The Local Brew

Thirty-five years ago German businessman Wolfram Opitz was sent to Tokyo for two months to help train a partner company in Japan. “What an interesting city and country,” he thought to himself. Today, he and his wife Yuka are the proud owners of Okinawa’s only German-style microbrewery at the steps of the island prefecture’s most famous landmark, Shuri Castle.

In nearly every brewery taproom you’ll find T-shirts, caps and other merchandise. The beer comes first, but the branded merch...

TDM 1874's British Head Brewer George Juniper started his craft beer brewing journey at Dark Star Brewing in England before comin...

This Nagano brewery started out as a public/private joint venture back in 1994. The first two decades brought uneven success. Ini...

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a popular outdoor resort town with a glacier-fed river running through the center is home to...

Okayama Prefecture lies in a sleepy location in Western Japan blessed by great weather. This is perhaps the biggest reason the ar...

Shinya Suzuki is a brewmaster in Yokohama with a sharp sense of dedication. On his brewery’s website, there is the stated goal of...

Umenishiki is an old-line sake brewery founded in the 5th year of the Meiji Period (1872). They received their license to brew be...