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 -

A welcome back with a WiezenBock

I admit that it has been harder than I had imagined to make the time and muster the effort to keep this blog going at a serious level.

One of my problems has been that I don't get out much ... that is, out of Mie. Another angle for the blog I had tried out was scanning and summarizing Japan beer news from around the internet, but I didn't exactly find a grove there either.

That said, I do very fortunately live a one-minute walk away from Ise Kadoya's brewpub. I just made that one-minute trek and picked up what they call the "Weizen Bock." Clearly a seasonal, a shadow of Santa filling a stocking with a beer, in front of a Christmas tree, adorns the label.

It's taste is pleasing, reminding me of winter seasonals back home. That is, it goes down easy but doesn't exactly hook me for a long-term commitment.

For the beer reviewer types, this entry from 2007 seems about right for the 2010 batch.

Stand by, as another seasonal Ise Kadoya offering currently resides in my fridge.

As for the blog as a whole ... I cannot make any promises. When I find a new seasonal at Ise Kadoya, I'll be sure to give it a try. And when I travel, I'll be sure to take in material to post. Otherwise, I'm going to have to think about what direction to take the blog.

Regardless, happy drinking!

Korea in Brief

I did not drink any craft beer in Korea.

I did, however, drink plenty of the standard stuff over the short stay in Seoul. And while the beer fails to improve on Japanese standard offerings, it comes much cheaper over there, which was a welcome change.

Besides beer, there was plenty of other drinks to sample, including makgeolli and soju.

Since I was there for a wedding, the schedule was tight and exploring time was limited. When a free day came up, a few of us checked out the shopping district Insadong and a nearby covered market full of stalls selling ready-to-eat food or take-home fare.

I had the Beer in Korea iPhone app at the ready, but there wasn't enough time to put it to use.

Generally speaking, Korea was great. I loved the food, had a lot of fun meeting people and hanging out with friends from Japan, and had a few days away from reality, even if reality is the sometimes-surreal Japan.

There will be a next time. Friends and I are already discussing when we might get over there again, with a bit more time to explore on our own.

If I can I'll post some photos later on.

Beer in Korea

Two weeks ago, I downloaded an iPhone application for studying Hangul, the Korean writing system. Two hours ago, I downloaded Beer in Korea, the app for finding craft beer. The 10 minutes I spent browsing the beer app trumps the time spent on the Hangul app by roughly 9 minutes.

So maybe I won't be reading any Hangul, but if I can find the time, I might be trying an interesting beer.

My time in Korea will be so limited,, outside of perhaps one afternoon, that I have not been too worried about learning Korean. Multi-lingual signage, the help of friends and intuition should steer me just fine (I hope).

The trip revolves around a wedding ceremony for two friends who live in my little town in Mie. He is Japanese and runs a nice little bar in town (Premium Malts on tap; Corona, Sam Adams among bottled choices). She is Korean, and teaches her native tongue in a classroom adjacent to the bar.

They already tied the knot here in Japan, but in lieu of a formal ceremony, the bond was celebrated by a surprise party at the bar.

Now, the formal part comes in Korea. A few dozen friends of the couple from Japan are making the trip across the Sea of Japan (aka East Sea if you're Korean) to attend the wedding.

It marks my first trip to Korea, and aside from the wedding I am very much looking forward to limited exploring, eating and drinking.

And while my Hangul skills are certainly suspect, at least I have Beer in Korea to guide me as best it can.


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Practically speaking, although my trip comes next week, I can already endorse the Beer in Korea app. Even the background information in the app served as a nice primer about what I might encounter, and the frank descriptions make clear what bars to hit and which to miss. Whether or not I'll get to any of the listed bars on this trip is yet to be determined. But either way, I'm glad to have the app in the books.

"Local" beer shipments increase this summer over last

Buried deep in a Kyodo News business round-up from a few days ago comes this promising stat: Compared with last year's June to August period, shipments of local beer grew by 8.1 percent this year. The tally includes figures from "45 leading local brewers," with shipments reaching 2,005 kiloliters. The Big Five, meanwhile, gained just .7 percent. Kyodo, referencing information form Tokyo Shoko Research, attributes the increase in craft beer shipments to marketing, such as being active in events through the especially hot summer (article accessed here).

While this is a fairly narrow window of data, I think it can be seen as positive. I am not sure where the numbers are on a larger scale (that would be interesting to see), but perhaps it means a few top brewers are finding their niche, in terms of both quality and marketing.

Dry Days ... Kansai Scene article ... Blog Comment followup

Ever since the second-to-last Ise Kadoya nomihoudai, I've been dry in terms of craft beer. This has not been on purpose, but funds have been tight and supply limited down here in Mie.

It has also been a busy season at my real job, thanks to speech contest season. The kids in my high school's English club have to practice daily to prepare for their contests. It's this time of year that it actually feels like a proper job. So I really cannot complain.

In other personal news, back in the summer I took a trip to Gifu and Nagano for a hike and visit to a traditional town. I posted back then about trying a Kisoji Beer at 11 a.m. A non-beer focused look at that trip is in the October issue of Kansai Scene magazine. Take a look here.

Money will continue to be tight in the coming weeks as I look ahead to a mid-month trip to Korea for the wedding of some friends. Of course, I'll seek out some craft beer over there and report back.

Thanks to the commenters (here and on Facebook) about the last couple posts. As for the non-alcoholic beer -- I do see the value in a decent non-alcoholic beer for someone who cannot consume alcohol but likes the taste of the drink without it. Though I guess if it were me as the designated driver, I'd probably vie for some other soft drink instead of some kind of mainline zero percenter. I would be curious to try a non-alcoholic craft beer though.