Nagano Brewery

Do you know Nagano Brewery? It's about an 8-minute walk from Zenkoji Temple, and the representative, Katsuto Arai, is the fifth-generation owner of a local apple farm that has been operating there for 120 years.

Exactly. On their own farm, they organically grow not only apples but also hops, grapes, and Shine Muscat grapes, and they use the ingredients harvested there in their beer. They make a beer called "Koka," brewed with apples from their own fields and honey from beehives they keep on the farm.

What's more, the spent barley husks from brewing are returned to the farm as fertilizer. The bounty of the fields becomes beer, and the byproducts of beer go back to the fields. From cultivation to brewing to sales, everything is handled in-house.

The location is great too. It's in Ojoji, which is said to be the birthplace of the nursery rhyme "Yuyake Koyake," and the taproom has a terrace. It's a small space with four counter seats and eight terrace seats, but it gives you a beer garden feel.

They also make a saison called "Hisho," with rice from Kijimadaira Village and sake koji from Shinano Town as adjuncts. Their regular beer "Kadode," the seasonal "Tasogare," which is a golden ale, and "Wakaba," an IPA, all show their commitment to expressing Nagano's agricultural products through beer.

Exactly. It's beer-making that a major beer company could never do, with the farm and brewery directly connected. It's like tasting Arai's entire farm in a glass.