Hikawa Brewery

Kikuchi Toshihide from Hikawa Brewery has an insanely interesting background. He originally worked at Nikon, formerly Nippon Kogaku, in production engineering for camera manufacturing equipment, and he is a hardcore engineer with more than 10 patents.

After he turned 50 and started thinking about his second life, he began going to a brewery’s beer-making experience program, and he kept at it for 10 years. Each time, he collected data and refined his own recipes. That’s the spirit of an engineer.

In 2013, he won the Community Business Award at the Saitama City New Business Awards, and in 2014 he opened Saitama City’s first craft beer brewery. It’s located right near the approach to Hikawa Shrine, and the shop name is "Hikawa no Mori." It was also featured on TV Asahi’s "Rakuen of Life."

Their base line is the "Hikawa no Mori" series, including an amber ale inspired by the shrine’s mystical atmosphere, a golden ale that expresses the liveliness of the town, and a spring-only cherry blossom pale ale. There are always 11 beers on tap, and they release 1 to 3 new creations every week, adding up to about 100 varieties a year.

Exactly. It’s a pub where you can drink while looking out at the brewing kettles, and on brewing days the aroma of malt and hops fills the place. They also serve dishes made with vegetables grown by the brewery itself, and even menu items like hop tempura. In 2016, they also received the Venture Spirit Special Award at the Shibusawa Eiichi Business Awards.

That’s right. They hold hanami events in Omiya Park during cherry blossom season, and they also set up a stall at Hikawa Marche. Drinking beer brewed by a former engineer with true engineer spirit on the approach to Hikawa Shrine - that combination is the best.