Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN: Three Breweries and a Long-Established Liquor Store in Kyoto

The Nishijin area is home to many well-known shrines and temples, including the Kyoto Imperial Palace, Kitano Tenmangu Shrine and Seimei Shrine, and to traditional crafts such as Nishijin-ori textiles.

At the same time, the area has a growing number of newer businesses, including stylish cafes in renovated machiya townhouses and craft beer specialists.

One project worth knowing about is “Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN”, run by three craft beer breweries and a long-established liquor store.

A stamp rally is under way in which visiting all four breweries and shops to collect stamps earns rewards such as a discount voucher or a bottle of a selected beer.

This article introduces what Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN does, what makes each of the four breweries and shops distinctive, and the details of the stamp rally.

There are also fruit beers that are easy to drink for people who do not usually like beer, so it is worth reading whether or not you already drink craft beer.

What Is Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN?

Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN is a project launched by the following three breweries and one long-established liquor store in the Nishijin area, together with the Project Promotion Office of the City of Kyoto’s General Planning Bureau.

• Nishijin Beer
• Bighand Bros. Beer
• WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO
• Yamaoka Sake Shop

It was set up to give Nishijin a new identity as “a town of craft beer”, and it runs a range of events.

Craft beer carries not only a wide variety of aromas, flavors and tastes, but also stories: the character of a region, and how the beer is made, what the brewers set out to do, and the background to each product.

Here are the stories behind the four breweries and shops that make up Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN.

Nishijin Beer: Pairings with Japanese Sweets, and the Idea of WELL-BEERING

Nishijin Beer is a brewery with a taproom in a 140-year-old machiya townhouse.

Its beers have distinct characters, including “Everybody Kyo Ale”, with the fresh aroma of morning-picked hops; “Fuzoroi no Mugitachi”, which tastes different every year; and “Ginran no Oryze”, a brut IPA made with rice koji prepared together with Sasaki Shuzo.

Connecting People Through “WELL-BEERING”

Everybody Kyo Ale is a craft beer created with the citizens’ group “Everybody Hop”. It was made in the hope that growing hops at elderly care facilities and a ward office would help bring people together.

Nishijin Beer began as an effort to apply the strengths of people with autism to brewing work, so Everybody Kyo Ale also supports the lives of a diverse range of people in the community.

“WELL-BEERING”, a word combining “well-being” and “beer”, expresses the wish that drinking a really good beer brings a sense of well-being.

Nishijin Beer Kyo-machiya Taproom

A taproom is a bar space attached to a brewery. The name comes from the tap that the beer is poured from.

At the Nishijin Beer taproom you can bring your own food and drink freshly made Nishijin Beer. Getting takeout from a nearby restaurant and pairing it with the beer is one way to enjoy it.

One pairing that works surprisingly well is yumochi and tsumugiuta from the long-established Japanese confectioner “Tsuruya Yoshinobu”. If you are curious whether sweet confections really go with beer, it is worth trying.

Bighand Bros. Beer: British-Style Craft Beer, Including Fruit Beers

The Bighand Bros. Beer brewery is in the basement of the building that houses cafe marble Chiekoin, known for its handmade quiche and fruit tarts.

Brewing tanks line one side of the space, and the Bighand Brothers painted on the wall greet you as you arrive.

Beer Made in a Hidden Base by a Brewer Trained in Britain

The beers at Bighand Bros. Beer are led by an experienced brewer who learned home brewing in Britain.

Everything from selecting ingredients to checking the finished beer, filling cans and kegs and applying labels is done in house, in pursuit of exactly the beer they want to make.

Because the beers shine like gemstones dug up underground, the products are named after minerals.

For example, STIBNITE is a good choice if you prefer beer with less bitterness.

It is an Irish red ale with a toasty aroma of nuts and caramel and a light mouthfeel, followed by malt sweetness and a gentle bitterness.

If you like fruit beer, try GOLDEN BERYL, made with pears from Kyotango. It uses branded pears that could not be sold because of small blemishes, which helps reduce food waste.

The variety of pear available differs from year to year, so the taste of the beer changes a little each time. One year it was made with Nijisseiki pears from Kyotango.

Comparing how it tastes from one year to the next is part of the appeal.

The Bighand Bros. Beer Taproom

Go further into the brewery and through a low brick arch, and you come to a small taproom.

There is a good selection of freshly brewed beer, and a canned beer section that also works well for souvenirs.

WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO: Local Beer to Drink with a Meal

WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO was started by Mr. Tsujimoto, who was born and raised in Kyoto and previously ran a business connected with Kyo-yuzen dyeing.

Wanting to do more for his home city, he brews under the concept of “local beer to enjoy with a meal”, making beers that complement the food of Kyoto.

