There are many ways to tangibly learn about the past. We can visit restored or preserved old buildings kept as they would have been a century ago, ride steam locomotives pulling vintage cars or participate in reenactments where everyone involved consciously tries to recreate a past event to better understand how people lived.

It’s on the last part that we generally start delving into the personal matter of what the past tasted like. I have a friend who recreates World War II rations either following old recipes or finding modern equivalents to mimic the taste as close as possible. Old family recipes passed down through generations can be made using natural ingredients fresh from the farm or hunting but one thing that’s harder to recreate or find is drink.

Sapporo (Kaitakushi Brewing Company, 1876), Kirin (Japan Brewing Company, 1885) and Asahi (Osaka Brewing Company, 1887) were big names in the Meiji era (1868-1912) but put a glass of their Meiji beer side-by-side with their Reiwa (the current era) offerings and they are clearly not the same drink. It’s not possible to homebrew the Meiji-era’s favorite mass-produced beers, but that doesn’t mean they’re not available.

We traveled from Hokkaido to Kyushu to learn the history of Japanese brewing and try out revived beers. We’ll look at how they came to be as all three started from very different backgrounds but were influenced by or the result of the Westernization and modernization that was taking place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As beer and cocktails are Western drinks, they entered the Japanese market during the Meiji era (1868-1912). During Emperor Meiji’s 45 years reign Japan went from a feudal society to a modern one on technological parity with the industrial world. In 1870 the first domestic brewery was opened in Yokohama by an American and soon after the Japanese decided to start brewing their own, though sales was largely targeted at foreigners as it took time for beer to catch in on popularity as sake and shochu were still the native drinks of choice.

While beer today has a working class reputation, that wasn’t always the case as beer at the turn of the century was not cheap. Beer production was expensive, labor intensive and in the days before refrigeration the product was difficult to transport and store. Procuring glass bottles in quantity had been a struggle as Japanese traditionally used ceramic bottles for sake and every beer had to be hand corked and wired shut until the 1910s. According to the Sapporo Hita Brewery not-a-beer museum, in 1904 a consumer could spend 20 sen (the cent to the yen’s dollar) on 10 bowls of soba noodles or a single beer. It brings new light to the phrase, “Stay thirsty my friends.”

Kaitakushi Brewing Co. Lager (1876)
Sapporo, Hokkaido

Sapporo Beer began in 1876 as the Kaitakushi Brewing Company, a subsidiary enterprise of the Kaitakushi or Hokkaido’s colonization office. Japan had only begun taming its northern frontier in the early 1870s and turned to American experts for assistance in taking advantage of the north’s untapped resources. Among the industries they recommended to the Japanese was brewing. The German-trained Japanese brew master Nakagawa Seibei was hired and brewed the company’s first beer, a lager, at their Sapporo brewery in 1876.

Lagers were common because they lasted longer than ales, which because they were easy to brew had initially been popular with the first Yokohama brewers in the 1870s. All three of the available “old recipe” beers I’ve drank are lagers.

Sapporo 1876 Kaitakushi lager

In 1903 Sapporo purchased a red brick sugar beet factory and converted it to their Daini Koba (Plant No.2) malt factory. Today that red brick factory bearing the Kaitakushi’s red star is the Sapporo Beer Museum. Guests on the premium tour finish their museum visit with a glass of the recreated 1876 recipe and a glass of modern Sapporo beer to compare it with.

This draft lager was my first historic Japanese beer and it was not what I expected. The flavor was mild and slightly sweet with just a touch of sourness on the finish, which was not unpleasant. It’s just a shame that the tour only comes with one glass and no refills because I could drink like a pioneer all day long. The lager is only produced for the museum, so isn’t sold in stores.

The museum also sells Kaitakushi Beer which recreates a second 1800s recipe, though not the 1876. I recommend taking some bottles home if you get the chance, but like all the recreated old recipe beers they do not have long shelf lives.

Kabuto Beer (1889)
Handa and Meiji-mura, Aichi

Our next beer began in Handa, Aichi Prefecture, a city long associated with sake and vinegar brewing. It was one of these vinegar makers, Nakano Matamazaemon, which switched to the new Western beverage and started Marusan Brewing Company in 1887. A new brewery designed by a Japanese architect but patterned after German breweries was completed in 1898; the name became Kabuto Beer that year and won a gold medal at the 1900 Paris World Exposition.

