Sasebo Sunset Beer

There’s a brewery in Sasebo called Sasebo Sunset Beer, and it has a really distinctive atmosphere.

Right. It’s the only craft beer brewery in Sasebo, and the owner, Mr. Nakayamada, handles everything himself from brewing to sales. It’s on the first floor of a building, about a 5-minute walk from Sasebo-Chuo Station on the Matsuura Railway.

It’s a space that combines the brewery, retail shop, and kakuuchi all in one. There are 11 taps lined up at the counter, and besides their house-brewed ales, they also stock craft beer from Kyushu and the U.S. West Coast. They also have about 40 kinds of canned beer.

What Mr. Nakayamada is especially committed to is ale. He says, 'Most beer in Japan is lager, but I want to make beer you can enjoy slowly, without over-chilling it.' He brews in 80-liter batches using an Iwami-style brewing system.

He runs it with three 120-liter fermentation tanks, so the lineup keeps changing all the time. They also release daring beers like 'Fruit Bomb,' a Berliner Weisse loaded with fresh oranges, and you can even get draft beer to go by the liter.