RISE & WIN Brewing Company

Let me tell you about RISE & WIN Brewing in the mountains of Kamikatsu, Tokushima. They have a second brewery called Stone Wall Hill, and it is something else.

Kamikatsu is the first town in Japan to declare zero waste. Residents separate their trash into 45 categories, and the recycling rate exceeds 80 percent. Founder Tatsuya Tanaka started the brewery to share that spirit with the world through beer.

And yet they connect beautifully. Their flagship beer, "KAMIKATZ LEUVEN WHITE," uses the peels left over after juicing yuko, a citrus fruit special to Kamikatsu, for aroma. Materials that would otherwise be discarded become part of the beer's character.

On top of that, "KAMIKATZ IPA" uses Awa bancha, a locally produced lactic-fermented tea, and they also make a circular beer called "reRise." They turn spent malt from brewing into liquid fertilizer, grow barley with that fertilizer, and then brew beer again. It's a loop.

Exactly. And the buildings are amazing too. The original brewery was designed by architect Hiroshi Nakamura, who incorporated old window frames and desks from the town's waste collection site into the facade like a patchwork. The over-8-meter wall is packed with reclaimed materials. Stone Wall Hill was designed by Assemble Studio, the British collective that won the Turner Prize.

With Stone Wall Hill, production capacity increased all at once, and they also started wholesale distribution nationwide. They offer refill sales with growler bottles too, and they even have things like "THE BARREL," aged in whiskey barrels. It's a beer born in the mountains, or rather, because it is in the mountains.