Beer Workshop Zero Lab

Bakushu Kobo Zero Lab is a rather unusual place. It's completely different from a normal brewpub. There isn't any dining space at all.

This place is a beer research and development facility built around the three pillars of "Development, Education, and Experience." A man named Natsuoka Nomura founded Kabushiki Kaisha Bakushu Kikaku in 2010, and has expanded multiple beer workshops across Tokyo. Nakano Beer Workshop is part of that group too. Then in 2019, they opened this Zero Lab in Shin-Nakano.

What's interesting is that it's on the first floor of the headquarters building of Shibataya Saketen, a long-established liquor retailer with over 80 years of history. In 2018, Nomura formed a business partnership with Shibataya and created a setup where management was left to them while he served as a director, focusing on brewer training and development.

Exactly. One of Zero Lab's major roles is training up-and-coming brewers. It provides an environment where they can make beer without constraints and cultivate the next generation of brewers. The equipment includes three large fermentation tanks and six small ones, so they can produce experimental beers at full speed.

A distinctive feature is that the labels include the brewing location, like "Shinnakano GIGANT STOUT," "Asagaya AFRICA PALE ALE," and "Asagaya SUDACHI ALE." An ale made with sudachi is the very result of experimentation. The beers brewed here can be enjoyed at affiliated places like Asagaya 20taps.

They also support phantom breweries, so there's a system where people who can't have their own brewery can contract-brew here. It's a behind-the-scenes force in craft beer, and also an incubator.