Minami Yokohama Beer Lab

There's a brewpub in Kanazawa-Bunko called Minami Yokohama Beer Lab, and honestly, it's incredibly interesting.

The concept is "Let's drink beer together and do research!" The owner, Shintaro Takahashi, and the brewing lead, Shoichi Arai, were high school classmates. Takahashi asked, "Why don't we make beer together?" and the two of them started everything from scratch.

Not at all. His previous job was at a metalworking company, where he developed and manufactured handcarts. But that manufacturing experience came in handy, and Arai's belief is that "beer brewing is logic." He says if you follow the logic, the results come back honestly, which is fascinating.

Each batch is a tiny 150 liters, so it's ultra-small-scale brewing. Their IPA uses huge amounts of four kinds of hops and is fermented with two kinds of yeast. For the pale ale, they even try adding wheat malt. The experimental spirit is incredible. They even have a bold limited release called "Melon-So-Much Ale," which uses plenty of melon concentrate juice.

And the shop is on the second floor, but even though it's a beer pub, it has a tatami room. There's a round chabudai table, so it feels as relaxing as your grandma's house in the countryside. On weekends, it seems to be lively with families bringing their children.