Hakuba Beer Garage

Have you heard of Hakuba Beer Garage? It's a brewery launched under the HAKUBA CRAFT brand by three childhood friends from the Hakuba Valley.

The three are Mr. Taguchi, Mr. Tanaka, and Mr. Murata, born in Heisei 2 and 3. They've watched the number of tourists in Hakuba keep declining from its peak. Wanting to create an appeal that would draw people to Hakuba beyond skiing, they raised support from more than 200 backers through crowdfunding and opened in 2021.

And the location is amazing too. It's right in front of the "Bell-Ringing Hill Slope" at Tsugaike Kogen Ski Resort. It's the only brewery in Japan that brews right on a ski slope.

Exactly. And the brewing water is ultra-soft snowmelt water from the Northern Alps. That softness comes through in the beer's mouthfeel. Their regular "Awayuki" is a wheat beer with 3.5% alcohol, just the right lightness after playing in the snowy mountains.

Another regular beer, "Avalanche," is an IPA with a solid hop bitterness and aroma, so it pairs well with BBQ and meat dishes. And "Tropical Snow" is a hazy IPA with 7% alcohol, yet it has a tropical, juicy finish. It won silver at JGBA 2026. It levelled up from the bronze it won in 2024, so it's a real standout.

Their winter-only Belgian stout called "Yoi" also won bronze at JGBA 2026. It layers the richness of a stout with the lively character of Belgian yeast, making for a style you don't often see anywhere else.