Shinkichi Brewery

Shinkichi Brewery in Takasaki is a one-of-a-kind brewery where a Japanese cuisine chef is making beer.

The owner, Hiroyuki Horisawa, came from a kappo-style Japanese restaurant. He felt that while sake and Japanese wine had varieties made with Japanese cuisine in mind, beer did not. That was the beginning. He wanted to create a beer you drink with your tongue, not just your throat.

Exactly. They aim for a “barley wine as a meal-time drink” that has a light sparkle, restrained bitterness, and can be enjoyed all the way through a meal. To keep the gas pressure low, they use secondary fermentation, and each brew is only 150 liters, so it's ultra-small-batch production.

This is where the lineup really shows the chef's background. “Kiri-boshi” is an ale made with kiriboshi daikon, and it pairs well with pork dishes. “Yamakauru” is a vegetable ale featuring fuki. “Yuzu no Bakatare,” as the name suggests, is a yuzu ale. “Glass Road” is characterized by the citrus aroma of the Mandarin Bavaria hop.

They develop recipes around seasonal fruits and vegetables, so there are many limited-time brews. They even have one called “Mikan Bancha.” The flavor is almost like fruit liqueur, and the pairings with Japanese dishes are calculated down to the last detail. After training at Tochigi Microbrewery, they opened in 2016 as Takasaki's first brewpub.

It's in a renovated row house that used to be a barbershop, about a 10-minute walk from the west exit of JR Takasaki Station, and it has a Showa-retro atmosphere. The structure also happened to be well suited for brewing because it doesn't get direct sunlight. The space facing the street is the shop, and the former residential area in the back is the brewery.