Akashi Brewery

I'd been meaning to come out here for a few years and finally had the chance with friends on a Thursday afternoon.

To get to Akashi Brewery by train I took the JR line to Akashi station and then switched to a local train on the Sanyo line going towards Himeji & Aboshi for 9 minutes. 

A short walk towards the coast brings you to what looks like a highway rest stop complex that houses the brewery & restaurant complex. 

 When you get to the brewery you find there's an Italian or Japanese style dining option. You can also enter a corridor with a display of the brewing process, ingredients and Akashi's beer line up. Behind this you'll find some windows allowing you to peek in on the brewery.

A view through the looking glass...

The Brewery restaurant had two lunch options: an Italian style pasta lunch with a salad bar (1400¥)  or burgers (8-850¥).  Service was pretty slow though our burgers were quite good.

lunch menu

salad bar

1st floor dining area

As we had ordered burgers we were directed to a spacious 2nd floor where we were pretty much the only customers on a weekday afternoon.

Eigashima burger

burger menu

Akashi brewery also has a gift shop full of souvenirs from the area as well as a wide variety of their bottled beers. I've heard this place sometimes gets tour buses who're visiting the nearby Akashi bridge connection Honshu & Shikoku. 

The gift shop

The octopus beer has no octopus in it -_-;

They have a variety of bottled beers including: Himeji (Alt), a Schwarzbier, Weizen, Brown Ale and a variety of pilsners but it can be confusing as the labels differ but lack stylistic information. So all in all, they make maybe 6-8 brews.

their beer line up

Akashi Brewery also hosts a museum of traditional Japanese drinking vessels in a back room. The glass cases house hundreds of pottery vessels and surround several large tables making the museum a kind of large banquet hall.

The 1000¥ tasting set of 4 includes a Schwarz, Brown Ale, Weizen & Pilsner and was brought to the table using this cool contraption that had staff carrying four wine glasses suspended below a wooden rod.

Here's my take on the beers from my notes:

The Schwarzbier is a deep cola black with a beige head. It';s got a nice soft sweet chocolate aroma. The taste matches the aroma giving you roasty chocolate. Medium bodied with a dry finish. 

The Brown Ale is a matte brown color with a filmy light beige head. It has a mild nutty caramel aroma. Light bodied with a chalky bitter finish. The taste is caramel, some fudge/butterscotch and slightly nutty. Kind of alt like.

The Pilsner  is cloudy gold with a thick foamy head. I’m guessing it is an unfiltered pilsner on tap. It has a bready light malt aroma with hints of  lemon zest.  Light bodied with a smooth mouthfeel. The taste is earthy bitter and green hops. 

The Weizen was virtually identical in look to the Pilsner. It had a spot on yeasty clove aroma which I really liked.  Light bodied so I found it  a bit watery but the tangy clove flavor complemented by chewy wheat was pretty good. 

On the second floor they also had a small display of a bunch of old Japanese beer bottles which was kind of cool.

Prices were tax excluded so my Eigashima burger and tasting set came up to 1950¥. It was really quiet on a Thursday afternoon for lunch but a nice spot to chill out.

When I was at the gift shop asking questions about their beers the staff couldn't answer so she fetched one of the brewers who was kind enough to give us a short tour of the brewhouse.

The best way to cap off a visit to Akashi Brewery is by getting some to go beers to enjoy by the sea...

Tuesday Tasting: Satsuma Shuzo

This week I'm going to look at a trio of beers from Kagoshima Prefecture that my buddy Brian kindly sent to me. I had some of these years ago and thought they were alright but I get the feeling that the recipes have changed. Back then I think only Satsuma Purple was made with sweet potato but it now seems like all of them are.

I received three different styles: 

Satusma Gold, Satsuma Black and Satsuma Red.

The Red replaced Satsuma Purple which was one of my favorite Japanese brews from when I just started getting into Japanese craft beer.

Satsuma Gold 4.5%

A clear bright bass color with a white head of foam. The aroma is bready malts, sweet with a spicy sugary quality I guess comes from the sweet potato. That surgary charact is a bit artificial but not terribly so.

