Reijin Sake Brewery

That's right. It's a long-established sake brewery founded in 1789, the first year of the Kansei era, but it started brewing "Suwa Roman Beer" in 1999.

And do you know about the Five Suwa Breweries? Along the Koshu Kaido in Kamisuwa, five breweries stand within just 500 meters, and Reijin is one of them. The biggest feature of this beer is the brewing water.

Half right. The spring water flowing underground from the Kirigamine Highlands is soft water, which is excellent for sake, but it doesn't have enough minerals for beer yeast to work actively. So they blend in hot spring water from Kamisuwa Onsen. You don't hear about beer being brewed with hot spring water anywhere else, do you?

The sulfur smell from the hot spring is carried away with the gas during fermentation, so the finished beer actually has a crisp taste. The fermentation management skills the brewers developed through sake making really come into play here.

"Shirakaba" is a Kölsch, "Rindo" is an Alt, and "Kuroyuri" is a Stout. All of them are named after plants associated with Nagano Prefecture. They are all-malt beers made with 100% high-quality barley, and the lineup is mainly ale types. There's also a premium line called "Reneu," which includes three varieties: Golden Ale, Red Ale, and White Ale.