Hidano Oku Brewery

Let’s start with Hidano Oku Brewery in Hida Furukawa. It was founded in 2021 and is Hida City’s first craft beer brewery, and the brewer, Etsuo Shimoide, is an interesting person.

He’s originally from Hida City, worked as a company employee in Nagoya, and after studying abroad he decided, ‘I want to brew beer in my hometown,’ so he returned. He trained in Gujo, got his brewing license, came back home, and started it up on his own.

What makes it unique is that they use a lot of ingredients from Hida. They make things like ‘Tomato Tea Ale,’ which combines tomatoes and black tea, ‘Physalis Ale’ made with husk cherries, and ‘Hidamori Ale,’ blended with wild herbs from Hida.

Apparently the tea covers the green, vegetal note of the tomato really well, making it incredibly easy to drink. In fact, at the Japan Great Beer Awards 2024, it won gold in the field-style category. The Physalis Ale also won silver in the fruit beer category.

Right? They also make things like ‘Pineapple Ale,’ using pineapple sent from their Taiwanese sister city and Hida honey, and ‘Canele Ale,’ which upcycles imperfect canelés from a local cafe. Every release is an adventurous ingredient combination.

About a 5-minute walk. You can sample beers at the counter, and they also offer bottles to go. They usually have around six varieties on hand, and there are many seasonal limited releases, so every visit brings a different lineup. They’re expanding their equipment through crowdfunding right now, so it should get even more interesting from here.