JAP Brewery

Have you heard of the "475 Beer" from JAP Brewery in Yonago City?

"Yo-na-go" is 475. It's a local pun for Yonago. They launched in 2018 as Yonago's first brewery.

Representative Hiroaki Ochiai is a true Yonago native who started the brewery because he wanted to energize Yonago with craft beer. Head brewer Fuminori Hashimoto is from Osaka and originally worked at a cafe, but he got hooked on serving beer at his own place, trained in Oita for six months, and then came to Tottori.

Their flagship American pale ale brings out Cascade and Amarillo hops, and it's brewed with spring water from Mount Daisen. But the real strength here is their locally collaborative beers.

A rice ale made with Yonago-grown Kinu Musume rice, a tea beer using black tea from the local Osada Tea Shop, a coffee porter brewed with beans from Cafe Rosso... They work with Yonago businesses to turn the city's flavors into beer.

What's interesting is that from the very beginning, they had their sights set on overseas expansion. They used a Japanese-style seal design for the brand logo, reflecting an eye toward East Asian markets. Their crowdfunding campaign raised more than 7.45 million yen against a target of 3 million yen.