Background
Iwami Bakushu is a microbrewery founded in 2015 in Gotsu City, Shimane Prefecture. Gotsu City, where Iwami Bakushu is located, is located in the Iwami region in western Shimane Prefecture. Surrounded by mountains and ocean facing the Sea of Japan, the city is blessed with abundant nature. Its main industries include agriculture, forestry, fishing, and ceramics, and it is famous for producing traditional roofing tiles known as Sekishugawara.
On the JR San’in Main Line, which runs east-west through Gotsu City, there is an unmanned station called Hashi, where Iwami Bakushu’s brewery is located. Iwami Bakushu promotes community-based beer brewing using local specialty ingredients, and is one of the breweries contributing to regional revitalization through sustainable business development. Iwami Bakushu’s craft beers come in a variety of styles, and each product is assigned a three-digit number.
The system they have allows them to brew small batches of beer, between 50L to 100L, but this allows them to offer a wide variety of flavours. Starting in January 2024, they began renovating the entire unmanned JR Namiko Station into a craft beer factory – the first one of its kind. The new brewery opened in June 2024 and with this, came a canning line which means the bottled selection is much narrower.
Beer Reviews
The following are some of the beers we’ve had:
- Iwami American Pale Ale 520 – A 5% American pale ale brewed with imported American Cascade hops and lemon.
- Iwami Belgian White 307 – A 3.5% Belgian wit brewed with lemon, coriander, and Japanese pepper.
- Iwami Dry Stout 960 – A 4.5% stout flavoured with locally roasted coffee.
- Iwami Honey Draft – A 4.5% blonde brewed with imported US Simcoe hops and honey from Masuda city.
- Iwami Saison 744 – A 4.5% saison brewed with rice and yuzu.
- Iwami Session IPA 151 – A 4.5% session IPA brewed with beats, sheequarsar, and harumikan.
Details
- Address : 〒695-0016 Shimane Prefecture, Gotsu, Kakushicho, 405
- Phone : 0855-25-5740
- Homepage : http://www.iwami-bakushu.com/
- Online store : http://shop.iwami-bakushu.com/
- Social Media : Facebook / Instagram
