North Island Beer

North Island Beer has an absolutely great founding story. The founder, So Tagaya, is from Asahikawa and studied electrical engineering at Asahikawa National College of Technology, then became fascinated by archaeology and went on to the Faculty of Law at Hokkai-Gakuen University, and from there somehow trained in beer brewing in Canada.

And he went there on a tourist visa without being able to speak English, shuttling between Canada and Japan every three months, recording everything in numbers like temperatures and gram amounts to memorize it all. That level of determination is just incredible.

What he inherited from his Canadian mentor was the philosophy of "Beer is Art." Science is only a tool, and the final expression comes from sensibility. He launched Canadian Brewery Ltd. in Sapporo in 2002, started brewing in 2003, and then moved to Ebetsu in 2009 when growing demand made the original space too small.

Ebetsu has a thriving agricultural industry and is a major wheat-producing area. In fact, the standard Weizen uses Haruyutaka wheat from Ebetsu, and even the brewery's directly operated bar incorporates bricks made in Ebetsu. It's a brewery that is truly integrated with its land.

Pilsner, Brown Ale, Weizen, IPA (6.5%), and Coriander Black. Black beer with coriander is pretty unusual, right? And starting tomorrow, March 27, "Buntan WHITE" and "Buntan LAGER" are being released. Ebetsu City and Tosa City in Kochi Prefecture have been sister cities since 1978, and these are limited brews made with Tosa buntan citrus.

The directly operated Sapporo bar, "Beer Bar North Island," is located where you can see the night view of Odori Park, and they also hold release events there. By the way, Tsutsumino of Kuppu Kotan Brewing used to be a director at North Island and became independent from there. It's interesting how the people in Hokkaido craft beer are all connected.