Catching up with craft-beer brewmaster & insider Sakamichi Brewing co-founder Matthew Boynton.
Matthew shares his North to South Japan top craft breweries and tap-room top-10 list with us - so many great examples of how these businesses take care of their local communities and environment while running a successful business!
#craftbeer #japan #sustainable #sustainablebusiness #seeksustainablejapan
Sakamichi (Steep Hill) Brewing Links:
Twitter/X: @sakamichi_beer
https://www.sakamichibrewing.com/
Matthew's Podcast: Sakamichi Nights
00:00 Welcome
01:25 Sakamichi Brewing Origin
02:30 Finally Brewing Own
03:05 Authenticity of drinking in an active brewery
04:30 Izakaya across the street collab
06:00 Sounds Sakamichi Nights Podcast
07:15 Animal Hospital Intrigue
08:30 BonEnkai Season
09:00 T-shirt Merch
09:30 Ohio Gozaimasu Breakfast Stout Collab & Artwork
10:50 Choose a beer by the cool label
11:30 Two Rabbits Beer near Lake Biwa
12:40 Udon Brewing Setouchi Beer
13:40 Happoshu License for Craft Beer
15:20 Authorized beer ingredients?
16:30 Invest in a Brewery b4 license
18:40 Packaging Beer in a Different Room
19:50 Refill your Growler
21:00 Seaweed vs Fish Guts Filters
22:45 Matt's Top-10 List of Sustainable Breweries in Japan
23:20 Hop Kotan - Hokkaido
24:30 Need for Hop processing in Japan
29:00 Using Rice Waste in Craft Brewing
29:50 Spent Grains donated to Base Side Farms Tokyo
31:00 Vertere brewery in Okutama
32:30 JJ's messing with the order - sorry!
32:40 Black Tide Brewery in Kesunnuma MIYAGI prefecture
33:50 AJB AngloJapaneseBrewing in Nagano
34:20 Food Waste to Beer series
35:00 ShioKaze BrewLab in Soga city CHIBA
35:40 Recycled Wood in TapRoom Design
36:15 Chris' CrushAble Beers
36:36 Yggdrasil - Hiratsuka, Kanagawa
38:10 WCB West Coast Brewery BEST in Japan
39:50 Silly Puns & Beer Names
40:50 Local Artist Exhibition Space - get in touch!
41:00 Alcohol and Art/Record Sales
42:15 Totopia Nagoya Brewery
43:20 Our mission is NOT size growth
44:00 Take care of staff & feed funds into community
45:20 Why can't we find craft beer at conbini in Japan?
46:00 Cold storage & supply chain issues
46:40 HINO Brewing in Shiga prefecture
47:20 Reusing German Derelict Brewery
49:40 Flavor Diversity
51:00 High-Alcohol beers popularity
52:50 Sake & Beer Fusion trend
54:40 Clear the Board & Sakamichi events
56:00 Craft Beer Events & Collaborations
57:50 Takao Mountain House serves Sakamichi brews
59:00 Thanks for watching & for great comments & questions!
LINKS from this talk:
- Base Side Farm where they pass on their spent grains to be used in compost: https://www.basesidefarm.com/en/
- Onomichi Brewery (JJ's Hiroshima favorite) : https://onomichibeer.com/
- Takao Mountain House: https://takaomountainhouse.jp/
- Matthew's Top Craft Breweries (that have great sustainable strategies in place)
- Hop Kotan - Central Hokkaido. Hop growing area, able to use locally grown ingredients.
- http://hopkotan.com
- Be Easy - Hirosaki, Aomori. Visited in May this year, using brewing by-products to fertilise fields that grow produce served in restaurant.
- https://beeasybrewing.com/en
- Black Tide - Kesennuma, Miyagi. Part of a revitalisation project for area devastated by 2011 earthquake & tsunami.
- https://blacktidebrewing.com
- AJB - Nozawa Onsen, Nagano. Waste to beer series uses upcycled foodstuffs that were scheduled to be discarded. Grapefruit peels, pineapple, cacao husks.
- https://anglojapanesebeer.com
- Vertere - Okutama, Tokyo. Popular hiking spot, great place to rehydrate after a long day of walking.
- http://verterebrew.com
- Shiokaze Brewlab - Soga, Chiba. Ex Baird co-worker Chris Poel. Using recycled wood in their taprooms.
- / shiokazebrewlab
- Yggdrasil - Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. All French and European ingredients. Strong connections to local community.
- https://instagram.com/yggdrasilbrewin...
- WCB - Shizuoka City, Shizuoka. No list of craft beer in Japan would be complete without them.
- https://westcoastbrewing.jp
- Totopia - outskirts of Nagoya. "above all, our mission is not only size growth", excellent dry hopped sours.
- https://totopia.official.ec
- Hino Brewing - Hino, Shiga. Reusing and recycling a defunct brewery that was originally built as part of a German theme park. https://hinobrewing.jp
As always thanks for the background tunes Casey Bean - support his original music by naming your price for downloads on BandCamp
