Nagano Minamikaze Beer

Nagano Minamikaze Beer didn’t actually start as a craft brewery. It began in Yokohama’s Tsurumi in 2010 as a charcoal-grilled yakitori shop called "Tachinomi-dokoro Minamikaze."

Then in 2016 they moved back to Nagano, relocated to the current site in 2021, and obtained a brewing license in April 2022 to become a brewery. The transition from yakitori shop to beer brewery is pretty interesting, isn’t it?

This is the interesting part: even though it’s in Nagano, the interior is blue-themed and feels like a "beach house." You can see the brewing tanks from the counter, and it has a relaxed, tropical vibe. It fits the name "Minamikaze" perfectly.

Their "Shinshu ○○ Series" is amazing. The fruit wheat ale "Shinshu Apple Hundred Kittyz" uses as much as 90 kg of Fuji apples from Kawanakajima in a single batch. ABV 5.5%.

What’s even more surprising is "Shinshu Rose Thousand Rose." It’s an ale made with 1,000 edible roses from Nakano City, with a gentle rose aroma. ABV 5.5%. They also make "Shinshu Soba Countryside," where they roast soba seeds from Togakushi themselves and brew them into soba tea for the recipe.

Their regular "NAMPU" is an IPA with a solid bitterness and the name means "south wind." They also have the milk stout "YaYa" and a gose called "Shinshu Yuzu Winter Mirage" made with yuzu from Iida, Nagano. They brew on a small 500-liter system and run eight taps, two of which are nitrogen taps.