Hyoko Yashiki no Mori Brewery

Swan Lake Beer. You can't talk about Japanese craft beer without talking about this place. At the 2000 World Beer Cup, "Swan Lake Porter" won gold, and that was the first time a Japanese beer won gold at an international competition.

It won gold in the Robust Porter category out of 1,150 beers from 38 countries. And in 2006, that same porter won gold again. As of 2024, it has a total of 172 medals, making it one of Japan's most decorated breweries.

What's interesting is that the parent company, Tenchokaku, originally ran wedding venues. The Furuta brothers, Hidee and Ryuta, were visiting breweries in the United States when they saw wedding ceremonies being held at one and thought, "This is it!" They invited American brewer Ed Tringali to Japan and spent five months developing the recipe.

Ryuji Honda. He studied biotechnology and sake brewing at a vocational school in Niigata and joined the company in July 1997, but there was only one month left before Ed returned home, so he apparently had to absorb the techniques as fast as he could. He says, "Beer is a living thing. Even the slightest stress shows up in the flavor. We make it while constantly talking with it," which really shows his craft-first mindset.

"Amber Swan Ale" was the Japan Country Winner at the 2024 World Beer Awards. It has a solid bitterness from caramel malt and American hops, and its amber color is beautiful. And "Swan Lake Barley Wine" is a 10% barley wine aged for about a year. It was selected as the World's Best Pale Barley Wine in 2024.

The location is great too. It's near Hyoko in Agano City, a national natural monument where more than 5,000 swans from Siberia arrive every winter, and the brewery stands in the forest of Igarashi-tei, an Edo-period wealthy merchant's estate. The restaurant has 140 seats, and you can also enjoy "Koshino Kome Koshihikari Lager," made with local Sasagami Koshihikari rice, while looking out over the garden.