Great Japan Beer Festival: Yokohama

Prologue

So there I am after my weekly group running/drinking club which happened to be in Ryogoku this week. Naturally I skipped the after party in favor of a sojourn to Popeyes, basically the destination for Japanese craftbeer. I settled down for a pint and half way through the glass the dashing fellow in the middle of the photo, comes in. We get to talking, have a few more pints and I learn a number of interesting things. First, As it turns out he is David, is in town from New Zealand, and is the export manager for Tuatara Brewing. Second, the tuatara, after which the brewery is named, is the last living dinosaur in the world, another reason why New Zealand is awesome. Finally Aoki-sans homegrown hop tempura is delicious. I had a lot of fun and was even more excited to get ot the festival and try out his and all the other beers.

Great Japan Beer Festival: Yohohama


Beerfests are a great chance to try out a large selection of beers, some of which are not normally available, to meet people, and to generally have a great time. The Great Japan Beer Festival is no exception. They have it three times a year in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka. The most recent one was in Yokohoma out at Osanbashi in the hall of the same name. Its underneath that big pier looking thing south of Akarenga with grass on the roof and pretty blue lights at night, and here is the 2010 beer list.

The festival was all you can drink, rather than a ticket system, with the little glasses which I appear to be double fisting. The glass size was no problem but I was a little disappointed at the lack of cleaning stations for glasses, although some of the attendants, especially the brewers were kind enough to rinse out our glasses before putting a new beer in. Overall, the beer was done well in terms of quantity of beer, serving, attractiveness of stalls. Only once did I have a beer that was clearly not being served properly, and that was towards the end of the festival and from a bottle.

I tried to work a proper tasting order ( light impact beers to stronger) starting with the lightest of beers pilsners and such and moving up to the strong and bitter Imperial India Pale Ales, with wheat beers, english milds, pale ales, light stouts, and others in between. It worked out fairly well and while I did not get to taste everything I would have liked, I did well enough.

In terms of beer there were no huge surprises. From the Japanese brewers I especially enjoyed the Weizen Rauch from Gotenba, HopSlave ( which I poured at the Real Ale fest last year), the Helles from Chateau Kamiya, the North Island IPA. I disliked the beers from Hansharo, and the Johanna. From the Import side my group and I thought the Maui Brewing coconut porter was fantastic, Deschutes Beer was even better than I remember it from my college days, my first taste of Odell Brewery was good, the lambics from Revelation Cat were quite interesting, and the Saison de Lente from The Bruery was almost worth the price of admission itself. Last but of course not least the American Pale Ale from Tuatara Brewing was a really solid example of what I like in in APA, great hop aroma, strong bitterness. I think their belgian was also good, but I tried it out of order and cant really make a good judgment on it.
All and all it was a good beerfest as far as I was concerned, and I will definitely be back again next year, hopefully in some sort of professional capacity.


Epilogue


Once the drinking was finished we all poured out on to the deck above, and were treated to a wonderful view of Yokohama, met a few friends, and also serenaded the deck with a powerfull rendition of "can you feel the love tonight" with some strangers (hats off to you random dude).

On the recommendation of Chris and his blog I went to a place called Charcoal Grill & Bar Green.
I was pleasantly surprised. The interior is artfully decorated, lots of wood and paintings, with the restaurant and the kitchen in the same room, a setup I love. They have three craft beers on tap, and I went with Hitachino Nest Nipponia. Which was a good general match to the food, with some hops and spices to match the fat and spices in the grill. The waiters were casual but professional and made excellent recommendations. We had the BBQ Pork, oyster, goat cheese salad, all spice ribs, and the rosemary chicken. Everything was great, but the BBQ really blew me away. My first bite and the meat melted in my mouth, to use a cliché. Behind that was an expert use of spices which truly enhanced, rather than overcame the meat and the skillfull grilling technique. Really good. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in the Yokohama area, and I will certainly be back.

Cheers to everyone I meet, and to a great day!

-Eric