Ooya Brasserie

You know, Ooya Brasserie’s Takashi Ooya does everything himself, from brewing to bottling to shipping.

And his career is pretty interesting. He started brewing beer at Funakure Kogen Farm in 1999, and he also trained at Coedo Brewery in Saitama. Coedo is now one of Japan’s leading craft beer brands, right?

But then in 2007, the beer facility at the farm where he worked was shut down. At that time, Ooya was in Belgium, training in brewing all across the country. After returning to Japan, he decided he had no choice but to do it himself, got his brewing license that Christmas, and went independent.

Exactly, he built the brewery’s name around the pride he gained in Belgium. Its flagship beer, "Etchu Fuga," is a pale ale with a brick-red color, aromas of caramel malt, and hops that evoke grapefruit. The bitterness is restrained, so it’s easy to drink.

Another regular is "Niemon’s Black," a stout made with two-row barley grown in Toyama City. What’s even more interesting is the seasonal fruit beer lineup, which uses local Toyama ingredients like Ikeda apples, Kureha pears, and honey from Mizushima persimmons.

Ooya even pays attention to how the flavor of honey changes depending on the flowers the bees visit. With his Coedo training, his brewing studies across Belgium, and all of that experience poured into one brewery by one person, it’s in a sense the ultimate beer where you can see the maker’s face.