Noroshi Brewing

Have you heard of Noroshi Brewing? It's the story of a shiitake mushroom farmer in Nagareyama who started a brewery.

The representative, Takumi Irie, studied brewing science at Tokyo University of Agriculture, then worked at Baird Brewing for about two and a half years. He served as assistant manager at the Harajuku Taproom and also trained at the Numazu brewery. After that, he spent two more years as a brewer at Ushi Tora Brewery in Tochigi, gaining experience with a wide range of styles.

He joined Irie Farm through marriage, and while growing shiitake in Nagareyama, he had long been nurturing the idea of making beer on this land someday. There aren't many people who have both seven years of craft beer experience and agricultural experience.

This is the amazing part. They make a Rauch-style smoked beer using shiitake mushrooms, and instead of brewing water, they use 100% dried shiitake broth. Broth instead of water. You've never heard of that, right?

It's a Rauch-style beer that combines smoky aroma with the umami of shiitake. They also brew saisons using summer mandarins, persimmons, yuzu, and tachibana oranges that were left unharvested in Nagareyama. They gather fruit trees that were no longer being used and turn them into beers that let you feel the seasons.

What's more, they have a system that returns part of the revenue to the farmers who cooperated with them. With the slogan 'Drink Local,' they're seriously committed to local production for local consumption. The brewery is on the farm's property, and they even raised equipment funds through crowdfunding. Spreading beer culture from a shiitake farmer's shed like that is not something just anyone can do.