Japanese beer isn’t all Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo – craft beers and bars are seeing a revival, but you’ll have to visit to try many of the best
- Recent popular craft beers including Baird, Shiga Kogen and Yona Yona Ale have joined ‘first wave’ favourites like Echigo, Hitachino Nest and Coedo
- One expert credits the revival on breweries producing American-influenced IPAs and moving away from ‘inauthentic interpretations’ of German beer styles
Japan’s most famous beer makers – Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo – are as well-known as any Japanese electronics company or car manufacturer in the country and their drinks are consumed widely across the world. But many of the best Japanese beers are seen little outside the nation.
Japanese people love beer, and the country is in the midst of a craft beer renaissance first sparked by a revision to the Liquor Tax Law in 1994, which allowed small-scale breweries to operate by greatly reducing the minimum production needed to get a licence. Many of these initial ji-biru (“local beer”) breweries attracted a steady following.
More recently, the market received a boost in 2018 when a further revision to the law gave beer makers more flexibility when choosing ingredients. In the past five years, the number of beer breweries in Japan has almost doubled to 528, according to drinks supplies manufacturer Kita Sangyo.
As with many modern aspects of Japan, beer-making dates back to the late 19th century, following the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in 1858, which opened Japan up from its centuries-long policy of seclusion from the world.
Japan’s first brewery was Spring Valley, founded in Yokohama by Norwegian-American William Copeland in 1869. It was “one of many enterprises … that opened to cater to Western sailors and residents in the treaty port”, says Eric Rath, professor of history at the University of Kansas and a specialist in Japanese food culture.
