BEERNiK BREWING

BEERNiK BREWING is the story of Yuji Imai, who has run the British pubs 'Footnik' in Ebisu and Osaki and has finally opened his own brewery.

Footnik was founded in 1996, so they've been running pubs for nearly 30 years now. Imai originally ran a video rental shop and used to form a soccer team with the student part-timers, but because he loved Britain through the influence of the Beatles, he wanted to create an authentic British pub in Japan, and that was the starting point.

After serving beer in pubs for about 30 years, he opened a brewery in April 2024, about a 15-minute walk from JR Yugawara Station. The location looks out over Sagami Bay in front, with the mountains of Atami behind it, and they use natural spring water flowing down from the mountains as their brewing water.

In May 2024, they brought in Hiroyuki Hamasaki, an experienced craft beer brewer, as head brewer, and Imai, his wife, and a small assistant team run it like a family business.

The first release was an English stout called 'Stout 1'. At 5%, it's a full-fledged stout that really feels like it came from a British pub. On Untappd, it's been described as a real stout brewed in Yugawara.

Exactly. Their house beer is served at both the Ebisu and Osaki locations. The story of someone who spent 30 years serving beer finally becoming the one who brews it is really exciting, right.