Vi-Again Brewing

Hey, there’s a brewery in Gotemba that’s inside a campground. Vi-Again Brewing, officially Beer Again Brewing.

There’s a private-use campground called Vi-again Village, and the bar and brewery are both on the property. And the founder, Takako Katsumata, has an incredible life story. He originally started a company for car events in 1994, but then COVID in 2020 wiped out 97% of sales.

Exactly. From there, he started camping-related content on YouTube, opened a campground, started a bar, and in the end decided, “Then I’ll brew my own beer.” He learned from Tetsuya Katsuoka of Numazu Craft, and also studied under Gareth Burns of Be Easy Brewing in Aomori.

The core style is American-style hoppy beer. Names like TAP TRUCK IPA and Traveling Hazy IPA show some playful branding. Recently they released a second batch of HOLHY IPA, using Galaxy, Citra, Idaho 7, and Mosaic for dry hopping. That combination is full-on tropical.

They also make beers like KUROCHAN, a coffee stout, and WHITE GRAPE SAISON. The brewing water is natural vanadium-rich water from Mt. Fuji that springs up on the property. They use German malt and hops from the U.S., New Zealand, the Czech Republic, France, and Germany, and reportedly make over 22 different beers in rotation.

A 500-liter brew size gives them the flexibility to move quickly. By the way, they even held a brew session for something called “Dakage Pilsner,” proposed by Oka-kun from Breaking Down, trying to create a connection between combat-sports fans and craft beer.