Shima Onsen Ale Factory

Shima Onsen Ale Factory is beer born right in the middle of a hot spring resort. The mastermind is Hiroshi Yamada, born in 1968, the third-generation owner of "Washi no Ya Sake Shop," which has been around since the early Showa era.

That's right. Shima Onsen attracts tourists, right? And everyone asks, "Do you have any local sake from Shima?" But Shima didn't have a local brew. So Yamada thought, "If there isn't any, I'll make it myself." At first he considered sake, but because the production difficulty was high, he switched to beer. He trained at Craft Beer Moonlight in Kawasaki and obtained a happoshu license in 2011.

And more than that, he turned the flexibility of the happoshu license to his advantage and uses secondary ingredients like yuzu, ginger, plums, sansho pepper, and even rose petals from Nakanojo Town. With a "if it fails, I'll deal with it then" attitude, he's developing bold products.

Their flagship is a pale ale called "Mayahime." The hop aroma is restrained, and its defining feature is a slightly sweet richness. Then there's "Oana," an amber ale with the deep richness of caramel malt and yeast-derived fruity aroma. They also have "Sansho" with sansho pepper, and the session IPA "Koyasan."

Exactly. The brewing water comes from the clear Shima River, and they don't adjust the water quality at all. The carbonation also comes only from natural bubbles produced by fermentation. Yamada himself says, "Rather than craft beer, it's local beer. I want to make flavors you can only encounter in this land."

There's a taproom inside Washi no Ya Sake Shop, where eight beers are always available on draft. What's more, this liquor store is also the only shop in Shima Onsen, carrying everything from food to daily necessities. It's a liquor store, a general store, and a brewery all at once. That scale is irresistible.