U.B.P Brewery

U.B.P Brewery, officially Urawa Beer Project. The representative, Kenta Kobayashi, is a die-hard Urawa Reds supporter who quit his job and poured his own money into starting the brewery.

While going to pubs on overseas trips, he became fascinated by craft beer culture and wanted to bring "watching football with a beer in hand" to Japan. He opened BEER HUNTING URAWA in Kita-Urawa in 2015, then BEERNOVA URAWA in 2019, and U.B.P is the third location. It's Saitama City's first beer brewery.

The head brewer is Takashi Wanigawa. He's a seasoned pro who spent five years at Miyazaki Hideji Beer and served as head brewer at Usami Beer Brewing. With a 500-liter brew kettle and six 1,000-liter tanks, it's one of the five largest operations in Saitama.

They have three series: "Ultras," which are forward-leaning beers that embrace trends, like smoothie sours and beers loaded with fruit; "Base," everyday beers that make use of local agricultural products; and "Proud," a "beer from the proud soccer city" developed in collaboration with former Japan national team player Keita Suzuki.

Instead of keeping regular staples, they focus on limited releases. You can see the brewing equipment from the taproom, and they play Urawa Reds matches on the monitors. Since it's on the first floor of a hotel, just a five-minute walk from the west exit of Urawa Station, it's easy to drop by before or after a match.