Nagisa Beer - Shirahama

the beach

If you live in Kansai a nice weekend trip down to Shirahama is a great way to relax, in the summer you have a nice beach(Shirahama means white sand) and in the winter you can enjoy all the hot springs to the fullest. 

a hot spring

If you're a beer lover like me then as an added bonus you can enjoy a taste of the local beer: Nagisa Beer.






I visited Shirahama around 5 years ago & at that time you could look in on the Nagisa brewery & buy a few bottles from a take-away window.

the brewery

take out window

The brewery is located closer to the center of town, it's not that big but they have definitely grown since my last visit with the garage like space having filled up with fermenters & mash tuns. It looks like they may have almost reached the limits of what they can fit in this space. It is worth popping by to grab some beers(380 yen each), Nagisa goods and a peak through the glass walls into the brewery.

seasonal: IPA

Since then, they've been doing pretty well, they show up at more festivals, have started doing more seasonals & one-offs plus kegs of  Nagisa beer  are showing up in beer bars more frequently. 

On top of all that, they have a taphouse & restaurant in town called Nagisa Beer Dining Barley. 

beers available for take-out at the restaurant

 The restaurant, which can be reached by a 5 minute bus ride from Shirahama beach, is quite stylish with the staff dressed up in starched white shirts & crisp dress pants while the decor exudes a west coast bistro vibe.

The big bay windows and high ceilings give it an airy feel and it is actually quite large with 12-15 tables capable of seating roughly 50 patrons plus another half dozen at the bar. 

They seem to have about 5 taps though only 4 seemed to be in use during my visit: 3 of them Nagisa beers(American Wheat, Pale Ale & a seasonal at the moment it is an IPA) and a Guiness tap.

250 yen tasters - aka mini-glass

   

the delicious lunch menu

After having a nice lunch meal at the restaurant(last order 2:30pm), I went back in the evening enjoy a glass of the IPA which was my favorite of the beers I had in the afternoon(580 yen, 400ml -pitchers are 2100 yen for 1.6L!).

In the evening, the bar area was lit by old-style low wattage filament bulbs giving it a pleasing mellow atmosphere which perfectly matched the chill instrumental background music. I struck up a conversation with the bartender and a guy sitting at the bar in a Nagisa jacket. 

We got to know each other, talking about where we'd lived, talking about beer and I asked them about the restaurant & Nagisa beer. I learned that it is busiest during Obon & Golden Week and summer weekends. I also found out that the Eyepatch Stout will be their next seasonal release but the recipes being tweaked to be more "koi" i.e. flavorful. One thing I noticed about Nagisa beers is that they all have a characteristic smooth full-bodied mouthfeel that I like. It's nice when a brewery starts to have a recognizable trait.

relaxing with local beer

The cool thing was it turned out the guy at the bar was none other than the "shacho" Manabe Kazuya - founder of Nagisa Beer~! He's an incredibly nice guy who told me about living in Tokyo & Kyoto, that Ichijoji Beer's brewmaster often comes down for a visit as does Wachi's owner. It was a great experience and good japanese practice for me!

All in all, Shirahama is a great place for a weekend getaway with hot springs, a great looking beach plus of course Nagisa Beer!

Tuesday Tasting: Brewfist Beers

Today's Tuesday Tasting will feature two beers from Italian Craft Brewery Brewfist which are a new addition to Whisk-E's import line up. I'll be tasting Spaceman IPA & Caterpillar Pale Ale.

I picked up my bottles of Brewfist's Spaceman IPA & the BeerHere+Brewfist Caterpillar Pale Ale Collaboration on Rakuten for roughly 600 yen, though I believe Asahiya also has them, possibly for less.

Spaceman IPA clocks in at 7% but you don't taste that alcohol at all. It poured a great orange honey gold (which is my preferred IPA color) and had a fruity aroma, with mint, citrus, & tropical fruit notes  but no head. The taste is ascerbic, bitter but with a fruitiness that creeps up in the finish and it has some graham biscuity notes. It's pretty good.

The Caterpillar Pale Ale is 5.8% and has a very similar color to the Spaceman IPA but is slightly cloudier with much better carbonation. A milder aroma featuring, pine, fruity notes and maybe a hint of mint. The taste is not as complex or ascerbic as Spaceman, it is definitely a well-balanced beer. The bitter pine plays off the malts & rye well with a touch of citrus fruitiness in the finish. As it warms up the malts start to shine through a bit more.

I think both of these are very solid beers, the Spaceman IPA nudges ahead by a hair. It has a nice aroma & a more complex taste while the Caterpillar Pale Ale is less complex & more subtle though quite good. Both of these are worth checking out.