Hiroshima North Beer

There’s a place called Hiroshima Kita Beer Kameyama Brewery in Asakita Ward, Hiroshima City, and the career change of its representative, Yuya Hiramoto, is incredible.

He worked in environmental measurement. He used to do things like boiler exhaust inspections and water quality surveys. Then, when he drank craft beer for the first time through work connections, he says he “fell in love at first sip.” After that, he studied on his own for about a year at Iwami Beer in Shimane, and opened his own brewery in 2018.

The brewery sits at the foot of a mountain, and they use groundwater drawn from a well on the property for 100% of their brewing water. The Kameyama and Kabe area is known for its excellent water quality. Each brew is a small batch of 150 to 300 liters.

The most popular is HASSAKU. It’s a session-style ale made with hassaku from Osaki-Shimojima, with a bright citrus freshness up front. OYSTER is a dark ale that uses whole oysters from Ninoshima, shell and all. It’s a very Hiroshima combination. CITRUS IPA uses Setouchi lemon and navel orange peel, so you get a strong hit of citrus bitterness.

The seasonal rotation is fun too. In spring they make strawberry beer, in summer sweet summer orange beer, in autumn pear beer, and in winter yuzu ale. They also make unusual brews like Pione Weizen, Sansho Black, and green papaya ale.

Hiramoto’s slogan is “slow down time.” And there’s also “Beer is something you can choose” - he wants to show that beer isn’t just one big-brand option, but something you can enjoy by choosing the one that suits your taste. He says he especially wants people who’ve drifted away from beer to try it.