Turns out craft beer isn’t just a movement in the good ol’ U.S.A.! As Slate reports, since 1994 craft beer has been gaining considerable traction in Japan (microbreweries were evidently illegal before then), especially with the rise of Hitachino Nest, one of the few craft brews that’s available outside Japan. But now it looks like this new generation of Japanese craft brewers, many of whom took a beating from the earthquake, tsunami and partial nuclear meltdown this spring, are getting recognition — and a helping hand from Dogfish Head’s ubiquitous Sam Calagione.
Today Calagione is brewing a collaboration beer with Orange County, California’s The Bruery. Proceeds from sales of the beer, which Calagione told Grub Street will be brewed with rice; a common Japanese spice mixture of ginger, chilis, and seaweed; and some kumquats, will benefit Re-Fermenting Japan, a foundation set up to help the country’s small craft breweries get back on their feet.
When asked about when beer drinkers can expect a collaboration with Hitachino Nest, Calagione (predictably?) told us, “never say never.”
The Portland of the Far East [Slate]
