Bursting with the spirit of dedicated craftsmanship!
Japan's leading microbrew master.
<Part 2>

Yatsugatake Touchdown is a Yatsugatake microbrew produced in the blessed climate of the southern foothills of the Yatsugatake Mountains.A craftsman who has been brewing beer for half a century tells about local beers and how to taste delicious local beer!A craftsman talks about microbreweries and how to taste good microbrews.

writer：Ryoko Kuraishi

The subsoil water of the Yatsugatake Mountains is hard water suitable for beer brewing.The climate and climate of the southern foothills of the Yatsugatake Mountains and the clear water nurture delicious locally brewed beer.Photos Tetsuya Yamamoto

Just a few decades ago, wild hops grew thickly in Kiyosato.
With the wave of global warming, the native hops have disappeared.
The Yatsugatake foothills may be an inherently suitable climate for beer brewing.

As mentioned above, Kazumi Yamada wanted to open the blue pub-restaurant ROCK on the first day after getting a good response from the pre-opening.

Perhaps due to the fact that a travel programme featuring the Yatsugatake microbrewery Touchdown was broadcast on
TV before the opening, the restaurant attracted a larger-than-expected crowd on the day of the opening.
'It's gratifying, isn't it?A lot of people stood in line for hours to have this beer."

Pilsner, the origin of Touchdown,
and Dunkel, Yamada-san's pride and joy.
Some time after the opening, a new addition to the line-up was
premium beer, which requires more time and effort and costs more than usual.

The Yatsugatake Brewery's facilities are said to be about the same size as Kirin's pilot facilities.It is the optimum size for Mr Yamada and his brewing staff to be able to see everything.This small brewery is also visited by major manufacturers.

At the time, I lived in Kiyosato in the summer and returned to my home in Yokohama in the winter.
When I went back to Yokohama, I made a premium beer as a souvenir."


1.4 times the amount of carefully selected malt from Germany and Canada (compared to Pilsner) and
Premium Rock Bock", made with the finest quality Czech fine aroma hops in the world
.
After two months of slow maturation, the mellower beer quickly gained a reputation and
convinced those around him to enter it in a contest that Yamada-san says he hates.

He said, "I'm working very hard on it, so
it doesn't matter to the brewer what anyone thinks of it."

Despite Mr Yamada's intentions, the Premium Rock Bock was awarded a national variety.The high evaluation of "Premium Rock Bock" at the national competition
(first place overall in the beer category and first place in the general tasting category!)
), the beer was sold out in online shops and quickly became a major player as a 'fantastic local beer'.


As you know, since 2007, with the local boom and the deregulation of microbrewing,
a local beer whirlwind has swept across the country.
Breweries from big to small have sprung up all over the country.
Some breweries have even invited Braumeisters from Germany.

'I went to a lot of pubs in Germany and drank a lot of beer,
but I only liked one beer.
Germany and Japan have different climates and tastes.
On top of that, beer recipes are intellectual property, and Braumeisters never leave their recipes behind.
If they go back to their home countries, the taste changes."

On the left, Pilsner (L size), JPY 650; on the right, Dunkel, JPY 650.Blue pub restaurant ROCK is famous for its curry, and the Dunkel has a robust flavour and taste that is as good as the curry aroma.

Local beer is influenced by the subtle sensibilities of the brewer, backed by experience and knowledge.
When the local beer boom of a period of time subsides,
the local beers that sprang up here and there in the local boom are naturally weeded out.

'The boom itself is a good thing.
For a while people said, 'Local beer doesn't taste good!'But
friendly rivalry has resulted in beers with their own special characteristics that are now much tastier.
In order to make sure that local beer doesn't end up as a passing thing, we, the brewers, have to work even harder.


According to Yamada,
"Local beer has to have the characteristics of the local industry and the local area, and at the same time have to taste good.Yamada says: "A microbrewery beer has to have the characteristics of the local industry and the local area, and it has to taste good.

"For example, they want to forcefully expand nationwide, or they want to make Weizen from cats and dogs.
Weizen is a difficult beer to make.
We've got to make a steady stream of beers of our own stature."

Weizen is a white beer made in southern Germany from barley malt and wheat malt.
It is also called Weissbier.
It has a fruity aroma and a refreshing aftertaste with a low hop bitterness.
The interesting thing about this beer is that the taste changes depending on the Braumeister.

As a tribute to Dr Paul Rush, the father of the Kiyosato pioneers and the first to introduce American football to Japan, the Yatsugatake microbrewery named its beer Touchdown.

Yamada-san also worked for a time with Weiz (which contains less wheat than Weizen).
'Weizen, Weiz is difficult because it deteriorates very quickly.
Once it's bottled, the flavour goes down rapidly as time goes on.
We had an overwhelming fanbase for our Weitz, but
if it sells out in two weeks, it's fine, but after a month, it's a completely different beer from when it was first shipped."
It's a completely different beer from when it was first shipped.

It tastes and tastes different.If it's going to be a different taste and flavour, it's not right to serve it!So,
Yamada-san had them all discarded.

Weizen has an interesting quality that stimulates the brewer.
"It would be a pity for the beer to be disposed of after all that effort, wouldn't it?
So I don't want to make something that has to be disposed of.


"It's interesting to make new beer, but
I'm now attracted to training young staff.
Currently there are two men on the brewing staff.
Recently, they have started to be more playful, saying 'I want to do this, I want to do that'.
We have a basic recipe, but when they say, 'I want to do this', I always tell them
to do whatever they want.
If it's not good enough, you just go back to the recipe and start again from scratch.

You can't make good beer if you don't enjoy making it.
The most important quality for a beer craftsman is a sense of fun.
What Mr Yamada is making now may be the beer craftsmen who inherit his craftsman's spirit.

Kiyosato and the Yatsugatake mountains will be at their most beautiful from now on.Enjoy a cup of the finest drink while being healed by the vivid green!

According to Yamada,
"Local beer tastes best when you drink it locally".

It is true that freshly brewed beer has a different charm and taste than bottled beer (even if the yeast is still alive inside).

This may be because you can feel the wind, smells and local air that nurtured the beer directly on your skin.


The happiness of drinking freshly brewed beer in a restaurant with the appearance of a mountain hut.
You don't need snacks to enjoy a good beer.
You can enjoy the fresh air of Kiyosato and taste a beer that has been nurtured by the local area.
This moment is the best feast of all.