Bringing Craft Beer to Alberta

Baird Brewing
Shizuoka, Japan

http://bairdbeer.com/en/
For more information - click here

Hitachino Nest Brewing
Ibaraki, Japan
http://kodawari.cc/

 “Hitachino” is an ancient way of saying “plains of Ibaraki”

 The Kiuchi Brewery was established in 1823 by Kiuchi Gihei, the headman of Kounosu village. His family was collecting rice from farmers as land taxes for the Mito Tokugawa family. He began his brewery with the idea of using the remaining rice stocks in the warehouse. At this time in Japan a new political movement began to reform the Tokugawa regime. Fujita Toko, one of the movement's activists, advocated an ideology to build a new organizational government with a reverence of the emperor, and his thought led to the Meiji Restoration.

Fujita was a close friend of Kiuchi, who named one of his sakes "KIKUSAKARI" as a respect to the emperor. KIKU (chrysanthemum) is a crest of the imperial household, and SAKARI means 'property'.

1950's
Mikio Kiuchi inherited the brewery legacy in 1950. It was the time when the sake industry flourished as the rapid growth of Japan's economy after the World War II. Although many sake breweries started mass producing low quality sake due to increased demand, Kiuchi Brewery maintained their policy of pursuing the best quality of sake with the optimum ingredients and craftsman-ship.

Hitachino Nest Beer
In autumn 1996, Kiuchi started beer brewing business, named the brand "HITACHINO NEST BEER" with unique owl character logo.
Over the years, Kiuchi Brewery has gained Japan and worldwide attention by winning awards at numerous world beer competitions.
In 2000, Brew on Premises (BOP) facilities opened to introduce the Lager to the main stream Japan.  The BOP equipment was purchased from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

HITACHINO NEST BEER
Award Winning History

2000 World Beer Cup
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale (Herb and Spice Beers)

2001 Germany DLG guarantee of quality contest
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer Weizen

2001 International Beer & Wine Summit
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale (Herb and Spice Beers)
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer XH (Belgian Style Dark Strong Ale)
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer Red Rice Ale (Sake-Yeast Beer)

2002 The Brewing Industry International Awards
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale
(International speciality beer with other speciality ingredients)
- Champion Beer - Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale
(International speciality beer)

2004 World Beer Cup 2004
- Gold Medal - Hitachino Nest Beer White Ale (Herb and Spice Beers)

Ise Kadoya Brewing
Ise City, Japan
http://www.isekadoya.com/

Ise Kadoya is a small brewery located in Ise, Japan.   The name “Ise Kadoya” comes from two different driving factors in the company’s background - Ise, where the brewery is located and Kadoya, part of the company name used for over 430 years.

Company History

Way back in 1575, my ancestors started "Kadoya", a cafe business aimed at making and serving "kinakomochi" (see pics on right) and tea to the numerous pilgrims that journeyed to Ise City and Ise Shrine from all over Japan. Over 430 years later, Kadoya is still selling kinako mochi to a new generation of pilgrims making their way to Ise Shrine. After generations of making kinakomochi, Kadoya began making soy sauce, tamari and miso paste a little over 100 years ago (see pics on right). In 1994, our family business name changed to “Nikenjayamochi Kadoya Honten” and still continues to be one of the longest running mochi companies in Japan. I represent the 21st generation in my family to run daily operations after my father, Soichiro Suzuki.

In 1997, across the street from where my family has been doing business for over 430 years, we decided to build Biyagura, a restaurant, brewhouse and beer shop converted partly from some of my family's traditional miso and soy sauce warehouses. Ise Kadoya is in continuous production creating our year-round beers and roughly 6 seasonal beers - one every other month - throughout the year. Of course it depends on the beers we are producing, but we have the capacity to produce 15 kiloliters of beer every month or about 4,000 gallons.

Our brewery may be small, but we have the confidence to compete on the world stage. Admittedly, when we won our first international beer awards in 2003, we were a bit taken aback at just how far we had come and how receptive the international audience was with our beer.  However, we know brewing is about quality over quantity and we feel being small means we can always pay close attention to the brewing process and always have a hands on approach to our beer making.  We are proud of our beers but never too proud to rest on past successes. We are committed to brewing consistently high-quality beers while at the same time to pushing the limits of our imaginations to create an ever expanding array of brews to keep our customers happy and intrigued.

2009
Japan Beer Festival - Brewery of the Year

2008
Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Gold medal, Shinto Beer - American Ale category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Bronze medal, Kumano Kodo Beer - Golden or Blonde Ale category
Bronze medal, Shinto Beer - American-Style Pale Ale category
Gold medal, Brown Ale - American-Style Brown Ale category

2007
The 5th Tokyo Real Ale Festival
Popularity Vote, 2nd overall - Pale Ale

Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Silver medal, Scotch Ale - Dark Ale category
Gold medal, Sinto Beer - American Ale category
Silver medal, Pale Ale - American Ale category
Silver medal, Imperial Smoked Porter - Flavored Beer category
Silver medal, Arare Genmai Ale - Specialized Beer category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Silver medal, Kumano Kodo Beer - Golden Ale category
Bronze medal, Pale Ale - American-Style Pale Ale category
Silver medal, British Pale Ale - Classic English-Style Pale Ale category
Bronze medal, Brown Ale - American-Style Amber Ale category

2006
Wold Beer Cup, San Diego, USA
Bronze medal, Shinto Beer - Old Ale category
Bronze medal, Stout - Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout category

Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Gold medal, Shinto Beer - American Ale category

2005
Australian International Beer Awards, Melbourne Australia
Bronze medal, Shin-shun - Wheat Beer/German Style Hefeweisen category

2004
Australian International Beer Awards, Melbourne Australia
Silver medal, Shinto Beer - Scotch Ale and Barleywines category
Bronze medal, Scotch Ale - Scotch Ale and Barleywines category

Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Gold medal, Yuzu no Kaori Ale - Fruit/Spice Beer category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Bronze medal, Pale Ale - American-Style Pale Ale category

2003
Australian International Beer Awards, Melbourne Australia
Gold medal, Pale Ale - American-Style Pale Ale Category
Gold medal, Pale Ale - Best in Class Winner
Bronze medal, Stout - Stout category
Bronze medal, Weizen - Wheat Beer/German Style Hefeweizen Category

Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Silver medal, Raspberry Ale - Fruit Ale category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Silver medal, White Peach Ale - Fruit Beer category
Japan Beer Grand Prix, Tokyo, Japan
Silver medal, Pale Ale
Silver medal, Kodai Mai (Ancient Rice) Ale

2002
Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Gold medal, Pale Ale - American Ale Category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Silver medal, Gemai Ale - Experimental Beer Category (Lager or Ale)
Silver medal, Pale Ale - American-Style Pale Ale Category

2001
Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Silver medal, Pale Ale - American Ale Category

International Beer Competition, Yokohama, Japan
Bronze medal, Pale Ale - American-Style Pale Ale Category

2000
Japan Asia Beer Cup, Tokyo, Japan
Gold medal, Shinto Beer - English Dark Ale Category

Minoh Aji
Osaka, Japan
http://www.minoh-beer.jp/index.html

Minoh is a district of Osaka near the Minoh river.  “Aji” means “taste”.  So, these beers are a ‘taste of Minoh’!