Saturday, September 26, 2009

Beer the way nature intended. Otaru Brewery.

Having signed Otaru beer on as our sole beer supplier at J-sekka I thought we'd take the time to tell you a little about this amazing brew.

Zenibako

Brewed at the Otaru brewery at Zenibako, originally from small pub in Otaru, but when the Japanese small breweries laws were changed allowing them to produce more beer they relocated to a bigger premise. Johannes Braun the brew master, has a family history of brewing, with his family brewing beer for over two hundred years. After coming to Japan, Otaru was selected as the location for the brewery based on the type of water they could source. The soft water being very similar to the water back in Germany. The beer is brewed to the regulations of the five hundred year old Reinheitsgebot or German Beer Purity Law. This law means only hops, malt, water and yeast can be used in the brewing process. No additives or preservatives in this baby which also means the beer is a lot more fragile than other beers (and a lot better) and can only be transported a maximum of one hundred kilometers from the brewery (Luckily we are only about 87km's away and scrape in by 12km .. thanks google maps). The other day we headed down to the brewery for a personal tour. The thought "kids in candy land" springs to mind. We were given the tour by Johannes who kindly showed us where the magic happens as well as a taste or two of the magic happening straight from the thirty thousand litre fermentation tanks.

Zenibako

As if all of this wasn't enough we were then taken to a secret German beer house within the brewery (very Willy Wonka) and treated to handmade German style sausage and pretzels along with a foolish amount of tasty tasty beer.

Zenibako

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Zenibako

After learning a bit more about why and where our beer comes from it was definitely time for a nap. (All this research is hard work.)

Zenibako

Otaru Beer

Otaru Beer Zenibako Brewery
263-19, 3 Chome, Zenibako, Otaru, 047-0261, Hokkaido, Japan
Tel: 0134-61-2280
Fax: 0134-61-2278

Email: info@otarubeer (for general inquiries)
Email: tours@otarubeer (for brewery tours)

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