging to see more business people coming in after work, introducing groups of their colleagues to craft beer or just sitting and relaxing at the counter after a long day.”

Currently, most of the Japanese beer scene is controlled by five major players: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, Suntory and Orion. But unlike the large breweries in the West, the major Japanese players have been quick to react to shifting tastes.

“You look at Australia and realize that the big guys were slow to get on the band wagon, even in making a pale ale,” Nippon said. “But here, they haven’t. They’ve said, ‘Wow, we’re losing market share, so we’ve got to make new beers.’ They’re actually experimenting.”

One example of this experimentation is Sapporo Classic, a beer that’s only readily available on the northern island of Hokkaido. The beer is pitched as a Hokkaido beer made with Hokkaido ingredients, and is a bit sweeter and hoppier than Sapporo Black Label, the brewery’s standard offering.

“For all of us who are lucky enough to live in Hokkaido, this is our everyday treat,” wrote one commenter on a blog about beers in Japan.

But are the Japanese catching on to craft beer in the same way as native consumers in other large Asian markets like Seoul and Beijing? Maybe.

“This winter, we’ve also had a lot more young Japanese folks coming in,” said Shields. “We don’t totally know why… maybe it’s the beer.”

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