Don’t know if this has been done in the past but I thought it would be cool to talk about (and rank) everyone’s top 10 breweries. I imagine there will be a lot of crossover in general, and most people’s top 5 may look quite similar. The real differences will probably show in 6-10. Also I thought it would be nice for anyone coming to Japan to visit to have a thread like this available as well. Let’s compare and discuss. |
10. Shonan Beer (Kanagawa)
9. Oh! La! Ho (Nagano)
8. ThrashZone (Kanagawa)
7. Kyoto Brewing (Kyoto)
6. Noboribetsu (Oni Densetsu) (Hokkaido)
5. (Mugi) Zakkokukobo (Saitama)
4. Daisen G (Tottori)
3. Shiga Kogen (Nagano)
2. Y. Market (Aichi)
1. Yorocco Beer (Kanagawa)
This was actually harder than I thought. I could have easily tossed in AJB, Minoh and Nihonkai Club. Still I feel pretty good about this ranking. What say you, you bunch of gentlemen Japan ratebeerians? It’ll be interesting to see if there is a Kanto or Kansai bias amongst us. |
No order:
Fujizakura
Y Market
Shiga Kogen
North Island
Kyoto Brewing
Baeren
Swan Lake
Daisen G
Shonan
Outsider
Tough to make and honestly I rarely order most of these guys as they make the same stuff all the time. If I could get them at normal bars or restaurants I’d be happy as a clam to order them but when I head to beer bars I’m still in the looking for something new phase. Japanese breweries need to work on upping the excitement level. |
10. Baird
9. Aqula
8.Swan Lake
7. Baeren
6. Kyoto
5.Yoho - more for the value, but Aooni in good form is great, as is the Porter
4. Y Market
3. Fujizakura
2. Shonan
1. Shiga |
|
|
Thanks for the list KBL and Jonno. KBL any chance you could rank em? I think that would be more interesting for the idea behind the thread....
Some crossover already of course with Shiga Kogen, Kyoto and Y market like I expected. KBL curious to see what your top 5 would look like....I’m assuming y. Market and Shiga are in your top 5? |
Very tough one as it probably changes every season but based on recent consistency:
1 - Y.Market
2 - Shiga Kogen
3 - Yorocco
4 - Minoh
5- Kyoto
6 - Oni Densetsu
7 - Thrash Zone
8 - Fujizakura
9 - Outsider
10- North Island
Also I regularly hunt: Aqula, Oh La Ho, Shonan, Ushitora, Zakkoku
And I often enjoy: AJB, Baird, Daisen, Hideji, Ise Kadoya, Loco, Nest, Swan Lake, Tainai, Yoho |
This is interesting. I’ll just decide based only on the beers I’ve had over the past 6 months.
1. Y. Market (I guess I’ll have to go to the 2nd Anniversary on March 6)
2. Yorocco (only based on 1 day plus 1 bottle, but I really want more)
3. Shiga Kogen (resting on their laurels mostly, but Sono Juu rocks)
4. Kyoto (waiting desperately for something new. Faucets collabo comes out next week.)
5. Nihonkai (drank liters of that pils, and several other good ones)
6. Fujizakura (solid)
7. Ushi Tora (not always great, but usually good)
8. Mojiko (2 perfect weizens)
9. Swan Lake (based on that wonderful IS)
10. Shonan (slipping, but there were a few good ones)
Honorary mention: Marca (best new brewer since Kyoto), Baeren (Solid as usual), Inuyama (great weizen and pils), Noboribetsu (not mind-blowing but always good), Minoh (Bosuzaru pretty damn good). Maybe Baird, as I really enjoyed their Bunk Bed Session IPA yesterday, but they have had little else that moved me lately, though I do regularly drink Suruga Bay. Have had almost nothing from Aqula lately, and not been to Thrash, but he hasn’t released anything new either. |
Daisen also gets an honorary mention. |
|
|
Great stuff here guys. Keep em coming. Would love to see 10 peoples rankings. It would be cool to do an excel spreadsheet and assign weighted averages to ranking.
Y. Market is clearly in first it seems (depending on KBL’s rankings). Yorocco is up there as well, Shiga, fujizakura. Great stuff guys.
We should definitely do a rate beer yearly pole and rank the top 10 breweries in japan. Wonder if japan beer times or transporter might print the rankings or something. Could keep Brewers on their toes as well.
Keep em coming gang. I like mark’s idea of ranking the beers from the last 6 months (or year). |
A different take, but if I count beers rated 3.9 or over in 2015-16, it is pretty interesting.
Of course these are only new ratings, so basically new beers only.
Fujizakura Heights Mandarina Bavaria 4.1
Kyoto Brewing Ichii Senshin 4.1
4.0:
Ushi-Tora Uetake #038 Hop In The Hefe / Luc Lafontaine 2 to Go: German Yeast IPA
Kyoto Brewing Thoughts of the West Coast
Shiga Kogen / Hair of the Dog Monkey Claws
Y Market Distortion IPA / Meitei King
Yorocco Dubby Stout
3.9:
Ushi-Tora Uetake #002: Mahoroba Wheat
Ise Kadoya Lush Hop IPA
Y Market Super Hysteric IPA / W Market IPA / Yofukashi Queen / Delay IPA
Minoh Beer Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Outsider Brewing Pitbull Barley Wine
Kyoto Brewing Hajimemashite / Tribute to Snow Monkey / Ichigo Ichie / Natsu no Kimagure / Double Dragon
Shonan IPA Southern Cross
|
I promise I’ll do this tomorrow. Come on everybody else. Make your excuses too. |