The name “WOODMILL” comes from the brewery’s location, Hikigi-cho: hiki means to grind, or mill, and ki means wood.

Beer with Food Pairings Suggested for You

WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO suggests dishes that go well with each of its beers.

Its most popular craft beer is “Hassaku White”, made with plenty of hassaku citrus.

It has little bitterness and a clean taste with a pleasant hassaku aroma, and it goes well with salads, seafood carpaccio and oil-based pasta.

“Nagomi IPA” suits richer dishes such as braised pork belly and beef stew.

It keeps a pleasant bitterness for those who like a strong hop character, but it is easy to drink, so it also suits people who usually avoid IPAs.

The WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO Taproom

The brewery taproom is open mainly at weekends.

On Fridays it operates as a shop, so it is a good stop when you are picking up takeout from a nearby restaurant or prepared food from a department store basement.

“Beer-kun”, the beer fairy, sometimes appears at the taproom.

He also appears on beer labels and as a LINE sticker, so look out for him.

Yamaoka Sake Shop: A Craft Beer Mecca with More Than 300 Kinds

Yamaoka Sake Shop is the place to go if you want to try many different craft and local beers.

It looks like a greengrocer from the outside, but its selection is large enough to have earned it the name “mecca of craft beer”.

The owner originally preferred sake, but discovered local beer as a student after visiting the now-closed Hakusekikan Beer in Gifu.

The shop now stocks 260 kinds of Japanese local beer and more than 50 kinds of imported beer, about half of them limited-quantity or seasonal.

Even if you have not decided what you want, you can describe the flavors you like or the food you plan to eat, and the shop will suggest something that fits.

As the greengrocer-like exterior suggests, Yamaoka Sake Shop also sells sake, local vegetables, black rice from Tanba, terraced-field rice from Saga Koshihata and moromi from Kyoto’s Sawai Shoyu.

You may find yourself buying more than just beer.

Yamaoka Sake Shop really is a “yaoya”

Source: https://www.yamaokasake.com/

The yao in yaoya (greengrocer) literally means eight hundred, and is used to mean a very large number. The same word appears in yaoyorozu no kami, the term for the many Japanese deities, which covers gods of the sea, the mountains, the wind and much else.
So while yaoya is used to mean “a shop that sells many kinds of vegetables”, it can also refer to someone who knows about many things. The owner of Yamaoka Sake Shop is knowledgeable about sake and food as well as local beer, which makes the name fitting.

Enjoying Craft Beer for Less with the Stamp Rally

Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN runs a stamp rally.

Collect stamps by visiting the four breweries and shops introduced here and you can claim a reward.

The project also works with the Kyoto City Transportation Bureau: show a subway and bus one-day pass, or a photo taken at the photo spot at Imadegawa Station or Nijojo-mae Station, and you can collect an extra stamp.

Three stamps earn a ¥300 discount voucher valid at the participating shops, and five stamps earn a bottle of a selected beer or an original item of merchandise.

The dates and the rewards can change, so check the official website for the latest information before you set out.

Saturday is the day to do it all at once


Source: https://nishizine-kyoto.com/event/craft-beer-town/

If you want to collect all the stamps in one day, Saturday is the day when all four breweries and shops are open.
There are also plenty of well-regarded cafes, coffee shops and kaiseki restaurants nearby, so you can take in the Nishijin area along the way.

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Experience Tours and the Craft Beer College

To spread the appeal of Nishijin’s history and culture along with craft beer, Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN also runs experience tours and a craft beer college.

The experience tour visiting all four locations to learn about craft beer is still being planned.

For now, a “recommended model course” is published on the official website, so the best approach is to visit at your own pace on a Saturday, when all four breweries and shops are open.

Nishijin is also an area with many universities, including Doshisha University, Kyoto University and Ritsumeikan University.

Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN runs a craft beer college so that students can learn what makes craft beer interesting. (It is open to non-students as well.)

In previous sessions, Shigekazu Yamaoka, the owner of Yamaoka Sake Shop, has taught the course.

It covers everything from “what is the difference between craft beer and ordinary beer?” to how beer can contribute to society.

For the latest information on the experience tours and the craft beer college, see the official website.

Summary

This article introduced three craft beer breweries and a long-established liquor store in the Nishijin area, along with what Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN does.

Nishijin Beer, Bighand Bros. Beer, WOODMILL BREWERY KYOTO and Yamaoka Sake Shop each have their own approach to craft beer and a clear attachment to the Nishijin area of Kyoto.

Information on the events and experience tours run by Nishijin CRAFT BEER TOWN will be updated as it becomes available.

Combine a visit with the sightseeing spots and restaurants nearby to make the most of the Nishijin area.

The article below introduces places to stay that are useful when sightseeing in the Nishijin area.

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