Our Brewing Philosophy
What makes the Minami Aizu Brewery different?
Our objective is to offer an authentic and traditional
type of brew that is not available on the market in Japan
today. This type of brew offers a distinct and pleasant
hop aroma, a complex malt flavor, a creamy texture and
refreshingly bitter hop flavor—all characteristics that
cannot be achieved by mass-production breweries. The beer
from mass-production breweries is either filtered and/or
heat-treated before packaging so that it can survive a
long shelf-life under harsh handling and storage
conditions. These processes literally take the life out
of real brews. Filtering removes all yeast and many large
molecules that give brews body and mouth feel.
Our Brews are classified as Happoshu.
Our license to brew is a happoshu license but our
products are closer to being real beer than any
mass-produced beer you will find on the market in Japan
today. Our brews are “all-grain” mashed from nearly 100%
malt, just like “real” beer. But because our brews
contain ingredients that are not allowed in “beer” in Japan they are classified
as happoshu. For example, good ales contain some
un-malted barley to give them a smooth creamy white head.
Irish stouts are made using un-malted roasted barley,
herbs, and spices to give them a bitter flavor and coffee
color. Our lager and ale contains a touch of honey to
give it a spicy flavor. Our stout contains a touch of
maple syrup to give it a wild-wood essence. We want the
freedom to offer traditional brews without the
restrictions of a beer license.
There are many different types of happoshu. Most beer
drinkers think Happoshu is a cheap alternative to beer.
The happoshu sold by mass-production breweries contains
less than 25% malt and is made mostly of corn and rice
starches. This happoshu is cheap because the tax is just
¥80 to ¥120 per liter. Some microbreweries sell
happoshu made from liquid malt. Such breweries do not
have mashing facilities; they just add water and yeast to
make their happoshu. The tax on this product is ¥80 per
liter. Our brews are taxed just like beer, at ¥220 per liter.
The Economics of Brewing:
The main reason for filtering beer is to speed up the
manufacturing process for profitable production of
low-cost beer for mass consumption. Mass-production
operations brew the beer, package it, and get it to the
customer in about two weeks. The actual cycle time from
raw material to bottled beer is about five days. This can
only be achieved by filtering out the materials that the
yeast do not have time to consume or convert. These
breweries select yeast that work fast, regardless of the
flavor or fragrance profiles they produce.
We appreciate big breweries.
Large-scale commercial breweries perform an important
function in society; they provide a decent product at an
affordable price so that we consumers can get our hands
on a can of beer at our convenience any time of day,
virtually any place in the country.
Craft Brew, a whole new experience.
The Minami Aizu Brewery will produce bright, clean,
unfiltered brews with a full-bodied taste and fragrance.
I like to compare breweries to dairy farms. Brews are
like milk. The milk you buy at the supermarket is not the
same as farm-fresh milk. And the beer you buy at the
convenience store is not the same as authentic hand-made
brew. This “real” brew is alive; the yeast has
not been removed by filtering or killed by heat
treatment. The small amount of live yeast in the brew
will continue to work on fermentable materials and the
flavor may change slightly over time. Keeping the brew
cool (10°C) slows the change so that you can enjoy the
same flavor at your convenience.
Making Craft Brew is a special job.
Making brews that are bright, clean, and with a
distinct hop aroma, bitterness, and mouth feel, is
difficult and expensive. Mostly expensive. That is why
many beer drinkers have never had a real craft brew
experience. Mass-production breweries cannot make such a
brew profitably and it is too hard for distributors to
handle.
First, the mashing equipment is special.
The malt must be mashed at carefully controlled
temperatures so that undesired proteins, resins, and
tannins, are left behind. We think of yeasts as our pets
and we want to keep them healthy and happy so that they
will give our customers the best brews possible. A good
mash will provide the yeasts with all the sugars and
nutrients they need to make good brew. Mashing at one
temperature is cheap but the yeast may not be able to
convert the sugars produced.
Secondly, fermenting is slow.
Mass-production plants give the yeast four or five
days to gorge before they are filtered out. The filter
also removes materials that the yeast could not convert
in the short time allowed. At Minami Aizu Brewery we let
the yeast take their time. Ales are fermented for at
least two weeks and lagers for twice that. When all the
fermentable materials are converted, the yeast stops
working and settles slowly to the bottom of the cone.
Then, the temperature in the fermenter is turned down
slowly until the brew is near freezing. Other large
molecules that we don't want fogging up the brew clump
together and sink to the bottom leaving a bright,
crystal-clear liquid gold.
Natural Carbonation. Minami Aizu lets the yeasts do
their thing.
How do the bubbles get in beer? Like most things in
life there is more than one way. The mass-production
method is to inject (dissolve) carbon dioxide into the
beer just before it is bottled. Given a proper chance,
however, yeast will do a much better job of this for us.
When yeast convert sugars they leave behind two things,
alcohol and carbon dioxide–that
is all. We let the yeast make all the carbon dioxide for
us. We check on the yeast from time to time to make sure
they are not under too much pressure—a little pressure keeps the
carbon dioxide dissolved—but
we leave them alone to have their fun. You will know real
craft brew when you quaff your first gulp and quake with
the feel of carbon dioxide prickling the back of your
tongue. Then, with your thirst quenched, you can swirl
the brew in your glass and watch the tiny bubbles make
their way to the surface.
A Time and Place for Real Craft Brew—Quaff and Quake with True
Blue Lager.
We drink all kinds of beer, and we are thankful for
the dedication of the people who make them. When we leg
off the saddle after a 100 km ride over a mountain pass
in Minami Aizu in mid-August, the first thing we want to
do is wash the bugs off our tonsils and numb the
tiredness in our legs. Then we are thankful for the
vending machine and the pop-top can.
Back at the lodge after the ride is over, we want
something as golden and inspiring as the colors of the
sun setting over Mt. Asakusa. So, with the smoke of
chicken browning over charcoal spiking our appetites, we
tip our glasses and let the real craft brew experience
bring a day to a proper end.
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