English homebrewer looking to Japan

[CraftySamurai]

Just wanted to introduce myself here.

I'm based in North Yorkshire currently but my partner/soon to be wife is living in Osaka Japan. With any luck I will be moving there this year.

I have brewed all grain maybe 5 or six times. Usually to a recipe but have been managing to adapt my own spins in things for the last few brews. I'm fairly confident but very much still a beginner.

Last lockdown me and my neighbor brewed beers together and shared beer over the wall, that became our brewing moniker "Over The Wall Brewing"

I love dark beers and want to experiment with herbs and other ingredients that are seasonal and local wherever I am be England or Japan.

Would love to try brewing neipa sometime soon but for now I'm setting my sights on a smoked cinder toffee porter and a sake/beer hybrid maybe a pilsner with some umami flavours. I posted two threads looking for input on those recipe ideas if anyone is interested in them or wants to trade ideas or experience.

 

[foxy]

Just wanted to introduce myself here.

I'm based in North Yorkshire currently but my partner/soon to be wife is living in Osaka Japan. With any luck I will be moving there this year.

I have brewed all grain maybe 5 or six times. Usually to a recipe but have been managing to adapt my own spins in things for the last few brews. I'm fairly confident but very much still a beginner.

Last lockdown me and my neighbor brewed beers together and shared beer over the wall, that became our brewing moniker "Over The Wall Brewing"

I love dark beers and want to experiment with herbs and other ingredients that are seasonal and local wherever I am be England or Japan.

Would love to try brewing neipa sometime soon but for now I'm setting my sights on a smoked cinder toffee porter and a sake/beer hybrid maybe a pilsner with some umami flavours. I posted two threads looking for input on those recipe ideas if anyone is interested in them or wants to trade ideas or experience.

Have a read up on home brewing in Japan, they have some funny laws covering it over there, no more than 1% ABV.

 

[CraftySamurai]

Have a read up on home brewing in Japan, they have some funny laws covering it over there, no more than 1% ABV.

Yeh I lived there for a year and a half volunteering and have been visiting for a number of years now. It's a bizarre law, the supermarket sells all kinds of alcohol including white spirit many people use as a base for Ume-shu (plum wine). Yet they won't allow you to homebrew properly. Although the law isn't enforced so much so as long as you are not shouting from the rooftops about brewing you are pretty safe. Most craft beer bar staff I talked to brewed their own.

 

[fury_tea]

Was just about to say the same as Foxy, met a guy there a couple of years ago who said it's mostly illegal. People definitely do it but you have to keep it very quiet if you are caught you can get hefty fines and neighbours/colleagues will tell the authorities if they suspect you are breaking the rules.

 

[foxy]

There's a couple of guys on the Aussie site who are expats brewing in Japan, they don't seem to run into any problems.

 

[CraftySamurai]

Yeh I plan on keeping it low key over there. I doubt the laws will change any time soon but the craft beer industry is shaking things up a little over there, it's a shame that the big brewers are stifling the market still.

 

[Gerryjo]

Hi and welcome to the forum...

 

[Clint]

1%....you'll have to drink 30 pints a night!

 

[lupinehorror]

Japan is quite keen on fermented foodstuffs as far as i know (i certainly enjoy a selection of it). wonder why the 1% limit.
activated carbon air lock and off you go.

 

[CraftySamurai]

Sadly those laws have been in place for a very long time, but at least they are nearly impossible to police. Good job as the fine for producing beer without a license is ¥1000,000 (approx £7090)

I don't think industry giants like Asahi, Kirin, Suntory and Sapporo will allow the type of craft beer revolution in Japan that the US had. Too much leaning on politicians to keep the status quo as it is.... Or should I say the monopoly over the beer market in Japan.
Interestingly the 1% of the market is craft beer.... There's a lot of 1%'s being referenced here ha ha

I'll brew over there I'm sure, but not happy about having to keep it on the sly. Beer is something to be shared and enjoyed with others, production, experimentation, and of course the drinking of it.

One thing I will probably do which is a fun little work around is... Brew your own beer on an registered breweries equipment (Hitachino Nest in Ibaraki allow customers to create their own beer and brew it with them, a few weeks later they bottle it and sent it to your house) probably way more expensive than home brew as we know it but I'm looking to is as a one off "birthday treat" or something like that. It's a good excuse to visit their brewery, stock up and do the tour then brew a recipe ive confidence in using industry standard equipment... And I don't even need to bottle it as they do it for ya.
(Insert picture of my soon to be wife rolling her eyes)

 

[CraftySamurai]

Japan is quite keen on fermented foodstuffs as far as i know (i certainly enjoy a selection of it). wonder why the 1% limit.
activated carbon air lock and off you go.

Yeh their ferments are great, I am looking forward to getting back there and being able to buy stuff like that easily from supermarkets and farm shops.

 

[CraftySamurai]

Yeh their ferments are great, I am looking forward to getting back there and being able to buy stuff like that easily from supermarkets and farm shops.

Also it's all taxes, the quantity that you have to produce as a brewing license holder it out of reach for the homebrewer. The tax laws changed a few years ago to bend a little for some growth for smaller breweries but not enough to allow for real industry growth and the pool of talented well versed brewers who have brewing experience is thin due to the underground nature of homebrew

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum