For your 3000-yen-ish ticket, you get a small beer glass and ten tickets. Each ticket gets you a pour (about 120ml, good-sized) of one of the 46 craft beers on tap at the event. Should you want to push your luck by trying all 46, extra tickets are only 250yen, which is a pretty good deal considering these beers all sell for 1000 yen or more a pint. There's also a little bit of food for sale for 1 or 2 tickets each, although most attendees had wisely brought a bento along with them.
The event was crowded, but not overly so. I've also been to the Great Japan Beer Festival and those tend to be so crowded that it's kind of not fun. Here, there was always room to move around and generally you didn't have to wait too long for any one beer.
They had live music as well -- visually the most interesting was the punk bagpiper who was playing when we arrived. One of the craft beer bars put together a band that played a selection of mostly folk music in English, which several of them looked like they were sight-reading (classically-trained musicians slumming?). Apparently they couldn't get quite enough groups since that group played twice, repeating the exact same setlist (including "Country Roads") each time. I'm inspired -- next year our Inokashira park group should sign up for a slot!
Anyway, enough of the event descriptions. Here were the beers I got to try. Keep in mind that this event was full of amazing beers, so even a beer I describe here as "OK" would probably be the best beer on tap at your local. Also, if you haven't tried beers with me, my taste in beer runs strongly to American-style IPAs (very bitter, very hoppy).
| Brewery | Beer | Style | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| プレミアムビール鬼伝説 (Japan/日本) | 赤鬼ペールルエール カスケード・アマリロ | American Pale Ale | OK/まま |
| いわて蔵ビール | スモークエール | Smoked Ale | It's amazing to taste the same kind of smoke in a beer as you get in meats or cheese, but I didn't like that taste. / いや |
| Harvest Moon Brewery | 復興 IPA | American IPA | Good but didn't stand out in this crowd / よい |
| August Beer / アウグスビール | Toshi's IPA | IPA | This is fantastic, but I knew that before the festival. This is the IPA from the new company established by the original founder of Yona Yona Ale. / もちろん Toshi's はすばらしいです。 |
| 多摩の恵 | ベルジャンウイット | Witbier | OK/まま |
| OH! LA! HO! Beer | ビエール・ド・雷電 インディアペールエール | American IPA | OK/まま |
| ヤッホーブルーイン | Yona Yona Real Ale Cask Conditioned / よなよなリアルエール カスクコンディション | American Pale Ale | OK (Yona Yona is probably the best widely-available craft beer in Japanese supermarkets. Don't hold back from buying it there!) /まま |
| 城端ビール | Dragon's Taste / 竜の味 | IPA | OK / まま |
| Brew Dog | Hard Core IPA | IPA | Omigod. This was the best beer among the tastings at the show, and was my vote for the top prize. A lot of other people apparently agreed - this took first place in the voting. It really says something about who comes to this event, because this beer is correctly named: it is an extreme version of an IPA, with overwhelming Hop flavor and strong bitterness (that's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it). / 一番のビールだと思いまして、そのショーの一番賞を受けました。 |
| Brew Dog and Mikeller | Artisan Black | Very, very black | Brew Dog was offering 30ml samples of this as a special event at their booth. And it really was a special event, this is an amazing, strong, dark, beer; more like sipping a wine than tasting a beer. What an amazing experience! |
| Baird Beer | Hop Stoopid | Right towards the end of the show, Baird opened up a new keg to hand out samples of their excellent hoppy brew. |
So there you go, a rundown on my experience at Nippon Craft Beer Festival 2011. Next year, I'll definitely try to plan ahead and actually volunteer; but in any case, I'll definitely go again.
One small hint for those of you who (apparently, you're reading here) stay all the way to the end: at about 5 minutes to 5, they declare all beers to be free (no tickets required): "Help us drink what's left!" Handy to know if you really want to get your money's worth out of the ticket ;-).
