Dogo Beer

Did you know that right next to Dogo Onsen, a sake brewery founded in 1895 also makes beer? It's Mizuguchi Shuzo's "Dogo Beer."

And the shop-connected main building was built in 1917 and is a nationally registered tangible cultural property. It's a Western-style building with plaster walls and Taisho-era romantic round windows. The story of how this historic brewery took on beer is dramatic too.

It all started with the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. A major manufacturer told them, "From now on we'll make our own, so we can no longer buy your sake." Cornered by that crisis, they seized the timing of the liquor tax law revision that had just legalized small-scale beer brewing and launched into the beer business in 1996.

The Mizuguchi family motto is, "Don't protect the noren; break the noren." It means never rest on tradition and always keep pushing forward. They used their location just steps from the main Dogo Onsen building as a weapon and set the concept as "the perfect drink after a bath."

There are four kinds, and all of them are named after literary figures connected to Matsuyama. The Kölsch-style "Bocchan Beer" is fruity and crisp, perfect as your first drink after a bath. The Alt-style "Madonna Beer" has the richness and sweetness of caramel malt. The stout "Soseki Beer" has the depth and roasty aroma of chocolate malt. The Weizen-style "Nosan Beer" has a banana-like fruity aroma and little bitterness.

The sixth-generation owner, Kosuke Mizuguchi, is an interesting person too. He originally worked as a systems engineer on linear-motor train projects in Tokyo. During overseas travel he realized the value of his family's brewery and returned home. Now he uses the brewery as an event space and regularly hosts a market that connects local residents. He's thinking about town development in Dogo as well.