Yamamoto Brewery

What would you think if I told you a former jeweler is making beer?

Yosuke Yamamoto used to be a jeweler and traveled overseas a lot for work, drinking craft beer wherever he went. He was especially blown away by the Weizen he encountered in Munich.

After he and his older brother spent more than ten years in those days of drinking like crazy, they opened a German beer specialty shop called "Koenig" in Kochi City in 2008. Then in 2017, he trained as an apprentice while living at a brewery in Yamanashi, got his brewing license, and started making beer himself.

And he has a clear philosophy too: "Beer can be rougher and more rustic." In a way, it’s a counterpunch to the flashy craft beer boom.

Their flagship trio is "Dan-Gan," "Shirokujira," and "Noroshi." "Dan-Gan" is a hoppy pale ale with a strong, punchy bitterness, while "Shirokujira" is a Munich-style Weizen with bright fruity notes.

This one is amazing. It’s a Rauchbier brewed with smoked malt and simmered bonito and dried bonito flakes. The idea was, "If Kochi’s bonito flakes are so tasty, why not put them in beer too?" Their directly operated shop is called "Cafe Jewel Koenig," and it’s also heartwarming that traces of his days as a jeweler still remain there.