There are many things that Japan does well on a big scale-miso, sushi, sake, tea, to
name a few. But one thing that left both
Karl and me disappointed right from the beginning is Japanese beer.
Having lived in the upper Midwest of the US of A for all of
my adult life until moving to Japan, a huge variety of delicious micro
brewed beer was always available.
In fact, when we were dating, Karl and I went to one of our favorite
haunts on the shores of Lake Superior on a weekly basis-Fitger’s
Brewhouse.
Imagine our disappointment upon moving to Japan when-generally speaking-all we
had to choose from was Asahi and Sapporo.
Not terrible…but not great. Karl
loves porters and stouts, while I lean towards weizen brews. Neither of which could we find, besides the
insanely over priced cans of Guinness. Hmm.
About a year into our living in Japan, we finally ventured
into a small establishment that would prove to increase our weekend enjoyment
exponentially-Zakkoku Koubou Craft Beer.
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| The brew master and some of his brewing friends call themselves the "Beer Cats." |
Although we had noticed this little place several times
before, once again our lack of being able to speak any significant amount of
Japanese held us back. Finally, after
mustering some courage, we immersed ourselves further into our Japan
experience.
The phrase that comes to mind when I reflect on this
discovery is, “It’s better late than never.”
We were kicking ourselves after we realized what an incredible little
micro brewery our little town had had all along. But…better late than never!
A young couple runs Zakkoku brewery-a local, organic micro
brewery. They do not speak much English
but they are some of the nicest, friendliest people whom we have yet to meet anywhere-Japan
or elsewhere.
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| Hops! |
Sitting at the tiny little wooden bar, you can see right
through to the other room where the magic happens. They always have at least four beers on tap: a porter,
a weizen, a seasonal pale ale, and a few other seasonal brews. Karl’s and my brew-filled
dreams had come true!
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| The Ogawa Porter-Karl's favorite. |
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| The Apple Ginger Weizen-my favorite! |
Along with the beers, they offer some incredibly delicious
snacks. Spicy sausages from A-chan’s
delicatessen just down the street, wholegrain breads, pickles, pretzels, and
more. All of them of are homemade, fresh,
and organic. Occasionally, they also
offer full meals. We have had Japanese
style curry and rice there a few times (usually we are not enamored with this
dish-but it is extremely delicious at Zakkoku).
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| Spicy sausages that are made at Achan's Delicatessen, which is just down the street. |
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| Delicious bread set. Homemade bread for the win. |
This is a small, quiet place that fills up quickly and
doesn’t stay open too late. We usually
go on Friday afternoon right after work for a weekend kanpai (Japanese for
cheers). Sometimes, we take a few
bottles home with us-though the bottled beers are usually limited to just two
or three types of beer.
Zakkoku micro brewery is located extremely close to the
station-less than a minute walk. We
usually start parties here with a brew or three of truly exceptional micro
brews and then migrate over to Ota Horumon (less than a minute walk away) for
delicious food and good times. We are
going to miss this routine after we leave.
Fortunately home is waiting for us, with all its glorious micro brews to
go with it.
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