Northern Alps Brewery : At a Glance
- Opened : 2018
- Japanese name : 北アルプスブルワリー
- Location : Omachi, Nagano
- First beer : 2018
- Head brewer : Shuhei Matsuura (松浦周平)
- Homepage : https://lp.n-alps.beer/
Table of Contents
Northern Alps Brewery : Background
Located in Omachi, Nagano, beneath the dramatic peaks of the Northern Alps, Northern Alps Brewery is a small brewery with a fairly obvious advantage: some seriously good water on its doorstep.
The brewery’s beers are made using water from the Northern Alps, where snow and rain slowly filter through the mountains before emerging underground. The resulting water is soft and clean, and rather than heavily adjusting it for brewing, Northern Alps Brewery keeps things simple and lets the local water play an important role in the finished beer.
There is an interesting story behind the brewery too. Head brewer Kubota-san came to beer from the world of speciality coffee. After training at Café Bach in Tokyo, he moved to the Omachi area and established a coffee roasting business in 2009. His experience with coffee, ingredients and the small details that can change a drink’s character naturally found its way into his approach to brewing beer.
Northern Alps Brewery began brewing with a similar focus on quality and drinkability. Its range includes the Glacier series, covering familiar styles such as Lager, Pale Ale, IPA, Stout and White Ale, alongside more experimental beers including Hazy IPA, IPL and Coffee Punch.
The latter is perhaps the best example of Kubota-san’s background coming through. Coffee Punch combines beer with speciality coffee, bringing together roasted coffee aromas, malt sweetness and hop bitterness. It has also picked up recognition at beer competitions, including a gold medal at the International Beer Cup.
Despite the mountain setting and the slightly grandiose name, Northern Alps Brewery isn’t trying to make complicated beers simply for the sake of it. The focus is on clean, balanced and approachable beers that showcase good ingredients, good brewing and, most importantly, the water coming down from the mountains.
For visitors to Omachi, that makes Northern Alps Brewery an interesting stop in its own right. The beers have a clear connection to the area without turning into novelty “local ingredient” beers. In a region dominated by some of Japan’s most impressive mountain scenery, Northern Alps Brewery has found a pretty sensible way to make the most of what is right in front of it: brew good beer with good water.
Northern Alps Brewery : Beer Reviews
The following are some of the beers we’ve had:
- Northern Alps IPA – a 6.5% American IPA brewed with Centennial, Chinook, Citra, and Galaxy hops.
- Northern Alps IPLager – a 5% India pale lager brewed in collaboration with Slow Hand Beer Company, and uses only Nelson Sauvin hops.
Northern Alps Brewery : Details
- Address : 3102-9 Omachi, Nagano 398-0002
- Phone : 0261-85-0794
- Homepage : https://lp.n-alps.beer/
- Online store : https://n-alps.beer/
- Social Media : Facebook / Instagram
