Komainu Brewery

Komainu Brewery has a really fascinating family story. It's run by the Niwa family, and the father is a University of Tokyo Faculty of Agriculture graduate with brewing knowledge.

Exactly. The third son, Ichiu, studied abroad in Hungary and became completely immersed in European beer culture there. Then the second son, Gakuyu, took charge of beer production. They launched the brewery in Kashiwa in 2017 with the dream of creating a brewery in Japan that would be loved by the local community.

Even the beer names are full of love for the local area. "Masakado Beer" comes from Taira no Masakado, who is associated with Kashiwa; "Teganuma Porter" comes from local Lake Teganuma; and then there's "Kashiwa Hajime IPA" and "Kashiwa Taiyo no Ale". The lineup is basically a catalog of Kashiwa's local beers.

Yes. At the International Beer Cup 2020, Masakado Beer won a silver medal. Kashiwa Hajime IPA and Teganuma Porter also won awards at the Japan Great Beer Awards 2019. For a small family-run brewery, that's an impressive record.

And on top of that, they have their own fields in Shirai and Kashiwa Cities, and they aim to make beer in the future using locally grown barley and hops. They even have a vision of creating tourism demand where people come to Kashiwa because they want to drink Kashiwa beer.

They're relaunching as "B&T Plus." They brought in Chef Kubota, formerly of Kashiwa Tantanmen, so the food side has become much more serious too. In addition to seven standard beers, they also offer seasonal releases like cherry blossom beer and chocolate beer.