Japanese beers

Japanese brewers are not short on ideas and even less on boldness. Dive into the foam with our selection of Japanese beers.

Like gin, beer was introduced to Japan in the 1700s by Dutch merchants, notably through a giant "beer palace" in Nagasaki. And like gin, it immediately captivated the locals (who already knew something about brewing thanks to sake). We’ll spare you the details, but the market quickly consolidated… The four largest Japanese breweries of our time (Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and Suntory) are also the oldest.

Fortunately, Japan's hop scene has much more to offer than the excellent "dry" beers that have made these giants internationally renowned. In the mid-90s, Japanese lawmakers passed a law allowing the brewing of small quantities of beer. Since then, the number of microbreweries has continued to grow in the country. There are said to be over 400! True to Japan, their boldness is matched only by their purism. (And we’re not even talking about their fans.)

As you will see in our selection, the Japanese seem ready to brew anything that comes to hand (matcha, red rice, citrus…) and in all styles (IPA, IPL, Stout…) with sometimes unexpected grains (soy, peas, rice, wheat…). According to all likelihood, the several hundred-year-old techniques of sake brewing are not foreign to these successes. Harsh reality: a Belgian brewer probably cannot succeed in making a beer with Japanese plums and seaweed salt.

We must clarify that Japanese beers have a little-known cousin in our regions: the "happoshu". These low-malt beverages were designed to circumvent the taxation on classic beers, which is overwhelming due to their popularity. They have quite a bad reputation in their home country. For many Japanese, they are just flavorless substitutes that give a proverbial headache. However, major brewers are currently working on premium versions of these happoshu. A matter to follow.