May 2015

Harvestmoon Yuzu Ale is a fruit beer made with fresh yuzu, or Japanese citrus. If you’ve never heard of a yuzu before, imagine a grapefruit that has been shrunk in size …

Echigo Weizen is a kristalweizen, or a weizen beer that has been filtered (unlike a hefeweizen), from Echigo Beer, Niigata. It has an abv of 5% and is based on …

Komachi-dori in Kamakura may be the shoppers’ paradise at the weekend but early evening, bars open up and people stand outside trying to entice customers to rest those weary feet …

Baird Hop Havoc Imperial Pale Ale is a 6.5% seasonal pale ale from Baird Beer that incorporates five different hops in the making of it: Sorachi Ace, Chinook, Citra, Simcoe, and Centennial …

Shonan Beer Oiso Kotatsu Mikan Belgian White is a seasonal beer from Kumazawa Brewing that packs local oranges into a small refined substance of 5% Belgian witbier. It’s one of those beers from …

Minoh Osaru IPA, aka the monkey beer according to a young family member, is a beer that started out as a seasonal beer from Minoh Beer, though it has ended …

Craft Beer Live is an annual event based in Kansai that celebrates the local craft beer breweries from around the Kansai area. Due to distance and time constraints, many of …

Inawashiro Weizen is one of Inawashiro Ji-Beer’s original beers first produced in 1997. It is a 4.9% German hefeweizen and can be found generally in bottled form though we have seen …

Editor’s Note: Hops125 has closed. This review has been kept up for posterity’s sake. Hops125 is an enigma of a place. I had to get that out of my system …