While it’s common knowledge that Japan’s national drink is sake with the highest concentration of individual sake breweries located in Niigata, what to sip on if you’re not a fan? Why, a cold frothy mug of beer of course! You may know big names like Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo, but let’s reach past corporate conglomerates and go for the really good stuff: craft beer. For that, we can thank Niigata prefecture and toast Seiichiro Uehara, the founder of Japan’s first microbrewery.

Thirst for Change 

It’s been said that beer made its accidental debut in the archipelago in 1613 during the first English trading voyage to Japan, but it would take nearly another two hundred and fifty years before Japan’s first beer brewery opened in 1869. From that point on, the nation was hooked on this delightful golden beverage. Over the next forty years, around 100 independent breweries sprung up, immediately creating a fiercely competitive market. However, the free-for-all party came to a screeching halt in 1901, when the Meiji government imposed a crippling “beer tax” which sent the bulk of brewers into bankruptcy.

Japanese beer was mostly brewed and distributed by the three aforementioned beer giants for nine decades, all the while growing in popularity and ubiquity thanks to izakaya (Japanese bar), vending machines and TV ads. Finally, in April 1994, something unexpected happened.

The Liquor Tax Law was revised to lower the minimum production volume required to obtain a beer license from 2,000 kiloliters per year to 60 kiloliters. This revision made it much easier for small brewers to enter the market, and what followed was a true craft beer revolution. It was under those new circumstances that Seiichiro Uehara changed everything.

The Artist and the Brewer 

Since its founding in 1850, Uehara Brewing had been a reputable establishment and renowned for its award-winning sake Echigo Tsurukame, which was said to have even been served to the Imperial Family. The brewery grew more advanced in its techniques over the generations, until finally young Seiichiro, the 5th-generation of the family, was next in line. However, brewing sake in Niigata was the last thing on his mind.

Seiichiro was an artist with a passion for performing on stage, and as such, he was accepted into Tokyo University of the Arts and then later joined a theatre company. Curious about drama outside of Japan, Seiichiro spent the late 1970s and 1980s touring Europe in a theater troupe, meeting interesting people such as directors, other actors, and one particular German storybook artist. We don’t know her name, but we do know the impact the artist made on Seiichiro, especially when she introduced him to the wonderful beverages in her hometown of Regensburg, Germany.

The young artist was hooked. The rich and diverse world of Bavarian beer coupled with the leisurely way patrons imbibed was something inconceivable in Japan, for now anyway. In 1990, fate intervened. Seiichiro’s father had fallen ill and it was finally time for him to assume his role as the 5th generation owner of Uehara Brewing.

Staging A Revolution 

Seiichiro couldn’t shake what he’d experienced in Europe and two years later, he took full advantage of the revised Liquor Tax Law, and transformed his family’s long-standing sake brewery into Echigo Beer, Japan’s first microbrewery. Coincidentally, the logo he chose for his new enterprise was designed by that same mysterious German woman: a goat—the symbol of fertility, good harvests, and prosperous business.

https://echigobeer.com/about.php

Today, Echigo Beer is a staple around Niigata, and its colorful cans and varieties can be seen in supermarkets, convenient stores and specialty shops. Of particular note is its Koshihikari Beer, a refreshing lager made from Niigata’s signature Koshihikari rice, as well as its crisp citrusy Flying IPA.

Echigo Beer is a success story that has remained an inspiration to dreamers and entrepreneurs alike. Each year, more and more dedicated brewers with vision and innovation have opened their own microbrewery, resulting in the 805 microbreweries serving beer in Japan today.

Of those numbers, 21 microbreweries—perhaps the best in the country—can be found in Niigata, offering a variety of products made with meticulous care and local ingredients. So why wait? Treat yourself to a refreshing pint that perfectly captures the essence of Niigata. Cheers!

Even though Joshua Furr is from North Carolina (home of bluegrass, flight and Pepsi), he prefers a life outside the U.S. Currently you’ll find him in Warsaw, Poland. He has a beautiful wife and two sons, all whom he forces to listen to Japan-based conversation and 80s music. Around lunch, he dreams about eating gyudon at Sukiya. When he’s not spending time with his family, he’s writing, teaching or tinkering with Adobe software.