North to South Craft Brewery Japan Journey - talk with Matthew Boynton of Sakamichi (Steep Hill) Brewing

Seek Sustainable Japan

Catching up with craft-beer brewmaster & insider Sakamichi Brewing co-founder Matthew Boynton.

Matthew shares his North to South Japan top craft breweries and tap-room top-10 list with us - so many great examples of how these businesses take care of their local communities and environment while running a successful business!

#craftbeer #japan #sustainable #sustainablebusiness #seeksustainablejapan

Sakamichi (Steep Hill) Brewing Links:

Twitter/X: @sakamichi_beer

https://www.sakamichibrewing.com/

Matthew's Podcast: Sakamichi Nights

00:00 Welcome

01:25 Sakamichi Brewing Origin

02:30 Finally Brewing Own

03:05 Authenticity of drinking in an active brewery

04:30 Izakaya across the street collab

06:00 Sounds Sakamichi Nights Podcast

07:15 Animal Hospital Intrigue

08:30 BonEnkai Season

09:00 T-shirt Merch

09:30 Ohio Gozaimasu Breakfast Stout Collab & Artwork

10:50 Choose a beer by the cool label

11:30 Two Rabbits Beer near Lake Biwa

12:40 Udon Brewing Setouchi Beer

13:40 Happoshu License for Craft Beer

15:20 Authorized beer ingredients?

16:30 Invest in a Brewery b4 license

18:40 Packaging Beer in a Different Room

19:50 Refill your Growler

21:00 Seaweed vs Fish Guts Filters

22:45 Matt's Top-10 List of Sustainable Breweries in Japan

23:20 Hop Kotan - Hokkaido

24:30 Need for Hop processing in Japan

29:00 Using Rice Waste in Craft Brewing

29:50 Spent Grains donated to Base Side Farms Tokyo

31:00 Vertere brewery in Okutama

32:30 JJ's messing with the order - sorry!

32:40 Black Tide Brewery in Kesunnuma MIYAGI prefecture

33:50 AJB AngloJapaneseBrewing in Nagano

34:20 Food Waste to Beer series

35:00 ShioKaze BrewLab in Soga city CHIBA

35:40 Recycled Wood in TapRoom Design

36:15 Chris' CrushAble Beers

36:36 Yggdrasil - Hiratsuka, Kanagawa

38:10 WCB West Coast Brewery BEST in Japan

39:50 Silly Puns & Beer Names

40:50 Local Artist Exhibition Space - get in touch!

41:00 Alcohol and Art/Record Sales

42:15 Totopia Nagoya Brewery

43:20 Our mission is NOT size growth

44:00 Take care of staff & feed funds into community

45:20 Why can't we find craft beer at conbini in Japan?

46:00 Cold storage & supply chain issues

46:40 HINO Brewing in Shiga prefecture

47:20 Reusing German Derelict Brewery

49:40 Flavor Diversity

51:00 High-Alcohol beers popularity

52:50 Sake & Beer Fusion trend

54:40 Clear the Board & Sakamichi events

56:00 Craft Beer Events & Collaborations

57:50 Takao Mountain House serves Sakamichi brews

59:00 Thanks for watching & for great comments & questions!

LINKS from this talk:

• Base Side Farm where they pass on their spent grains to be used in compost: https://www.basesidefarm.com/en/
• Onomichi Brewery (JJ's Hiroshima favorite) : https://onomichibeer.com/
• Takao Mountain House: https://takaomountainhouse.jp/
• Matthew's Top Craft Breweries (that have great sustainable strategies in place)
• Hop Kotan - Central Hokkaido. Hop growing area, able to use locally grown ingredients.
• http://hopkotan.com
• Be Easy - Hirosaki, Aomori. Visited in May this year, using brewing by-products to fertilise fields that grow produce served in restaurant.
• https://beeasybrewing.com/en
• Black Tide - Kesennuma, Miyagi. Part of a revitalisation project for area devastated by 2011 earthquake & tsunami.
• https://blacktidebrewing.com
• AJB - Nozawa Onsen, Nagano. Waste to beer series uses upcycled foodstuffs that were scheduled to be discarded. Grapefruit peels, pineapple, cacao husks.
• https://anglojapanesebeer.com
• Vertere - Okutama, Tokyo. Popular hiking spot, great place to rehydrate after a long day of walking.
• http://verterebrew.com
• Shiokaze Brewlab - Soga, Chiba. Ex Baird co-worker Chris Poel. Using recycled wood in their taprooms.
• / shiokazebrewlab
• Yggdrasil - Hiratsuka, Kanagawa. All French and European ingredients. Strong connections to local community.
• https://instagram.com/yggdrasilbrewin...
• WCB - Shizuoka City, Shizuoka. No list of craft beer in Japan would be complete without them.
• https://westcoastbrewing.jp
• Totopia - outskirts of Nagoya. "above all, our mission is not only size growth", excellent dry hopped sours.
• https://totopia.official.ec
• Hino Brewing - Hino, Shiga. Reusing and recycling a defunct brewery that was originally built as part of a German theme park. https://hinobrewing.jp

As always thanks for the background tunes Casey Bean - support his original music by naming your price for downloads on BandCamp