NohLAND BEER

There’s a brewery in Shirakawa Town, Gifu, that calls itself “craft beer brewed by a farmer.” NohLAND BEER.

Exactly. The owner, Takeshi Kojima, originally worked in automotive engineering in Aichi, but moved to Shirakawa Town in 2012 and became an organic farmer. He grows about 30 crops, including rice, soybeans, and log-cultivated shiitake mushrooms, and even makes his own miso and soy sauce. He lives a deeply authentic satoyama lifestyle, and he’s also a shower-climbing instructor.

The brewery got its start after his own beer was well received at a BBQ event. He trained as a brewer at Kamado Brewery in Mizunami City, and opened the brewery in 2023. Did you notice the logo’s reversed N? It stands for “turning NO upside down” and expresses his wish to transform the negative image of agriculture into something positive.

And the beers are just as distinctive. There’s a “Tea Trio” series themed around Shirakawa tea: “Dashi Ale” made with broth from their homegrown log-cultivated shiitake mushrooms, “Hojicha Amber” using hojicha from Shirakawa Town, and “Japanese Black Tea Ale” brewed with Japanese black tea and aromatics lifted by Enigma hops.

It’s only possible because they use log-cultivated shiitake grown on their own farm. They also have “Rice Lager” made with pesticide-free rice grown on their own fields, and “Nobunaga Banana Weizen” made with banana from Gifu. The brewing water comes from a clear stream very close to its source.

And they return spent grain from brewing to the farm as fertilizer. It’s a circular system from the fields to the beer and from the beer back to the fields. They also offer brewing experiences, where one session yields about 15 liters, or 40 bottles of 330 ml each, of your very own beer.