Hosokawa Brewery

Today, I want to talk about Hosokawa Brewery in Kuwana, Mie. It’s the only brewery in Japan that makes organic beer exclusively.

Incredibly rare. It uses 100% organically grown, pesticide-free malt and 100% organic hops, all imported directly from Germany. And the brewing water is natural spring water from the Yoro mountain range, called Yoro Meisui. It originally started as a sake brewery in 1850, the third year of the Kaei era.

What’s more, they learned the brewing method directly from a brewmaster who graduated from the Berlin Institute of Technology. All of their brewing equipment is also German-made. They’re serious about the German style.

They have three styles under the "Ageuma Beer" brand: Helles, Dunkel, and Bock. All are bottom-fermented, with a primary fermentation at 8 to 10°C for one week, followed by more than 60 days of secondary maturation. They’re serious about lager brewing.

At the local Tado Taisha shrine, there’s a spirited festival called the Ageuma Shinji, where horses charge up a slope, and it has continued since the Nanboku-cho period. The name comes from that. Their sake is also sold under the same "Ageuma" label.

You can even get it through hometown tax donation programs, so it’s more accessible than you might expect. It’s not flashy, but a brewery that has stuck to organic brewing for more than 170 years is quietly amazing, I think.