OBEER KYOTO, a Belgian-inspired nano brewery based in Kyoto's Kita Ward, has announced a collaboration beer with Inoguchi Tatami Shop in Kyoto. The brewery operates from a renovated Kyoto machiya and focuses on beers that reflect local materials and culture.

The project began with a question: has tatami become something people now encounter mainly as a special setting or as an object of study, rather than as part of everyday life? Rather than simply trying to imitate tatami, OBEER aimed to translate the sensation of tatami, and the Japanese climate that has shaped it, into a glass of beer.

The result is a Japanese saison. In the post, the brewery explains that it first considered how to portray tatami itself, but eventually realized that thinking about tatami also means thinking about Japanese weather and landscape. Reproducing the delicate aroma of igusa proved to be the hardest part. The team tested late-boil additions and post-fermentation igusa powder, but the aroma was easy to lose and could turn harsh if pushed too far. In the end, the brewery connected the grass-like character of igusa with the spiciness of saison yeast and the warmth of alcohol.

The name 'Ao-Ka' carries a double meaning: the scent of igusa itself, and the lush green summer when tatami is most at home. OBEER positions the beer as an early step in its search for a saison style suited to Japan's distinct seasons. Framed as 'beer to drink on tatami,' it is less about a literal flavor copy and more about capturing humidity, the smell of soil after rain, and the feeling of early summer in a single beer.