Monterey Brewing

Monterey Brewing is in Seiba, Shiojiri, and the background of its representative, Mamoru Shimizu, is interesting. His family runs a lettuce farm.

After graduating from university, he took over the family business for a while, but changed direction after just one year. He had long wanted to create a place where people could gather and have fun together, and at first he tried to start a winery. But due to the effects of global warming, prospects for grape cultivation became difficult.

Yes. Beer could make use of local agricultural products and also create a place where people could gather. He trained every weekend at VectorBeer in Tokyo and learned brewing at Iwami Beer in Shimane, then renovated an unused warehouse at his family home into a brewery.

Exactly. It's like a brewery sitting alone in the middle of a major lettuce-growing region. What's more, his partner brewer, Hitoshi Ito, also has an unusual background. He was formerly an engineer at a tire manufacturer and even won the grand prize at a national tire technology competition.

The beers are just as distinctive. Their "BELGIAN" is different from a typical Belgian style, using sansho pepper and summer mandarin orange in addition to coriander. "FRUIT ALE" includes apples from Nagano Prefecture. "Nagano Purple Ale" is a seasonal release made with Nagano Purple, a premium local grape variety, and you can really see their intention to express local agricultural products through beer.

The brewing water comes from Shiojiri, the malt is from Germany, and the hops are from the United States. In the future, they want to create a standing-drink space at the brewery so people can drop by and have a beer. A beer made in the middle of farmland by a lettuce farmer and a tire craftsman is a story alone worth another drink.