Onomichi Brewery

Mr. Masato Sasaki of Onomichi Brewery is such a dramatic person, the more you learn about him.

He originally worked for a major food logistics company, but overwork made him sick and he had to step back from the front lines. Then his wife, Mari, said, "Why don't we try living differently from now on? Why don't we brew beer?"

When he traveled the Kumano Kodo in Wakayama, he was inspired by seeing a woman in the Community Revitalization Cooperation Team running a cafe, thinking, "There's a way to live like this too." He trained at a microbrewery in Tochigi, moved from Chiba to Onomichi, and opened in 2021.

He met the person in charge of Onomichi at a Hiroshima relocation fair, and as he kept visiting, more and more people began supporting him. The deciding factor was his encounter with a glass wholesaler's storehouse built in 1894. Deep inside a long, narrow building typical of Onomichi's "eel's bed" layout, an atmospheric storehouse was waiting.

The flagship beer, "Onomichi Ale," pairs an English pale ale with Onomichi-grown lemon, and the taste changes three times a year depending on the season of the lemons used. Green lemon, yellow lemon, fully ripe lemon. Even though it's the same beer, it shows a different face each season.

"Cucumber Saison" uses Onomichi cucumbers, "Iwakojima Tomato Weizen" uses ripe tomatoes, and "Shoky Red Ale" uses Delaware grapes from Onomichi. About half of the ideas for the auxiliary ingredients apparently come from conversations with customers. They won silver and bronze at the International Beer Cup 2021, and won awards in four categories, including a gold medal, at the Japan Great Beer Awards 2022. Achieving that in their second year is impressive.