BREW CLASSIC

BREW CLASSIC is a brewery near Kanazawa Port, and the owner, Soshin Sakio, is quite an interesting person. While studying for his MBA, he drank a Boston Lager and was so shocked that he entered the craft beer world.

At first, he didn't have his own brewery, so he contract-brewed beer and sold it from a mobile sales truck. But his desire to 'liven up his hometown of Kanazawa with beer I made myself' grew stronger, and in 2022 he set up his own brewery.

He won gold at the World Beer Cup. That's one of the world's largest beer competitions. And his IPA called 'Harikomachi Freedom' also won gold at the Japan Great Beer Awards 2022. It's basically as if he climbed from mobile sales all the way to the top of the world.

The secret is the yeast. They have one of the country's rare in-house yeast cultivation systems, and they use fresh liquid yeast for every brew. Because they don't reuse harvested yeast, the yeast works healthily every time and produces a clean flavor with no off-notes.

It has a fruity aroma and a mellow bitterness, making it easy to drink even though it's an IPA. Their other beer, 'Hitsujinojo Around,' is a hoppy ale with a tropical flavor and a punchy finish. The can design is done by his wife, and I also like that the concept is 'cool in a kitschy way.'

They have a company-owned taproom in Katamachi, Kanazawa, where you can always drink six kinds of draft beer. The brewery is about a 10-minute walk from Kanazawa Port, and the brewing water comes from the underground springs of Mt. Haku. The hops are sourced from the U.S., New Zealand, and Australia.