TAMTAM Brewing

Mugi-chan, do you know TAMTAM Brewing in Takayama Village? Tamura Shinichi here used to be a salaryman at a pharmaceutical company.

It all started with his hobby vegetable garden, which led him to meet grape growers and get interested in wine. He left his company in 2010, then went all the way to New Zealand the next year to study grape growing and winemaking. After returning to Japan, he trained for a year at a Shinshu winery, and in 2013 he moved to Takayama Village.

Here's the thing: Takayama Village was actually once a hop-producing area. After moving there, Tamura opened up his own farmland and revived hop cultivation alongside growing wine grapes. Then he used both the grapes and the hops to pioneer a new genre called "Wine x Beer."

That would be the "Sparkling Ale" made with wine grapes from Takayama Village, such as Shine Muscat and Nagano Purple. It looks like red wine, has a tannic edge, and its flavor changes as it matures, making it a really fascinating beer. It also won an award at the Japan Craft Awards 2023.

They do, and one is a pale ale called "Hoshizora no Ale." It blends homegrown hops from Takayama Village with three kinds of imported hops. With a malt ratio of nearly 100%, it has a creamy foam and a solid, assertive bitterness. ABV 5%.

The company name is "Takayama Village Agricultural Brewing Research Institute," and that really says it all: they grow their own grapes and hops, and the brewing water comes from the local Isazawa River system. Over more than ten years since leaving corporate life, they built a one-of-a-kind brewery that unites agriculture and brewing.