Medium to light bodied with a syrupy texture. The taste is very sugary sweet like some kind of powdered candy but you also get a more typical lager like bready malt sweetness and it finishes quite dry.

It's a weird beer, not as bad as some online reviews painted it to be but too sweet and if that is coming from the sweet potato it is definitely clashing with the other ingredients.

Satsuma Black 4.5%

Also made with sweet potato it pours a cola black with a fizzy beige head that vanished so quickly I couldn't snap a photo of it. 

A nice chocolate fudge aroma with a spicy cinnamonesque quality which is similar to what I picked up in the Gold  which must be from the sweet potato. The dark malts seem to balance that out and prevent it from getting too sweet. 

It is light bodied, a bit too gassy and finishes fairly dry. The flavor isn't bad, roasty, chocolate syrup but it does have that sweet potato character of starchy sugar that is pretty odd.

In this beer the sweet potato sort of works. Decent. 

Satsuma Red 4.5% 

This beer pours blood red with a pink head of foam. The aroma has a fruity wine like character coupled with the sugary spice component I associate with sweet potatoes.  

It's medium bodied with a rich silky mouthfeel. The flavor is sweet though somewhat artificial seeming sweet potato, fruity, some diacetyl but it is weirdly well integrated.

My big takeaway from this brew is of a fruity cotton candy. It’s alright but the discontinued Satsuma Purple was the real winner from this brewery in my book.

Tuesday Tasting: New Belgium

I'm planning on  visiting New Belgium during my trip to Colorado this month so I figured I'd do a small Tuesday Tasting featuring a few of their brews: 1554 Black Lager & Trippel

1554 Black Lager 5.6%

Served in a lager glass it is a deep brown with red accents that verges on black and an impressively thick beige head. The aroma is soft cocoa, chewy breadiness  and an enticing semi-spicy quality. Medium to full bodied with a chewy texture but a raspy carbonation.

The taste is very quaffable with a balanced roast edge merged with chewy chocolate buns. Malt forward, tasty and interesting. A surprise hit with me.

New Belgium Tripel 7.8%

A beautiful bright clear gold with a foamy white head. The aroma is vineous, plum, figs, a bit tart but a very nice example of the style. Medium to full mouthfeel with a dry finish. The taste is crackery pale malts and big luscious candied fruits, figs, plums, raisins and while it has some boozy heat it is quite well balanced. 

I like it, it's a good example of a Belgian Style Trippel, but being in Japan we can get Belgian original versions for less. So if I was in the US I'd go for this in a heartbeat but being in Japan I think I'd get an belgian original instead. Really really nice though.

I didn't realize I had a third New Belgium brew in my fridge:

New Belgium Snapshot 5%

It is listed as a tart wheat beer with a cloudy light gold color that possesses a filmy eggshell white head.

A tart wheat aroma that is very reminiscent of a Gose. 

The taste is wheat, soda bread, some lemon and a mild tartness. It feels to me it is midway between a Gose and a wheat ale. That tartness is very mild in the finish. It's ok but isn't as good as the previous two bottles.

Miyazaki Breweries

I went on a trip in February 2016 to Miyazaki and while there I delved into the local beer scene. Compared to more developed areas like Tokyo or Kansai things are still in their infancy but there's a lot of promise.

Landing at the airport I went straight to the 2nd floor souvenir shop to score some local craft beers to enjoy at my hotel as I wasn't sure how easy it'd be to find craft beer in Miyazaki City. 

2nd floor omiyage shop with an extensive local beer selection at Miyazaki Airport

Hideji Beers at 7-11

I needn't have worried, the station in town also had some local beers and Hideji beer was widely available everywhere from supermarkets to 7-11 and even some tourist type restaurants.

So lets look at what Miyazaki prefecture has to offer in terms of beer. Basically, you've got three options:

Hideji Beer up in Nobeoka is the biggest craft brewery in Miyazaki and is very much in a modern craft beer mold finding their way on to taps all over Japan.

