Kansai Beer Lovers 関西のビール愛好会: Kyoto Craft Beer Festival 2014

Last Saturday saw Kyoto's shopping arcade host the 2014 edition of the Kyoto Craft Beer Festival. 34 breweries took part and the nice weather meant this year's festival was busier than ever.

cute omelet snack

The local shops really got into the festival spirit and took advantage of the crowds to sell tons of delicious cheap snacks. You never had to walk more than a few paces to snag some good food for a couple of bucks. Score!

The problem from past festivals of an inadequate number of toilets was solved with some port-a-potties showing up as well as people using the restrooms in the supermarkets.

Pretty much EVERY brewery sold out by the end of the evening, hell many were out by 7pm, which just goes to show how popular this event is becoming. If this trend continues, I think the festival will outgrow the shopping arcade or possibly need to expand into a 2 day event.

So while the crowds sometimes got tiring, they are a sign of a successful event. Good job guys! A special thanks goes out to all the many volunteers who helped make this a really fun festival.

In terms of the beers on hand at the event, I was surprised to see that Sankt Galen didn't show up and I think they were here last year. Most breweries that came brought their standard beers which was slightly disappointing for a beer geek looking to try new & unusual brews.

Thankfully, a handful of breweries had some sake/beer hybrids on hand (Shonan & Ise Kadoya), Ichijoji as usual cranked out tons of fruit beers, plus Shiga Kogen & Daisen G brought some new releases.

There were also some new breweries in the mix which was nice. I started my day with the Da-chi Bitter from Bay Brewing Yokohama.

It was a solid example of the style, smooth subtle & malty - a nice start to my day.

I had next wanted to try Brewmaster's Amao Oatmeal Black but as it'd just sold out I tried their Cabos & Honey beer instead. A nice honey gold pour with a beige head that lingered and appetizing cabos fruit spritzy aroma. Medium bodied the taste was a bit cloying. It came off as some kind of citrusy sweet soda. Not bad per se but not really beer like...

As with last year's festival, Daisen G made one of my festival highlights again with their top notch Imperial Lager. This hoppy beer easily rivals a nice IPA. It poured a beautiful amber color with a big hoppy nose of herbal & citrusy hop notes - delicious. Medium bodied with a palate cleansing bitterness. A fest highlight for sure, the solid malt background gives the hops the support to shine with tons of flavor.

Since I am also a big fan of fruit beers, Ichijoji's Pineapple Ale was also a star in my book. It was a nicely balanced beer with the pineapple being counter-balanced by a solid malty base. This didn't come off as a beer cocktail, it had enough body and malt flavor to clearly say "I am beer". Well done!

Rounding out my top three was Harvestmoon's Smoke Ale, a 5% rauch that poured a deep cloudy brown with ruby highlights. The aroma was smoked ham all the way, medium bodied, the beer was a mix of tasty smoke, smoked ham & malty goodness.

Shiga Kogen's Draft Pale Ale and African Wheat Ale were both very solid too. The DPA was a tasty extremely drinkable Pale Ale while their new beer the African Wheat Ale was an exceptionally hoppy, citrusy wheat beer.

Y Market was a new brewery out of Nagoya generating a lot of buzz but long line ups and the fact I'd already tried their line up at the Dig Bar event meant I didn't have them that day. Baird sold out of their beers in 2 hours! So that was another brewery I couldn't try at the fest.