Ohgoshi Beer Brewery

There's a brewery called Ohgoshi Beer Brewery in Sakaide City, Kagawa, and its backstory is amazing.

The setting is Ohgoshi Town. It was once prosperous thanks to citrus cultivation and had a population of over 2,700, but it has shrunk to about 800 people, making it a marginal village. In 2012, its only elementary school was also closed. The project is about revitalizing the area through agriculture and beer.

There are two central figures: Chie Hosoya, who was born in Kagawa and lives in Ohgoshi Town, and Kivin Zhu, who came to Kagawa from overseas drawn by the Seto Inland Sea. The parent organizations are West Food Planning, which operates the Sanuki udon chain Kodawari Menya, and the agricultural corporation Nihon Nosan, and the core idea is to turn ingredients grown in their own fields into beer.

The first release, Lemonsoon, is a saison made with 100% Ohgoshi-grown lemons. Saison was originally a beer brewed by Belgian farmers during the off-season, so it fits this agricultural town perfectly. They also make things like a Belgian white using Ohgoshi-grown mandarins, turning the blessings of the fields directly into beer.

What makes it even more interesting is the Pepper Beer Series, which combines Sanuki wasanbon sugar from Higashikagawa with Kampot pepper from Cambodia. It comes in three varieties: saison, stout, and golden ale, and won bronze in the herb and spice beer category at the Japan Great Beer Awards 2025.

The Pepper Saison has a refreshing taste with a light sweetness from the wasanbon, followed by a peppery kick at the finish. The brewery is in the former Ohgoshi branch office, a renovated Showa-era public building right in the middle of the satoyama. They also host events like a beer toast after a satoyama hike.