Wakayama Brewery

Do you know Wakayama Brewery? It's a brewpub right at the foot of Wakayama Castle, and its origins are really interesting.

Exactly. The representative, Tomoyuki Yoshida, was originally the third-generation owner of a long-established liquor store, and he also ran a Japanese sake-focused izakaya called Kishu Ouen Sakaba Sandaime.

And the trigger was great. Craft beer fans from outside the prefecture would come and say, 'We want to drink Wakayama beer,' but at the time there were no breweries in the city, so he couldn't point them anywhere. That led him to start brewing it himself in 2016.

The brand name, AGARA CRAFT, has another great story. 'Agara' means 'we' in the Wakayama dialect, and it was chosen through a public call for submissions from students in Wakayama University's Faculty of Tourism and local residents. Yoshida himself wasn't involved in naming it at all.

Their core lineup is AGARA CRAFT IPA, Pale Ale, and Weizen. Their concept is 'All Wakayama,' and they aim to use ingredients sourced entirely from Wakayama. They also won a gold medal at the 2023 Melbourne International Beer Awards.

What's more, they work with Wakayama National College of Technology to give students hands-on experience in real brewing projects through a one-year internship, and they also offer a training program for brewing talent. They're not just making beer; they're also developing the people who make it.