Ise Kadoya's nomihoudai night

If it seems like I write about Ise Kadoya a lot -- more than any other topic so far -- that's because their brewpub is a one minute walk from my front door.

This company represents my first contact with Japanese craft beer. And thankfully, twice a month, they bring in guest beers that share space on a special all-you-can-drink menu.

First, to appease wary locals afraid to try new things, the menu always features Suntory's The Premium Malts and an Ebisu. Other staples are Ise Kadoya's four main brews: Shinto Beer, Brown Ale, Stout, and Pale Ale. Occasionally, as with last night, one spot is given to an Ise Kadoya seasonal. This month it has been their Imperial Wheat Ale, which is a bit too light and sweet for my taste.

That leaves three slots for guest beers.

I usually start with a glass of the most suspicious entry. Last night this was a Grapefruit Ale from Chiba's Harvest Moon. Nothing to sing about here. The tasting notes point out that it is "easy to drink," code for "beer for people who don't like beer." Let's move along.

Next, from what the sheet lists as a company called Preston Ale, came a very nice pale ale. While good, it didn't stand up to a side-by-side battle with Ise Kadoya's new pale ale, which had a fuller flavor and more bitterness.

The third guest beer did not disappoint. We were able to gleam that it came from Nagano, but we couldn't read the kanji listing the company name. I asked at the bar, and upon hearing Shiga Kogen I was excited. The entry was their Wheat Ale, which we decided was smooth and bitter. Listed as an American style ale, it brought back feelings of nostalgia for the taps back in Portland.

And with that, the special beer menu is complete. With any remaining nomihoudai time, you can head back to the bar to grab a glass or two of your favorites. I had a Shiga Kogen Wheat Ale and an Ise Kadoya (new) Pale Ale to round out the evening.

A month will pass before the next round of Ise Kadoya events. If you ever find yourself in Ise on the second or third Wednesday of any given month, hit me up -- or simply show up at Biyagura -- and let's have a few drinks.

ESPN's Page 2 offers The World Cup of Beer

In a group by group breakdown, ESPN.com's Page 2 has created a World Cup of Beer, going so far as to "advance" two countries' beer entries after offering some quick(and dirty) analysis.

What is especially interesting, not surprisingly, is the unknown, such as the beer entries for countries that don't exactly resonate as beer destinations. (Like the entry for Group E's Cameroon, pictured at right.)

Also not surprisingly, Japan is represented by Kirin. The photo shows an Ichiban Shibori -- not a bad rep for the Big Five -- but the write-up references the company's special World Cup edition, which is nothing more than Tanrei happoshu in a different suit.

It seems clear that Page 2 did not attempt to find good beer from the World Cup countries. Rather, they selected a beer that best represents each country according to conventional wisdom.

Fair enough. But I bet we all agree a comprehensive look at the best beer from World Cup countries would be far more interesting (and tasty).

Hub celebrates 52nd location

The Independent takes a glance at Hub, the chain of Bitish-style pubs which has been steadily expanding despite the economic woes of late. I won't bother with a summary here but it was an interesting read: click.

What do people think of the Hub Ale?

But honey, I'll only spend it on good beer!

In other Beer News From Last Week items, Bloomberg's Business Week reports that salary men are spending less on beer thanks to the poor economy and a drop in wages.

Says the article:

Salarymen go out drinking on average 2.9 times a month, spending about 4,190 yen ($46) each time, a 19 percent decline from a year earlier, according to a Shinsei Financial Co. online survey. That buys five pints of Sapporo Draft at Coopers, a British pub, in central Tokyo.

The article goes on to say that a few restaurant operators are planning to open new low-cost chains, while other eateries will offer "one-coin" lunches.

Another point in the article: It is usually wives who handle household finances, so the salarymen are getting shut down when they ask for more spending money.

I propose a deal with the wives, which goes something like this. They hand over a few extra thousand if the husbands agree to stick to craft beer.

WSJ: Big Five hope for a World Cup sales boost

The Wall Street Journal's Japan Real Time blog had a post a few days back outlining hopes among the Big Five for a boost in sales as fans watch the World Cup and cheer for Japan (who managed a win over Cameroon last night).

Especially, team sponsor Kirin is hoping to cash in with a special World Cup beer being sold across Japan. The article says that Kirin did see a sales increase during the last World Cup in Germany, where Japan failed to make it past the first round.

Things are not looking good for the Big Five overall:

The scale of that challenge was captured by data released today by the five major breweries, which showed an 8.4% on-year drop in sales of cases of beer in May to a record low for the month

What explains the recent, steady drop in beer sales in Japan? A number of factors are often mentioned. This article pointed to the aging population and the bad economy. But are there other things at work? Is beer losing its place as the standard drink among young people? Are the same young people unwilling to spend as much to party as older generations were? Or is the "beer" market, now over-populated with happoshu and other swill, too diffuse to attract new customers?

I don't have the answer, but it is an interesting questions. Another interesting one: Is that special World Cup beer from Kirin any good? Is it even a new kind of beer or just a new label? I ... will check.

Cloudy Recollection

Rainy season has begun, announced here in Mie by a steady cloud cover since Sunday and then confirmed by the official, seemingly unnecessary, declaration by the government weather bureau.

I'm sure some brewers have already thought of the idea of a "Rainy Season Ale" or something along those lines, but regardless of names, the muggy, wet weeks to come will certainly be aided by a few good beers.

On Wednesday, at Ise Kadoya's nomihoudai night, I sampled a few beers from around Japan. Unfortunately I sampled a few too many and left without the menu which has details about the guest beers. But I do recall that there was a decent brown ale from Tochigi on the guest list.

The event returns this week, but I am not sure now if I will make it. If I do I will shoot for a more documentary approach (in contrast to last week's marathon two-hour get-fuzzy-based approach).

Meanwhile, the next several weeks will see trips to Kyoto/Osaka and perhaps even Tokyo. I hope to include some beer stops while traveling around and will include any findings here. Recommendations are welcome, but I'll also surely tap the Beer in Japan iPhone app.

In the last several months, I have hit the bars a bit too much and I have been feeling it in the wallet. I am officially going on a bar hiatus, with and important exception: bars serving craft beer are acceptable. It's a mixed blessing that such bars are hard to come by down here in rural Mie. But hopefully with some savings recouped from taking it easy on the regular stuff, I can travel and try out some good stuff.

More to come, hopefully this weekend, as I aim for my first trip out of Mie since April.