Choryo Shuzo

Choryo Shuzo Koryo Brewery in Koryo Town, Nara, is a case where a sake brewery founded in 1923 entered the craft beer scene, and the choice of head brewer is impressive. It is Takuya Hishiro, who handled brewing at the renowned COEDO Brewery.

Exactly. After gaining experience at COEDO, Hishiro spent about a year touring breweries and wineries across Australia as a period of study abroad. Bringing that experience with him, he now leads Choryo Shuzo's beer division. His guiding principle is to make beer that is easy to drink, something you can keep reaching for without overthinking it.

But the contents are seriously authentic. Their "HAZY IPA" is packed with attention-grabbing hops like Galaxy, Simcoe Cryo, Mosaic Cryo, and Idaho 7, bursting with aromas of passion fruit, berries, and grapefruit. It is also fun that they release seasonal spring, summer, autumn, and winter versions.

What is even more interesting is their "White Koji Saison," made with a sake-brewing idea unique to a sake brewery. They use white koji from sake in the beer. Their "Rice Lager" also uses rice grown in Nara Prefecture, so the crossover between sake-brewing techniques and beer brewing happens very naturally.

They also use brewing water drawn from the same on-site well as their sake, so the underlying water source is shared. There is also a facility called "Choryo Brew Park," where seven craft beer taps and three sake taps line up side by side, and the view from the second floor overlooks rows of cherry blossoms. They also serve sake-kasu dote-yaki and other foods that are unique to a brewery.

The essence of Choryo craft beer is that it combines brewing skill honed at COEDO with a century of knowledge about water and koji developed through sake brewing. It is unpretentious, but deeply layered.