CraftBank

CraftBank is a place where a former IBM employee and a former community-development consultant turned an abandoned bank in Fukuchiyama into a full-scale brewery.

That's what makes it great. Brewer Daichi Haseboshi spent five years working in sales at IBM, but one moment of toasting craft beer with colleagues at a brewpub in Tokyo made him think, 'This is it.' After that, he pulled off the unusual feat of working at IBM in the mornings while spending his afternoons exploring the beer business.

His partner and CFO, Shoda, is impressive too. He studied architecture and urban planning at Hokkaido University, then worked at a community-development think tank in Osaka. After helping launch around 50 businesses in the revival of Fukuchiyama's shopping streets, he researched craft beer culture on the ground in Portland and San Diego. Both of them also trained as brewers at Miyazaki Hideji Beer.

Their flagship BANK IPA is a West Coast IPA made with nine kinds of American and New Zealand hops, including Citra, Mosaic, Centennial, and Idaho 7. It hits hard with citrus and tropical aromas, but finishes so clean you can keep drinking glass after glass. It really embodies the concept they promote, 'DRUNKABILITY' - beer with personality that you can drink endlessly.

That's another great thing about them. KUROMAME BLACK is a black IPA made with soy milk from Tamba black soybeans, where coffee-like bitterness and creamy black bean character meet hop-driven citrus aroma. KURI GOLD is a golden pilsner made with chestnut paste from Tamba chestnut farmer Okuda. AZUKI RED is a red wheat ale with Tamba azuki beans. It feels like they're turning every agricultural product in Tamba into beer.

That's a collaboration with Shiritsu Coffee Elementary School, a roastery in Kinshicho, Tokyo. They use fair-trade beans from Indonesia and aim for a restrained sweetness that brings out the oily richness of a French press. They also do bold experiments, like a saison brewed with KIOTO yeast from Kyoto and raised while listening to music.