Octagon Brewing

Octagon Brewing has a wild origin story. The operating company is Maruhachi Real Estate. A real-estate firm started making craft beer.

President Keisuke Hirano came up with it while on a cycling trip abroad. He saw how European beer pubs served as the core of local communities and thought, "I want to do this in Hamamatsu too." That is why the building's exterior is peppermint blue, the same celeste color used by the bicycle brand Bianchi.

And the brewmaster, Yasuhiro Chiba, is amazing too. He studied brewing engineering at the Technical University of Munich and earned Germany's national qualification, the Diplom-Braumeister. He also trained at the Weihenstephan Research Brewery, so he is the real deal.

Chiba's philosophy is "clean beer." He pursues beers with no off-flavors, where the sweet aroma of malt and the bitterness of hops come through clearly, and they have made more than 100 types since opening. "Breakaway IPA" has bright citrus and pine hop aromas, with restrained bitterness that makes it easy to keep drinking.

"Unagi Pie Beer" is a local beer made with Unagi Pie, Hamamatsu's famous sweet pastry, as an ingredient. They also have a fruit beer made with mandarins from Mikabi. The food is Texas-style smoked BBQ, and the combination of brisket and IPA is incredible.

In 2019, they hosted the Hamamatsu Craft Beer Festival themselves and drew more than 16,000 people. They have set up the brewery in the city center, just an 8-minute walk from Hamamatsu Station, and they are trying to change the city with beer. Since they are a real-estate company, they probably understand the power of place better than most.