Peccary Beer

Peccary Beer is truly a one-of-a-kind brewery. Brewer Ryo Hayashi originally lived in Kobe, and in 2011 he moved to the mountainous area of Takato Town in Ina City at an elevation of 1,000 meters.

He became deeply immersed in biodynamic farming, an organic method that aligns farm work with the phases of the moon and the movement of the heavenly bodies, and started a farm called "Organic Farm 88." He is usually a farmer who grows zucchini and mini tomatoes naturally, and he began making beer in 2018 as well.

He handles every step alone, from brewing to applying the labels. What’s interesting is the beer names: they’re named after overseas volunteers who came to the farm. "JEFF" is a pale ale, "JEREMY" is an imperial stout, and "FIONA" is a honey pale ale.

The ultimate one is "Jomon Ale." With the concept of "What if Jomon people brewed beer?" he boils the malt over a wood fire using logs cut from the mountain behind the brewery as fuel. The adjuncts are local chestnuts and spelt, an ancient grain that has been cultivated in Europe for more than 5,000 years.

It’s said it might be the first in Japan. And what’s amazing is that the spent grains and hops from brewing are turned into compost for the fields or used as feed for free-range pigs, so agriculture and brewing are completely part of one cycle.

It’s a wild pig that lives in Central America, and the name means "one that makes a path in the forest." It really matches how Hayashi himself is carving out a path that no one has walked before.