JapanBrew heads to Oregon, where the beer flows like wine ...

When the temperatures in Ise dip to those just-above-freezing levels, and a dry cool breeze moves in from the northwest, I know its time to get out of here, across the Pacific and to the Northwest.

Just two more days at work and I'll be on the road.

I was born in Eastern Oregon, down the interstate a few hours from Portland, a craft-brewing powerhouse that boasts a number of beer-related statistics, helpfully furnished by the city's tourism wing:

• Portland has more breweries than any other city in the world. There are 30 craft breweries within the city limits; 38 in the Portland metro area.
• According to the Oregon Brewers Guild, no matter where you are in Portland, you're never more than 15 minutes from a craft brewery.
• Among "hopheads" (beer lovers), Portland's nicknames include "Beervana," "Brewtopia" and "Munich on the Willamette."
• Portland is home to the nation's best-attended beer bash: the Oregon Brewers Festival. More than 50,000 people enjoy this annual riverfront event, which takes place the last full weekend of July.
• Portland has a 3 percent market share of the more than 1,400 breweries and brewpubs in the United States. 

And while I cannot claim Portland as my real home town, I can claim Oregon and the Northwest in general. My first sip of beer came at age 17, on my birthday, in the form of a can of Natty Ice or something sinister like that (my older brother, on summer break from university, was the provider).

Through my days at Oregon State University in Corvallis, I developed a taste for craft beer, though I had my share of Pabst Blue Ribbon along the way.

Now, every trip home is a chance to try something new. So many places in Portland have craft beer on tap or in bottles, and even if you went in at noon for a sandwich, you'll find yourself tempted by the beer cooler.

My three-city tour (Portland, Pendleton and Corvallis) of Oregon will be, at least in part, beer-fueled. In Portland, where my older brother and his fiancee live, I have the on-the-ground reality of those aforementioned statistics. In Pendleton, where my mother lives, I can look forward to my first look at the newly opened Prodigal Son Brewery and Pub downtown. Even Corvallis, where my father and stepmother live, has something new, in the form of the Block 15 Brewery and Restaurant. (correction: Block 15 opened a few years back. The new brewpub in Corvallis is Flat Tail.)

All this beer talk, though exciting, does draw attention from the fact that the main reason for the visit is to see family, who put up with me living on the other side of the world. But I think the quality of our time together will be heightened thanks to the beer (and food) culture of our cities and towns.

As much as I can, I'll report on my trip from the road. To other winter travelers, have a safe, enjoyable holiday.

Meet the Shelton Brothers

A very interesting article goes deep with the Shelton Brothers, who import international beers for the U.S. market (in addition to brewing their own).

I was first struck when I saw the link on Twitter by the name, recalling that these are the guys who import Ise Kadoya and Baird.These brewers don't figure in to the article, but it is absolutely worth a read.

The gist, perhaps:

Will is one—along with Dan and Joel—of the three brothers who comprise the Shelton Brothers beer importing company, based in Belchertown. Since the mid-'90s, the company has imported beers from across the globe to drinkers across the United States. In 2006, Will took a hiatus from the import business to begin brewing a beer he'd been dreaming of. Working in Paper City Brewing's facility in Holyoke, he's created a line of distinctive beers that manage to buck the national trend toward gimmickry and record-setting while remaining faithful to traditional brewing styles.

For the whole story, well-told by a reporter who got to sample a few along the way, click here.

Lawmakers aim to protect domestic third-category beer-like drinks

An article from Mainichi tells of calls in Japanese lawmaking circles for increasing the tax on so-called "third-category beer" to protect domestic brewers from foreign competition.

The article says imported third-category drinks, mainly from South Korea, are selling in Japan for less than 100 yen, naturally causing trouble for the local boys. Some lawmakers, however, are said to oppose the plan on grounds that "ordinary people" should be able to enjoy the pleasures of these beer-like drinks.

Another, more hopeful note comes at the very end of the article:

At the same time, the DPJ has been aiming to introduce a tax that corresponds to alcohol content, and officials are expected to discuss such a system at future meetings of the government's Tax Commission. If such a tax were implemented, beer varieties containing around 5 percent alcohol would be taxed at the same rate. This could result in third-category beer fizzling out altogether.

Personally, I'd prefer to see a tax structure like this, which doesn't reward manufacturers of beer for producing low quality products. In the meantime, don't let your friends drink beer-like beverages!

In other Japan beer news, it looks like two new tie-ups between Japanese and Korean brewers will mean pints of Premium Malts or Sapporo beers on your next trip across the Sea of Japan. (Here and here).

Keep Back 200 Feet! And tales of drinking

The night began at the bus stop in front of Ise Kadoya's brewpub. I gave myself enough time t

o pop into the Biyagura shop, where I got to cans of Shinto beer for the wait and two copies of The Japan Beer Times.

This made for nice reading on the short train ride to Matsusaka, where we headed to a friend's pub for what has become a monthly drink-fest featuring an ever-changing roster of Japanese rice wine (nihonshu), Australian red wine, and the occasional wild card.

I flipped through my magazine and read a few things myself, but I couldn't help spreading The Good News to my friends, who took at least a passive glance before letting it come back to me. Most of them probably don't care that much about craft beer, in Japan or anywhere. Others, perhaps, can't be bothered to read on a train when there are friends to speak to (loudly).

We arrived at the pub in a convoy of taxis (OK so just two taxis) and began a marathon session. It began with two glasses of red wine, followed by a cascade of pours from the nihonshu selection. The course was rounded out with an Asahi-produced Belgian style ale, and my remaining drink ticket went toward another beer.

Oh, right. Also we ate food.

By the time we headed back to Ise, we were all pretty well laced. Which, naturally, led to karaoke. We had amassed, in two rooms, by nature of intersecting parties, one of the larger karaoke groups I've seen in recent memory.

And that's where things get fuzzy.


Here also, is this warning, which we heeded:

Beer in North Korea - Digging Deeper

The beer in North Korea post prompted a couple of replies via Twitter:

Says@chuwyboy :

@JapanBrew They took apart a British brewery and shipped it all over to the north. Ironic thing was the brewery wasnt very god to start with

And from@beerinjapan

@JapanBrew I've been to North Korea and had that beer. NK isn't featured in my Beer in Korea app tho :)

Chuwy's post references the story told in this article from The Wiltshire Times. It leads off with this:

The Ushers brewery in Trowbridge used to produce award-winning traditional British real ales. After an extraordinary journey, it is now being used to brew a beer dubbed the "Pride of Pyongyang" in North Korea.

The article goes on to tell the rather amazing tale of how the brewery was taken apart and shipped to North Korea, where it was reassembled and put to work churning out DPRK beer. The people involved in the sale, from the brewery's former owner to a German go-between, recount the details of the exchange.

For one more angle on this exciting story, can we find any details in the WikiLeaks trove?

Beer in (North) Korea?

A New York Times article, retelling a Western scholar's reports of conditions in North Korea amid the recent tensions, contains this tidbit:

A beer factory was operating, however, and the visitor pronounced the Taedong River beer, a local brand, “very drinkable.”

Turns out, a Google query leads to plenty of info about the brew. A Wikipedia page describes the brewery's beginnings. A BBC article from 2009 tells of a TV ad for the beer, which was marketed as "Pride of Pyongyang." There are YouTube videos and a host of other info I have yet to read or watch.

Has anyone out there sampled this stuff?

Meanwhile, here is the commercial -