Background
Utsui Brewery is a brewery located in the Utsui district of Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture and opened in June 2023. The brewery came about because there were no craft beer breweries and the area alongside the aim of providing employment support to people with disabilities in 2019, so the brewery was started with the aim of increasing the income of employees, creating a sense of fulfillment, and revitalizing the area.
The average wage for Type B employment support nationwide is 16,200 yen. Utsui Brewery pays 22,000 yen, which is on the high side for Yamaguchi Prefecture, but it is still too low for our users to become independent. This project aims to improve the wages of their employess and revitalize the local area, by establishing a new industry in the Uchihi district of Shimonoseki, by carrying out a one-stop process from growing hops, the main ingredient of craft beer, to brewing in the Uchihi district.
The beer lineup from Utsui Brewery is named Vacan Craft as Shimonoseki city used to be called “Akamagaseki (赤間関)” (Red Magaseki), and since this was also written as “赤馬関”, it has come to be known by the abbreviation “Bankan (馬関)”. “Bankan” was the origin of the Meiji Restoration, which greatly changed Japan. Taking inspiration from the historical background, we named our company “Bankan = Valuable Ale Can ” in the hope that by brewing and serving valuable ale beer, they can revitalize the local area by establishing a new industry of craft beer in Shimonoseki, and “Can” realize the happy lives of drinkers.
Beer Reviews
The following are some of the beers we’ve had from Utsui Brewery:
- Vacan Craft 01 – A 5.5% Japanese rice lager that uses Nissan Koshihikari rice produced in Shimonoseki City.
- Vacan Craft 02 – A 5.5% weizen that uses Nissan Koshihikari rice grown in Shimonoseki alongside coriander with local oranges.
- Vacan Craft 03 – A 5.5% American IPA though the hops used in the beer are unknown at the time of writing.
- Vacan Craft 04 – A 5.5% hazy IPA that uses Citra, Cryo Mozaic, and Cryo Simcoe hops.
- Vacan Craft 05 – A 5.5% American pale ale that uses Amarillo, Cascade, Idaho 7, and Sabro hops.
- Vacan Craft X – A 7% double IPA brewed using El Dorado and Luminosa hops.
Details
- Address : 1398-1 Yajiro, Ueda, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, 750-0251
- Phone : 083-250-9102
- Homepage : https://www.utsuibrewery.com/
- Online store : https://vacancraft.theshop.jp/
- Social Media : Instagram
