Noboribetsu Local Beer Hall

Have you heard of Noboribetsu Oni Densetsu Beer? It’s a local beer brewed since 1998 by Wakasaimo Honpo, the company famous for Hokkaido’s famous confection, Wakasaimo. And the brewmaster, Yasuhiko Shibata, originally worked as a pastry chef.

Exactly. You can really see the sensibility of a sweets maker in the beer. Shibata is especially skilled at bringing out hop and fruit aromas, and his delicate expressive ability with fragrance is amazing.

The classics are the Oni series. Ao Oni Pilsner uses two kinds of hops, centered on Saaz hops, and has a nice balance of clean bitterness and malt sweetness. Kin Oni Pale Ale is an American-style beer characterized by bitterness like grapefruit and green lemon.

Aka Oni Red Ale is characterized by the toasty aroma of roasted malt and a sweet fragrance, and it has won first place in the National Sake Competition for two consecutive years. Ao Oni Pilsner also won gold at the International Beer Competition.

And perhaps the pastry-chef blood still runs strong, because they also brew fruit beers using raspberries, strawberries, and Sicilian Rouge tomatoes. You can really see the skill with fruit that comes from being a confectionery maker.