Kirishima Beer is based in Miyakonojo in Southern Miyazaki almost on the border with Kagoshima. They're part of Kirishima Shuzo a mammoth maker of shochu but are slowly expanding and boosting their profile in the craft beer world.

Brewery Aya is located in a farm/hot spring complex to the west of Miyazaki City and is the smallest of the three. I've never heard of them being seen anywhere outside of Miyazaki and they're what you'd call more of an omiyage beer (beers made as a souvenir rather than for regular craft beer drinkers).

Brewery Aya

I picked up the three beers they make at the airport: a kolsch, an alt and a kuro (black) beer. One of the most interesting things about these guys is their 500ml aluminium screw top bottles. 

This makes them great to carry around and also sample in more than one sitting. 

So how did the beers measure up?

Brewery Aya Alt

An orange amber pour with a fizzy beige head that vanished fast. The aroma is alright, grainy, floral fruity (at one point I thought I smelled ripe bananas) and light caramel. Light bodied and very dry. My first impression is biscuit, crackers, corn husks, a bit of sweetness and floral hops. I am just guessing but I almost get the feeling they crushed their malt too fine. 

Very much malt forward but it isn’t as sweet as I am used to in an alt, I think I preferred the kolsch. Paired with some Meiji chocolate the caramel sweetness finally showed itself so if you want to get the most out of this beer, pair it with chocolate.

Brewery Aya Kölsch

A deep gold pour with a fizzy fast-dissipating beige head. The initial aroma was skunk weed, once that dissipated you got a mild grainy sweet aroma with perhaps just a tiny hint of diacetyl.  

It is medium to light bodied with a raspy carbonation and a very very dry finish. I felt it was perhaps a touch overcarbonated. 

The taste is sweet grains, some cardboard and a herbal earthy light bitterness that in the aftertaste makes me thick a bit of pine needles & crackers. A passable beer, nothing is really off with it but then again nothing excels either.


Brewery Aya Kuro (Black)

This is the typical "Kuro or black beer aka a Japanese Schwarzbier that along with alts  and kolsch completes the triumvirate of an unimaginative j-craft brewery. 

Pouring a cola black with virtually zero foam it has an aroma of banana bread and chocolate syrup with a slight graininess. 

Light bodied with that typical Aya Brewery dryness. The taste is roasty chocolate with a slight tang in the initial. Kind of boring flavor wise but not bad. It’s okay. 

Ranking these in my order of preference I'd say: 

#1 Kolsch

#2 Black 

#3 Alt

They’re all fine Omiyage type brews but nothing really stands out about them. Though they are superior to many Omiyage beers in not having any obvious flaws.

Hideji Beer Brewery

Hideji has two main line ups of beer: regular craft styles and fruit beers made with local crops. During my trip, I had a handful of the regular beers which I sometimes come across on tap but rarely see in bottles in Kansai. 

Badass IPL 5%  


This was a collaboration between Hideji and Beer Market Base which is the only craft beer bar I was able to uncover in Miyazaki. It had just been released the week before I went on my trip and of course I had to go to the source to try it (ie Beer Market Base).



It pours a lovely clear light gold with a thick creamy head of white foam. A nice fruity /floral hop bouquet with a dank edge to it. Light bodied and dry with a sharply bitter finish. The taste is woodsy pine with some fruity sweetness in the aftertaste but mostly a lasting bitterness. A solid IPL.

Hideji Shinkan no Pale Ale 4.2%

A last souvenir from the airport in Miyazaki that I enjoyed at home.

It pours an opaque gold with a filmy off-white head. It’s got an earthy citrus hop aroma with an attractive underlying sweetness. 

Medium bodied with a sandpapery carbonation but good flavor of woodsy citrus and a balanced bitterness. A solidly satisfying pale ale.

Hideji Stout 4.5%  

A seasonal release for about 620¥ making it the priciest of their beers I picked up. I drank this while waiting for my take out sumibiyaki to be ready. 

