Game Brew

Game Brew is backed by Seiken Graphics, a company that has been making newspaper printing equipment for over 70 years. They entered brewing from a world completely unrelated to beer.

The president, Shota Namida, who took office in 2018, is a huge beer lover. He asked employees for ideas for new businesses, but most of the proposals were close to the company's core business. So the president himself reportedly said, "Then let's do beer," and that is how it started.

At first they didn't have their own equipment, so they started as a phantom brewery by borrowing facilities from other breweries. President Namida himself also went to Noboru Brewing in Miyazaki every month to learn brewing techniques. After that, they built a brewery on the grounds of their own factory and hired three brewers from across Japan to begin full-scale operations.

The beer lineups fully reflect a game-culture worldview. The standard "CONTINUE?" is a golden ale with restrained bitterness and a fruity flavor. "LIQUID SWORDS" is a West Coast IPA, "TOP BILLIN'" is a double IPA, "THICCLY" is a hazy IPA, and "DILEMMA" is a cold pale ale. Every name is just undeniably cool.

Their ties to the local area are interesting too. They have a collaboration beer called "NUMBER 17" with the soccer team Sagan Tosu, and another collaboration beer with the basketball team Saga Ballooners. They also actively use local ingredients, such as "UNLEASH," a juicy pale ale made with "Rino Shizuku" lemons from Shiroishi, Saga.

They also run a directly operated bar called "CONTINUE?" in Hakata Station's Mying Yokocho, where you can try any beer in 30 ml pours. Since this brewery has made more than 66 styles so far, clearing the whole lineup is quite the completionist challenge.