Distant Shores Brewing

Distant Shores Brewing, or DSB for short. It’s a three-person co-founding setup, and the combination is pretty interesting.

First, there’s Michael from the UK. His main job is being the CEO of Ashikawa Brewery Systems, a company that develops beer-brewing management systems. He’s someone who knows the IT infrastructure side of brewing inside and out, and he’s also a brewer.

The other Brit, James, is the owner of Campion Ale, a brewpub in Asakusa. And Mr. Katano from Japan is the owner of YYG Brewery & Beer Kitchen in Shinjuku. The two British founders are also alumni of the same beer education program.

They obtained both their beer brewing license and their happoshu brewing license in October 2017 and launched operations in Higashimurayama. And instead of a happoshu license, they got the full license for annual production of 60 kiloliters or more. It was driven by the desire to deliver their beer to as many people as possible.

An American IPA called "Konnichiwa! Michael Desu." The name is already great, right? It was a joke about Michael still not being very confident with Japanese, but the beer itself combines the tradition of British ales with American hops, creating a balanced beer with a fruity aroma and a firm bitterness underneath.

Their brewing setup includes three 2,400L tanks and three 1,200L tanks. Using malt from the UK and Germany, and hops from the US, UK, and Germany, they aim for beers that evolve constantly while being based on British-style ales. They also have a small test-brewing system, so experimentation is active there.