Most beer in controlled by the main four companies. They all taste similar, methinks.
I have heard rumors of a growing craft beer scene in Japan, with a brewpub or two somewhere in Tokyo. Stateside we are crazy about Kiuchi Brewery*, and I've seen Coedo but never drank it because it's expensive (like $10 for 12 oz bottle with bad reviews anyway) and Kogen unfiltered was okay.
Happoshu: Is it actually good? Not usually? Is there any good? How high is the liquor tax anyway?
I know I can research these things in either language, but I wanted to start a beer thread, especially pertaining any recommendations people have for up-and-coming craft beers in Japan, or hot-spots.

*I tried a limited release version of the nest white ale with plum and salt a couple weeks ago and it was delicious.

and there's this: http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=11293

tashippy Wrote:Happoshu: Is it actually good? Not usually? Is there any good? How high is the liquor tax anyway?

No, it's engineered to get around the tax laws and pretty much nothing else. As long as it gets you drunk and is palatable then it succeeds in its goal.

There are lots of places to get tasty beer in Japan but they all tend to have on thing in common: costs are around ¥900-1200 for 350ml of beer. (It's typical to pour this smaller size to make the price look a bit better.)

Honestly I've gone the other way and gotten in to nihonshu and shochu. You can get big bottles of famous and high quality sake for the price of a few bottles of craft beer.

This link should help your quest: http://www.bento.com/r-beer.html

I tried the brews at Ant 'n Bee a couple of years ago and enjoyed most of what I tried. They had at least 10 brews on their menu at the time ranging in price from about 700-1200, but I forget whether that was for the half-size or the full-sized drafts.

Oh hey, this is my area of expertise..! Haha.
I used to work at a craft beer pub in Osaka. ヽ(´ー｀)ノ
I'll add another post after this one detailing Osaka beer pubs... haha. This is going to be long. ><;

The craft beer scene has exploded in Japan recently.. in the past year or two I'd say. There are tons of craft pubs in Tokyo and Osaka and quite a few in Kyoto. There are also some scattered throughout the rest of the country as well. However, as tokyostyle said, the prices are.. pricey. Here in Osaka most everywhere will let you choose a size. Some are just Pint and Half Pint but others have quite a few sizes to choose from as well as tasting sets that are reasonable.

As for the big name breweries we hear most often here in Osaka, well.. there are a lot. I'll throw them in divided by region and add notes on the noteworthy ones. They're all good, though.

北海道 Hokkaido
・ノースアイランド North Island
・鬼伝説地ビール Onidensetsu Ji-beer

岩手県 Iwate-ken
・銀河高原ビール Ginga Kogen Beer
・いわて蔵ビール Iwatekura Beer

秋田県 Akita-ken
・田沢湖ビール Tazawako Beer

茨城県 Ibaraki-ken
・常陸野ネストビール Hitachino Nest Beer (Of world-wide renown. Their white ale is nice.)

栃木県 Tochigi-ken
・プレストンエール Preston Ale

埼玉県 Saitama-ken
・COEDO（コエド） (Also world-wide famous)

千葉県 Chiba-ken
・ロコビア Loco Beer
・ハーヴェスト・ムーン Harvest Moon

東京都 Tokyo
・Tennoz Ale (T.Y. Harbor Brewery) (Some good IPAs here)

神奈川県 Kanagawa-ken
・湘南ビール Shonan Beer
・サンクトガーレン Sankt Gallen Brewery (quite famous in Japan. Some good chocolate beers as well as barley wines.)

山梨県 Yamanashi-ken
・富士桜高原麦酒 Fujizakura Kogen Mugishu (these guys make amazing weizens. srsly good stuff. we had a special line set up for their main weizen at the beer pub I worked at and set the gas pressure just right so that it was like mother's millk.)
・Outsider Brewing (these guys make amazing.. just about anything. but very small.)

新潟県 Niigata-ken
・スワンレイクビール Swanlake Beer
・エチゴビール Echigo Beer

富山県 Toyama-ken
・城端麦酒 Johana Beer (magicians and masters of the girly drinkable beers. They seriously have a beer that tastes exactly like Earl Gray tea. Oh yeah, normal beers too.)

長野県 Nagano-ken
・志賀高原ビール Shiga Kogen Beer (quite famous in these parts. make some killer strong beers like barrel aged Double IPAs and Imperial Stouts and the like. Their House IPA is also amazing.)
・ヤッホー・ブルーイング Yo-Ho Brewing (Yona Yona) (One of the biggest craft beers in Japan. You can find their stuff in some Lawsons. Never had a bad beer from here.. Yona Yona Ale is great, as is their "前略・好みなんて聞いてないぜSORRY!" series (the first of which I did a video on on Youtube. :x))
・南信州ビール Minami-shinshu Beer
・木曽路ビール Kiso Ji-beer

静岡県 Shizuoka-ken
・御殿場高原ビール Gotemba Kogen Beer
・ベアードビール Baird Beer (Run by an American guy and a Japanese guy. They have some tasty beers and I even saw some of them at a liquor store in the US when I went back to visit family last summer. One of the craft pubs here sells Baird for relatively cheap.)

愛知県 Aichi-ken
・金しゃちビール Kinshachi Beer

三重県 Mie-ken
・伊勢角屋麦酒 Isekadoya Beer (Good beers all around. Their pale ale is especially drinkable and delicious and they make a good coffee stout. They also recently teamed up with the beer pubs of Osaka to make a special Osaka beer. A belgian pale ale. Amazingly drinkable. Good stuff.)

大阪府 Osaka
・大阪國乃長ビール Osaka Kuninocho Beer
・箕面ビール Minoh Beer (Osaka's pride and joy of craft beer. They've won first place at the World Beer Awards in England countless times for their stout, imperial stout, Double IPA and Yuzu White Ale. This is also my home base of Japanese beerdom. I know just about every single person in the company from the president down to the owners and part-timers of the direct sale pubs. Haha. Good stuff!)

