Far Yeast Brewing

Far Yeast Brewing's Tokyo brewery in Gotanda has an incredible origin story. Its founder, Shirou Yamada, originally came from the IT world, working at companies like CyberAgent and Livedoor.

Starting in 2003, he went to Europe and earned an MBA at the University of Cambridge, and during that time abroad he encountered microbrewery culture and was deeply inspired. After returning to Japan, he also worked as the general manager of Zynga Japan, but in 2011 he left that position and founded Japan Craft Beer Co., Ltd.

It's under the elevated tracks of the Tokyu Ikegami Line, a brewpub with a small 300L brewing system attached. It has 20 taps and 105 seats, plus terrace seating and it's pet-friendly. Their main brewery in Shingen, Yamanashi is a 3,000L base facility, and Gotanda is basically a pilot plant where they make experimental beers.

The big standout is the 'KAGUA' series. It comes in Blanc and Rouge, and it's a Japanese-style ale made with sansho pepper and yuzu. There's even an anecdote that, during development, Yamada packed yuzu and sansho into a suitcase and brought them to Belgium.

Then there's a brand called 'Off Trail,' which is an aggressive series brewed not with standard brewing yeast but with wild yeast and microorganisms. They also run an upcycling brand called 'Azeotrope,' which distills beer slated for disposal into gin, and it won the Grand Gold Prize at the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition.

Their main base, the Shingen Brewery in Yamanashi, is in Kosuge Village, which has a population of around 700 people. In 2020, they moved their entire headquarters there from Shibuya. They make deeply place-based beers, like 'Far Yeast Peach Haze' using local peaches and 'Farm to Brew' using hops from local farms.