Brasserie Knot

Brasserie Knot is a brewery that is drawing a great deal of attention in Japan's craft beer scene. Representative Taikai Uetake was born in 1985, is from Saitama, and after studying microbiology at a vocational school, he joined Coedo Brewery in 2008.

What's more, he's the person who developed the recipe for Coedo's standard beer, Marihana. After that, he brewed more than 200 kinds of beer at Ushitora Brewery in Tochigi, served as head brewer at Hoppukotan Brewing in Hokkaido, and even brewed at Godspeed Brewery in Canada.

His time in Canada ended up being short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but after returning to Japan he decided to go independent and chose Tsurui Village, a community of 2,500 people next to Kushiro Marsh. He converted the gymnasium of the former Moyoroshi Elementary School, which had been closed, into a brewery.

And the five core beers are great too. The flagship, FLOWER, is a Belgian witbier at 4.5%. It finishes fresh with coriander and orange peel. BIRD is a 5.0% pale ale, a well-balanced beer with nothing lacking and nothing excessive. WIND is a 6.0% West Coast IPA, crisp and dry.

MOON is an 8.0% double IPA with a powerful tropical aroma from Australian hops. DOTO is a 6.0% Belgian IPA that expresses the diversity of eastern Hokkaido by combining the herbal character of European hops with the citrus character of American hops. Uetake-san is the type who measures yeast density under a microscope and rigorously controls oxygen levels during fermentation.

And they also put a lot of effort into training people, giving it the function of a kind of school for those who want to learn brewing. They have released collaboration beers like HARBOR 4% with T.Y. Harbor Brewery, and they also set up booths at events in Osaka and Urawa, pushing out from eastern Hokkaido to the rest of the country.