The pejorative word devil is sometimes applied to things that are quite good. Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary is a case in point. Consider its definition of mausoleum: “The final and funniest folly of the rich.” See what we mean? Then there is that nefarious musical instrument once widely denigrated by the holier-than-thou types as “the devil’s flute,” by which they meant the saxophone. And let us not forget the “devil’s tongue,” whose scientific name appears in our title. This plant, which is both culinary and medicinal, is closely associated with Japan’s Gunma Prefecture and is one of our favorite comestibles. If you are an English speaker, you might know it as konnyaku.
Imagine how surprised and pleased we were when we discovered there is a brewery producing beer from konnyaku sugars. The name of the brewery is Tsumagoi Kogen Brewery, and it is located in Tsumagoi, which is not too far from Kusatsu, the location of a famous hot spring.
Konjac Beer is a golden brown brew. It is cloudy, hops-dominated, and clearly both sweet and bitter. The abv is 5%. Gunma University was involved in this worthwhile endeavor. We are looking forward to more of this!
Drinking Japan 