It pours out with a thick viscosity and tan head. Fairly full mouthfeel and roasty chocolate goodness on a velvety body. A lovely roasty oats and cacao aroma. The nicest Miyazaki beer I had all trip. 

Hideji Whirlwind Oroshi IPA 5.2%

Had this on tap at Molto a few weeks after getting back to Kansai. It has a nice juicyfruit hop aroma & an almost white pepper edge to it. The taste is a grapefruit pith bitterness with mild pine notes. It’s alright. 



The fruit beers are part of a Miyazaki no Mori series and use a lager as a base. So far they've made Hyuganatsu, Kinkan, Sweet Potato and Grapefruit I believe.They're also pretty good and worth a try if you like fruit beers.

Kirishima Shuzo Kirinokura Brewery

I first had these guys on tap at the 2015 Great Japan Beer Festival and during this trip I went down to Miyakonojo to enjoy the countryside and some hot springs so popped in to check out the massive new Kirishima Factory Garden Complex which includes free tours of the immense Shochu Factory, a Bakery Cafe, a small Shochu Museum, what looked like a driving range, a spring for people to get high quality free water and the brewery/restaurant/gift shop which offers free shochu samples.

Kirishima Factory Garden

Due to the fact the brewery is expanding I couldn't visit but I did enjoy a good quality light lunch and  tasting set at the brewery. They make 4 regular beers: a Blond, a Golden, a Stout and a Hyganatsu fruit beer. 

I did however, meet one of the brewers who said they brew 2-3 times a week and make about 3000 hectoliter a year. When I mentioned the obvious construction going on he said they're adding 10 tanks and have started brewing seasonals. 

These are the brews that has seen them branch out into more craft type styles like Pilsner, Amber and, IPA but the results haven't been that great so far from what I've heard. Good on them for trying.

Anyways, on to the beers I've tried. I had the whole range at the 2015 Great Japan Beer Festival and then tried a three again at the brewery taproom restaurant.

Kirishima Kirinokura Beer Blond  4.5%

On tap at GJBF Osaka 2015. Crystal clear, it had a big fruity wine like aroma. Medium bodied with a soft mouthfeel. Tasty bready fruit flavor dominates but it was maybe a touch metallic.

At the brewery it was a murky orange gold with an off-white head. The aroma was like of a fruity creamsicle orange and grains. The taste is grainy, mild fruits, wheat dust and a crisp very mild bitter finish. It looked better at the GJBF but tasted nicer at the brewery.

Kirishima Kirinokura Golden  4.5%

It was a clear brown/golden amber with a malty sweet caramel flavor. Medium-light bodied with a dry finish. Crackery malts, caramel and a bit metallic like many of their beers I had at the GJBF. 

I didn't try this at the brewery unfortunately.

Kirishima Kirinokura Hyuganatsu  4.5%

日向夏 - At the GJBF it poured a crystal clear light gold with a rich fruity nose. Med-light bodied. The taste was a bit artificial but full of flavor. 

At the brewery it's a murky orange gold with an off-white head. A fruity creamsicle orange and grains aroma. The taste is grainy, mild fruits, wheat dust and a crisp very mild bitter finish. A drinkable fruit beer.

Kirishima Kirinokura Stout  4.5%

On tap at GJBF Osaka 2015. It was a dark brown and had a chocolate banana bread aroma. The taste was a decent chocolate flavor but a bit metallic as well.

It has a thick beige head & good lacing on a black body. The aroma has a similar fruity character to the blond but with some roastiness. Sharply carbonated on a medium body. The taste is roasty grainy with chocolate biscuits in the finish.  This is probably a Dry Stout.

We were so hungry so we ordered a yomogi udon (mugwort?) for about 540¥. Good value and interesting compared to the 1200+ lunch sets. If you order this add the spring onions and tempura flakes to the dipping sauce then dip the noodles & eat! 

Mugwort udon!

So that's a look at the three breweries I know of in Miyazaki. Hideji is a fairly big player in the Japanese beer scene, Kirishima has ambitions and is trying to do more while Aya seems content to be a local brewery attraction.