Romantic Village Craft Brewery

The Utsunomiya "Romantic Village Craft Brewery" is really interesting. There's a brewery inside a roadside station that spans the size of 10 Tokyo Domes.

Brewing began when it opened in 1996. Utsunomiya itself had been a major producer of brewing barley since the Taisho era. The flagship beer, "Mugitaro," is a Dortmund-style lager made with 100% malt from "New Sachiho Golden," a two-row barley grown in Utsunomiya, and it has 6% alcohol. It brings out the rich flavor of the barley.

And since this is Utsunomiya, you think of gyoza, right? They even have a beer called "Gyoza Romance," co-developed with the Utsunomiya Gyoza Association. It's a Märzen-style beer with the aroma of caramel malt, brewed with a thorough focus on pairing with gyoza.

What's more, they also work on a sustainable line called the Ethical Series. There's "Ethical Bread Lager," made from bread baked with Tochigi-grown wheat "Yume Kaori," and "Ethical Pomas Ale," made with pomace from Ashikaga's Koko Farm Winery. It won the top prize at the Tochigi Design Awards.

They've also won the top prize at the Tochigi Design Awards multiple times. There's an upcycled ale called "Sakakaru Mugiawa," made with daiginjo sake lees from a brewery in Nikko and Tochigi Prefecture's original yeast. The sweetness of the sake lees and the ginjo aroma come through in the beer, so it's pretty bold.

The brewing team doesn't leave it to machines. They practice sensory brewing, using all five senses to feel the state of the fermentation foam, the scent of the gas, and the temperature of the pipes. The best-by date is just 40 days. Freshness is everything.