The three items listed in the title are all brews from OGA Brewery, a microbrewery located in Mitaka, approximately fifteen minutes on foot from Mitaka Station. We will begin with Polar Night, as we have our very own polar tale to tell. Many years ago we found ourselves in the Canadian Arctic. It was the … Continue reading Polar Night, Kitanonomori (北野の杜), and aged BY.
Bee, Grateful We Are
Grateful We Are In this entry we will not, as we customarily do, review/critique a particular beverage, but instead pay homage to the insect that made some of the earliest alcoholic beverages possible—the bee, specifically those that give us honey. May 20 is World Bee Day, so this is an appropriate time to pay our … Continue reading Bee, Grateful We Are
Vertere: A Craft Brewery in Tokyo’s “Wild West”
There is a mountainous area of Tokyo, where the population density is low. It is located on its western fringe. Here the natural factor seems to dominate the human. The Tama River—sometimes referred to as the “Tamazon” further downstream—begins its journey in this place, and the shy serow occasionally makes an appearance. The place is … Continue reading Vertere: A Craft Brewery in Tokyo’s “Wild West”
Tokyo Hop Planting @ Sekimae, Musashino!
April 11, 2021 Hiramaki-san, brewer at 26K brewery in Musashisakai, Tokyo, invited us to a unique event - hop growing in Sekimae, Tokyo. We were out there with green thumbs, it is to be hoped, planting the rhizome (rootstock), not seeds, that are expected to bear the hops that will be used in the local … Continue reading Tokyo Hop Planting @ Sekimae, Musashino!
Will It Blend?: Sakuho Terroir Le Liquore de Pomme (佐久穂テロワール リキュール デ ポム)
Ingredients are: apple juice, prune juice and junmai shu (sake), all from Nagano Prefecture. The French have a wonderful word—assemblage. Actually, the French have a number of wonderful words; it’s just too bad that we at drinkingjapan.org do not know how to pronounce them correctly. What is assemblage? Well, it is, to use the more … Continue reading Will It Blend?: Sakuho Terroir Le Liquore de Pomme (佐久穂テロワール リキュール デ ポム)
Izumi Brewery at Komae, Tokyo
Some Like It Sour: Sour Saison Sour Saison We all know the story of the fox who failed: unable to reach what initially appeared to him to be delicious grapes, he reasoned that they were in fact not desirable after all because they were most likely sour. That fox would be dismayed to learn that … Continue reading Izumi Brewery at Komae, Tokyo
Oku-Izumo Vineyard’s Pinotage 2020 (奥出雲葡萄園 ピノタージュ2020): It’s Real, and It’s Real Good
The Real Deal A few days ago the following Bloomberg headline appeared in The Japan Times: “This Digital Art Collage Sold for a Record $69 Million.” Readers are encouraged to pause for a few minutes to let this sink in. The key word here is “digital.” You see, the work of art in question does … Continue reading Oku-Izumo Vineyard’s Pinotage 2020 (奥出雲葡萄園 ピノタージュ2020): It’s Real, and It’s Real Good
Drinking Japan 