Anglo-Japanese Brewing

Anglo-Japanese Brewing, usually called AJB. It’s a brewery that an Englishman opened in Nozawaonsen. The founder, Thomas Livsey, is from Derbyshire and started homebrewing at 13, so he’s the real deal.

That’s homebrew culture in the UK. After that, he studied art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and graduated in 2008. So he was originally an artist. At the same time, he also trained for six years at a local brewery.

He met his wife, Emiko, at a pub in London, and they both loved snowboarding, so they first came to Nozawaonsen in 2010. They fell completely in love with the villagers’ warmth, the hot springs, and the natural surroundings, and moved there in 2012. At first they ran a food event called Sabushi, but they weren’t satisfied with Japanese craft beer, so in 2014 they opened a brewery because they thought, 'If we can’t find the beer we want, we’ll make it ourselves.'

And what’s amazing is how serious they are about barrel aging. They’re the only brewery in Japan with two huge 5,000-liter foudres, and they even brew beers blended with three-year-aged lambic. Their flagship, 'King Kong Knee Drop,' is an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels and Ichiro’s Malt whisky barrels, at 9.5% ABV.

It has layers of dark chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and liqueur-like flavors. It won Best in the Aged Strong category at IBC 2019. Their taproom, Sabushi, is right in front of Oyu, the symbol of Nozawaonsen, and you can drink fresh beer from 10 taps and 2 hand pumps.

Exactly. Serving real ale with a hand pump is pure British pub culture. They also make a beer called 'Shinshu Soba Stout,' brewed with local organic buckwheat, so British brewing technique and Shinshu ingredients come together. They opened a location in Yokohama Bashamichi in 2022 too, but a pint at Sabushi after a hot spring bath is probably on another level.