Oriental Brewing

If you're talking about Kanazawa's craft beer scene, Oriental Brewing is one you can't leave out. The president, Makoto Tanaka, originally worked as a management consultant in Tokyo, but returned to Ishikawa at age 30.

It is, but he returned home when he got married, then spent about a year traveling around the world on his honeymoon. Along the way, he learned brewing from a Swedish brewer and saw the popularity of craft beer in different places firsthand, which convinced him that it would definitely catch on in Japan too.

They opened a brewpub in Higashiyama, Kanazawa in 2016, and it became Kanazawa's first brewpub. Then in 2019, they set up a brewery in Yuwaku. Yuwaku is a hot spring area about a 30-minute drive into the mountains from central Kanazawa, known as Kanazawa's inner retreat. Its cool climate is well suited to hop cultivation, and they even grow their own hops around the brewery.

Their concept is "local and unique," and the beers they make with local ingredients are fascinating. Kaga Boucha Stout is a dark beer made with Kanazawa's traditional roasted tea, and the roasted barley and hojicha-like aroma blend together beautifully. Yuwaku Yuzu Ale uses plenty of local Kanazawa yuzu, with fermentation-derived esters and yuzu aroma spreading brightly and elegantly.

They also make Noto Salt Saison and Pumpkin Jack, a pumpkin beer made with Kaga vegetables like pumpkin. In 2017, they won both gold and category champion at the IBC (International Beer Cup), proving their skill.

And they didn't stop at beer either. They also took on distilling and released Ishikawa Prefecture's first whisky, "Hakurai." You can buy it at the new store in Kanazawa Station Hyakubangai. It's a new challenge, bringing the brewing know-how they built through beer into distilling.