鳥取県 Tottori-ken
・大山Gビール Daisen ‘G’Beer (Good stuff all around. Especially their weizen line. Their head brewer is very bald. Good guy.)

福岡県 Fukuoka-ken
・門司港レトロビール Mojiko Retro Beer

宮崎県 Miyazaki-ken
・ひでじビール Hideji Beer

鹿児島県 Kagoshima-ken
・城山ブルワリー Shiroyama Brewery

Osaka Beer Pubs!! (I just finished this post and realized.. I may like beer a little bit. I also may have overdone it. OHWELL! Kansai people unite! ヽ(´ー｀)ノ)

PS- if any craft beer lovers are in or around Osaka and are looking for some good bars, good brews and probably a lot of Japanese practice- hit me up!
There are also a lot of events and things that are more lively than the average day at the pub. Good times.

Conveniently, one pub (Craft Beer Base) has put together a map showing almost every pub selling craft beer in the city along with links to their websites so I don't have to!

CBB's Osaka Craft Beer Map

+one more new one run by a friend of mine that hasn't been added to the map yet:
Garage 39 (pronounced ガレージ・サンキュー)

Some of my favorites are..
・Kopta! -- A tiny little bar near the Fukushima station in Osaka. There's just one table on the ground floor (as you can see) and everyone sits around it and chats together and with the master. Good times.

・Qbrick - Owned by the same person who owns Kopta. Very laid back. Probably the most laid back beer bar in Osaka. The regulars are all middle aged men. They do quite a lot of events as well.

・Also amazing but not on the list is まるしん in Tenma. Picture They have two Minoh beers on draft at all times and sell amazing 焼き肉. Seriously. Amazing. Can get a bit pricey though.

・Craft Beer Base - The guys who made the Beer Map. First floor is standing and second floor has seats. I've never been upstairs, though. (；´∀｀) Very knowledgeable about beer and active in spreading the word throughout Osaka and Japan. Run one of the biggest craft beer events in the city - Craft Beer Live at which I volunteered. Good times there too.

・Beer Belly The original of Minoh Beer's direct sale pubs and my home base. I've been going here since I was a student and am here almost every Friday evening until the last train takes me away. The owner is also, for whatever reason, said to be my big brother. He also gave me the name 千林保 which makes absolutely no sense but has caught on in the beer community. Unfortunately, being beerfamous doesn't give me discounts (´・ω・｀). They also have guest beers on tap from other Japanese craft breweries and standard pub fare for food. Better picture. Maybe.

・Beer Belly 江戸堀 One of Minoh Beer's direct sale pubs. All they have is Minoh Beer but they have delicious burgers as well. :d

・Kamikaze Lots of beers. Lots of sizes. Also the most expensive bar in Osaka. But the atmosphere's nice and the owners are awesome. Also usually drinking as well. So I keep going back. They also have this guy. So he's cute. n' stuff.

・Arcadian (I have no idea what's going on in this picture but it seemed nice.) A nice little place with four craft beers on tap as well as great food. The owner is also a licensed sommelier and the wines are tasty too.

・おおの家 (おおのや) Warning: Picture not representative of the norm. This is at their anniversary event.
焼き鳥! And craft beer! Good stuff. They take chicken seriously- Mmm chicken. It's in there. Somewhere.

One of my favorite brews from Japan I know because I lived right near the brewery for a while--it's Kyoto's 周山街道ビール. Not sure which to call my favorite, but I usually drink the kolsch or the amber ale when I get a chance.

http://www.hanedashuzo.co.jp/bear.htm

I think it's rather obscure even in the Japan craft beer scene, so give it a try if ya see it. Pretty rare though. I'm pretty sure Tadg's in Kyoto has the amber ale, and the Mumokuteki restaurant carries it on and off. Otherwise, you'll see it from time to time in cozy Kyoto restaurants, usually a bit overpriced. I got it for 300円 a bottle when I lived up north.

Out of curiosity, what actually are the mainstream beer brands there that you just find everywhere around Japan in general?

If I were to guess they are all some bland variety of lager... would I be correct?

Haych Wrote:Out of curiosity, what actually are the mainstream beer brands there that you just find everywhere around Japan in general?

If I were to guess they are all some bland variety of lager... would I be correct?

From the wikipedia "Beer in Japan" introduction: "Major makers are Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory while small local breweries supply distinct tasting beers. Lager beers are most common but beers made with lower grain contents called "Happoushu" (発泡酒, low malt beer, literally "bubbly alcohol") have captured a large part of the market as tax is lower on these products."
Yeah they all have a similar malty light lager thing going. Edit: http://origin-www.bloomberg.com/news/201...lines.html

btw, Thanks everyone for the replies. It's actually good reading material to look at these brewers' websites (this word しっかり seems to be used a lot). Glad to know I won't be without some options when I find myself in Japan. IBrew sounds like a cool place. I've heard of YonaYona and admired their can art design, but never tried it. I'll definitely hit you up if I'm in Osaka Doc.

As Tokyostyle said, I'll be sure to take advantage of the storied shochu and nihonshu available. Here in NY, there is only one place that has good sake, it's a sake store in the East Village. They get most of their stuff UPS'd to them directly, I think, because the big distributors in USA only have almost no options...and nothing good.

If you want a good place in Tokyo search out Craftheads in Shibuya. They serve only craft beer and bourbon as well as excellent homemade pizza a burgers. The owner is Japanese but is somewhat obsessed with American southern culture and is extremely bilingual. This particular bar is his personal baby so he's there most days. It's also possibly the only non-smoking bar in all of Japan.