Best of Japan according to RateBeer Japan and friends

First off, thanks to everyone who contributed to the thread and the poll. As I mentioned before a lot of us talk a lot about which Japanese breweries are doing well and which ones we like, but I hadn’t seen a ranking of favorite breweries anywhere. I thought it would be nice just to put together our thoughts and opinions on the scene in Japan and see how things would look if we were forced to choose and rank which breweries are doing it well here.

This started as a ratebeer only poll, but since the sample size would have only been around 10, I decided to recruit some other Japanese craft beer heads from around the city and country. Most of them have posted here but one hasn’t.

I received 21 lists for the poll (including myself). 1 of the lists wasn’t added due to the fact that the breweries weren’t ranked. So these results are compiled from the 20 ranked lists I received. I kept the scoring system simple (thanks to Neil for suggesting): basically a brewery ranked first on a list would receive 10 points while the 10th brewery on the list would receive 1 point (a brewery ranked fifth on a list would receive 6 points, etc.) If you have any questions please feel free to post below. Let’s get a discussion going as well. I think we’d all like to hear from people regarding why they ranked the way they did, or possibly if they forgot to mention a brewery as well.

Also this is by no means a definitive list, just a small sample of only 20 beer heads. It would be nice if we could revisit this list in a year from now and see if any opinions have changed, or if any new breweries have made more waves. Anyway without further ado, Japan here are you breweries ranked according to ratebeer Japan:

Rankings:

1. Shiga Kogen (191)
2. Y. Market (150)
3. Kyoto (113)
4. Fujizakura (78)
5. Yorocco (59)
6. Zakkoku Kobo (55)
7. Thrash Zone (43)
8. Swan Lake (39)
9. Minoh (35)
10. Oni Densetsu [Noboribetsu Brewpub] / Shonan (34)
11. -
12. Nihonkai Club (28)
13. Daisen G (25)
14. AJB [Libushi] (24)
15. Baird (23)
16. Ise Kadoya (19)
17. Devil Craft (17)
18. Ushi-Tora / North Island (15)
19. -
20. Iwate Kura (13)
21. Baeren / Loco Beer (12)
22. -
23. Outsider (9)
24. Yoho (8)
25. Oh! La! Ho / Hideji (6)
26. -
27. Chateau Kamiya / Sankt Gallen / Kiuchi [Hitachino Nest] (5)
28. -
29. -
30. Mojiko / Aqula / Johana (3)
31. -
32. -
33. Hidatakayama / Atsugi / Coedo / Bayernmeister (2)
34. -
35. -
36. -
37. Tazawako (1)

-37 different breweries were mentioned in the 20 ranked lists. Of these 37 breweries only 2 were mentioned on all 20 ranked lists.

Thoughts, opinions?

Also wanna thank everyone from Ratebeer who participated along with SABGIJ group, untappd crew and Stef, Jay & Hiro-san from Gremlin!

Nice work Will!

The main thing that sticks out is that two of the top three breweries started in the past 2yrs or so (and three in top five started in past three years). That shows the bar isn’t that high - though those breweries are great, but I am guessing we will see the top 10-15 change a lot in the next 3-5 yrs.

I am surprised Yorocco is so far ahead of Shonan, and Shonan is tied with Onidesetsu. Most of Shonan’s non-regular line up rocks, while Yorocco makes some occasional great beers.

Tim

Great points Tim. 3 newish breweries in the top 5. I was going back and comparing these numbers to Mark’s book from a few years back and it’s kind of shocking how far a few have fallen. That probably has more to do with stellar debuts from new breweries, distribution and access and changing palates in Japan.

Shiga and y. Market were the only 2 breweries that made all 20 ranked lists. That says a lot right there.

Shonan’s regular beer line up is solid for sure, possibly the IPA series had people down on them. I had a bunch of Shonan in the past year and enjoyed all of it. Oni Densetsu is underrated to me. They are a bit of a one-trick pony but they do that trick well in my book.

Yorocco is an access thing for sure. I’ve had a lot of their beer in the past half year and they are killing it. New takes on classic styles and hybrid styles as well. All with a whimsical feeling of bliss in each glass. Not the most technical but definitely with the most charm. There’s magic going on down in Zushi.

Will

I think there is a big novelty factor involved, and that counted much more than consistency. Certainly my list showed it, as I mentioned that this was for the past 6 months, and thus the focus on new beers, which is mostly what I drink.

Baird and Kiuchi in particular haven’t done all that much new stuff lately, and, wow, they are low on this list.

I agree with Tim, Shonan is consistently good, if not great and a brewery like them suffers due to lack of marketing/schtick/crazy names/crazy styles/brewing with visiting brewers rub et al - they don’t get the kind of love Yorocco do, but I think they make beer beer overall (subjective I know). Its a good list, but would be interesting to revisit 1/3/5 years down the line...who would still be in business? Who would still be consistently highly ranked?
Where will new breweries come from? Will Kyoto be the next Kiuchi?

Originally posted by KyotoLefty
I think there is a big novelty factor involved, and that counted much more than consistency. Certainly my list showed it, as I mentioned that this was for the past 6 months, and thus the focus on new beers, which is mostly what I drink.

Baird and Kiuchi in particular haven’t done all that much new stuff lately, and, wow, they are low on this list.

Think Will was saying the same thing about doing it again in a year and so on. So much changes so quickly. If I’d done my list after I had the AJB barrel beers and the Shonan Barrel Imperial Stout I reckon my list would have been a bit different. And equally, a list like this is 100% about people’s opinions rather than anything definitive. But it’s definitely been an interesting read so well done to Will for coming up with the idea. Maybe we should try this with other things, beers or bars or something. Although I guess that is maybe a bit less inclusive.

Originally posted by jonno
I agree with Tim, Shonan is consistently good, if not great and a brewery like them suffers due to lack of marketing/schtick/crazy names/crazy styles/brewing with visiting brewers rub et al - they don’t get the kind of love Yorocco do, but I think they make beer beer overall (subjective I know). Its a good list, but would be interesting to revisit 1/3/5 years down the line...who would still be in business? Who would still be consistently highly ranked?
Where will new breweries come from? Will Kyoto be the next Kiuchi?