While the beer itself disappeared during World War II, the Kabuto brewery survived and is one of the largest still standing Meiji-era akarenga (red brick) structures. Today it’s a Kabuto Beer museum and restaurant, which serves recreated Meiji-era and Taisho-era style Kabuto Beer complete with original labeling. (Beer tasting can be combined with museum entry for a discounted ticket)  No longer a national brand, the beer is produced in limited quantities by Chita Beer for local sale in Aichi Prefecture and can be bought at the former brewery.

Taisho-style (left) and Meiji-style (right) at the former brewery

I first had the pleasure of enjoying the 1889 Meiji version at the Denki Bran Shiodome Bar in Meiji-mura in nearby Inuyama. Meiji-mura is a Victorian village with more than 60 preserved historic buildings taken from all over Japan and recreated as a small town, complete with working steam engines and Kyoto street cars from that era. It’s the Meiji-est place on Earth and most fitting that I was introduced to two of the era’s great libations there.

Shiodome Bar at Meiji-mura; formerly the Shinagawa Glass Factory (1877)

As I mentioned earlier, beer changes over time and the recreated Kabuto offers a rare example of this because while both Meiji and Taisho-style are lagers, they are not alike at all in flavor. The Meiji is a dark lager that has the fullest mouth feel of all four beers I tried for this article and leans toward being sweet with a hint of apple to its flavor. The later Taisho-style, is a golden Pilsner.

Sakura-Beer (1913)
Mojiko (Kitakyushu), Fukuoka

On the northern shore of Japan’s southernmost main island of Kyushu, the Teikoku Brewing Company began making Sakura-Beer in 1913. The brewery was set up in Dairi, Moji, with Moji Port (Mojiko), then one of Japan’s most important coal exporters and shipping centers on one side and Yawata, the home Japan’s nascent steel industry on the other. Putting the brewery along the rail line allowed Teikoku to tap into the existing extensive transportation infrastructure set up to support these lucrative industries and move its own product rapidly as well as receive the ingredients it needed for brewing.

During the Taisho (1912-1926) and early Showa (1926-1989) eras it was Japan’s third most popular beer and held up to 9% of the domestic market share though they also enjoyed success overseas thanks to the vacuum in Asia created by World War I and later America’s Prohibition.

That percentage of domestic share is a fairly low number for being No. 3 because of Dainippon Beer. It began in 1906 with the merger of three major brewers and immediately the new organization controlled 70% of the beer market. From there it constantly absorbed the competition including Kabuto Beer, which it had taken over in 1921.  A recession caused the Teikoku Brewing Company, which had rebranded itself as Sakura Beer in 1929, to merge into Dainippon Beer and by World War II it was a near-monopolistic company with only Kirin for competition in producing mugishu. (This is the Japanese wartime name for beer. Think of it like 2003’s “Freedom Fries.”) Post-war the American occupation government forced it to break into two smaller companies, Asahi and Nippon Beer, which later changed its name to Sapporo. Sakura-Beer was revived in 2019 by Mojiko Retro Beer, a microbrewery in Sakura Beer’s hometown, which produces the lager to its Taisho recipe under license from Sapporo.

Like Sapporo and Handa, the Teikoku or Old Sapporo Brewery is now a heritage site and a Sakura Beer Museum has been set up in the brewery union hall.

This is my favorite beer of the lot and the most accessible due to its availability for online purchase. Not to mention the innate superiority of Kyushu beer over all other domestic Japanese beers. (I may be biased.)

According to their website, Sakura-Beer has a high amount of sugar, but to my taste it’s not sweet. It’s mellow and crisp, only slightly sweet with a slight sourness on the end. Overall, it’s a well-balanced beer. My wife is not a big beer drinker but this is her favorite beer and says she could drink it all the time.

The Sakura-Beer story just went a step further as Sapporo started selling Sakura Beer in cans beginning in June 2020. It does a good impression of the original, but Mojiko’s more authentic recreation is superior. Though in a blind taste test, or after the first few beers, I would be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Join us next time as we enjoy a Taisho-era cocktail hour in Tokyo!

References

Brewed in Japan: The Evolution of the Japanese Beer Industry by Jeffrey W. Alexander

Identification and Dating of Japanese Glass Bottles by Douglas E. Ross

http://www.brewers.or.jp/english/09-history.html

https://www.asahibeer.com/heritage/

https://www.sapporobeer.jp/english/company/history/roots.html

https://www.kirinholdings.co.jp/english/company/history/group/01.html