Akatsuki Brewery

Akatsuki Brewery's Kyodo Lab is a bit unusual. Its parent company, Taikyosha, was originally a design company.

The starting point was when Taikyosha's president opened barBAR Tokyo, a craft beer specialty bar in Yaesu Underground Mall at Tokyo Station, in 2004. From there, his passion for beer deepened, and in 2016 he began brewing in Kyodo as Setagaya Ward's first brewery. He obtained a happoshu license.

There's another important background too: after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the president founded an NPO and became involved in reconstruction support. The name "Akatsuki" comes from the dawn sky seen from a wakame boat in Taro, Miyako City.

And in December 2022, it became the first in Japan's beer sector to receive JAS organic certification. It makes organic beer using natural water from Hachimantai and organic, pesticide-free German malt. At Kyodo Lab, the brewery's defining style is beer that makes use of fruit and vegetables from naturally grown farms, with limited releases like yuzu ale and seasonal ingredient beers.

The flagship is the Dragon Eye series, with four varieties: Sky, Sun, Magma, and Snow. There are also Akatsuki Red and Akatsuki Black. Kyodo Lab was renovated from a former ceramics workshop, operates only on weekends, and follows a stoic style of releasing just one new tap each week.

Right now, the Hachimantai Factory in Iwate is the main brewing base, and Kyodo Lab has become a place for experimental small batches. There is also a directly operated store in Ginza, "Akatsuki Taps," and "Akatsuki Growlers" in Oku-Shibuya sells beer by weight in a gallery-like atmosphere.