amaku uku

Mugi-chan, did you know there’s a brewery in Nasushiobara called "Amaku Uku"? It’s written as amaku uku.

It’s a name with the wish that people will feel as if they’re gently floating in sweetness from a delicious drink. What’s more, it originally started in 2015 as a natural wine shop, became a natural wine and oden shop in 2017, and then made the unusual switch to craft beer brewing in 2023.

But because they had been working with natural wine, they were probably already used to handling wild yeast. Their beers are open-fermented with wild yeast they collected themselves. It takes two weeks. They’re unfiltered, unpasteurized, and bottle-conditioned.

And it’s 100% domestically produced malt. They use barley from Tochigi and Gunma, and hops from Germany and the U.S. Their signature beer, "Senoka," is a herb-spice ale made with ginger syrup from Nasu Town and homegrown chili peppers. It’s 4% ABV, with a vivid ginger aroma followed by acidity.

They also make "Moe," a citrus ale with Tochigi lemon and coriander seed; "Norae," a saison; and "Kasumi," a wheat ale. Even the beer names, like "Windowside," "Picnic," and "Tea Trout," all evoke Japanese scenes and imagery.

They only make 221 bottles per batch, so if you come across one, you’re lucky. It really feels like the sensibility from their oden-shop days lives on in the beer. I think it’s worth going all the way to Nasushiobara to buy some.