What are your favorite 10 Japanese breweries (ranked)?

Think Devil Craft could be up there this time next year too. All their stuff has been good so far I think.

Originally posted by shoulderbroken
Think Devil Craft could be up there this time next year too. All their stuff has been good so far I think.

Sorry, I totally missed that. Have only had 4 or 5 of their beers but have liked them all.

1. Zakko
2. Shiga Kogen
3. Y Market
4. Kyoto
5. AJB
6. Nihonkai
7. Outsider
8. Noboribetsu
9. Yorocco
10. Aqula

Welcome, chipandmo.
Why don’t you introduce yourself?

I think you can guess who she is. Been on here a long time but not doing much.

Shoulderbroken and Willisread made me do this without looking at what others had listed...

Originally posted by shoulderbroken
I think you can guess who she is. Been on here a long time but not doing much.

I’ll need a pint to be able to ’get in the zone’. My IPA will do, or possibly the kinkan yuzu weizen, the milk stout, either of the 2 black IPAs, the ESB or either of my lacto sours, or the other beers...
Wasn’t going to drink today. Interesting choices. a few I’d probably never even think of putting in a top ten and a few would have made it last year but not this and others not this but probably next. What used to be a baird, shiga and possibly swan lake top three for years now has been shaken up by the newcomers and some improved old timers.
DC are definitely one to keep an eye on. Not limited by style or theme. AJB will always be a niche brewery, IMO, until they expand as they seem to be planning to. same with thrash and most probably yorocco. Just too small to reach the masses. Y Market has pumped out some crappy brews as well as some tasty ones and i kind of feel lately they have relaxed a bit to much after such a great start. kyoto just keep on making kyoto beers, tasty but soon enough everyone will pick them out as being kyoto tasting (as well as most being exactly the same to look at). Solid beers but the base style seems to be used all the time. I do like their beers and if i see them on tap, always consider them. Im not a huge fan of belgians though so get tired of belgian ipas particularly. wasnt a fan of their stout. Did nothing for me. Some of their other beers though have been very tasty and clean.
A few of the old guys are changing brewers and making better beers. Touchdown and Hansharo two of them which surprised me recently. There are quite a few new breweries i still havent tried yet. AJB being the one id really like to but hard to find their beer on tap over here in the big smoke. Popping up a little more, now demand is here but ti sells out fast. Campion apparently opening or already opened a new brewpub in yoyogi, if rumors are true. lots happening and i expect the latter 5 at least in this list to change , almost quarterly, which is exciting.
As for ishi tora, i gave up on them ages ago, bakc on beer number 57,987,342, not having a clue what i was drinking each time. IMO the numbering system is bonkers and their descriptions suck, as do a few of their beers but not all btu that is my frustration, not knowing if this batch 65,789 is one of the good ones or another weak ass limp batch. what will happen after the young pny tailed hiroyuki leaves for canada? i heard some say they have found a replacement. who knows how the beers will be after then? I just skip on adding ushi tora. if i’d have had one of every beers they’d made, id have needed a double mortgage by now.
Any chance of doing the worst ten breweries, too? ;)
Right, I’m getting a pint...

not easy to do and im sure ive forgotten some breweries but here we go:

10) nihonkai. He has been putting out some solid beers. one guy on a large system, often making beers he hasnt really tried before and sometimes nailing them. look for his imperial stout, later this year. excellent pilsner, amber lager and deep sea lager.
9) Baird. Still not back to their good old days but recently the beers are getting less muggy looking and tasting. The angry boy i had was crystal clear and the impy stout, ipl, wheat wine and a few others have been very good. stil got a ways to go though and its stil a mystery why they have been so, well, muggy for the last few years. they used to be contenders for number one for a long time but no one talks about them, these days. the temple garden yuzu was almost brown and muggy but tasty.
8) minoh. disclaimer. I havent had much minoh beer this year or so, so its hard to say how they are now but ive heard good things and the little i have had has been good. minoh made the best beer ive ever had in japan, the cask conditioned, dry hopped WIPA way, way back when it was awesome and ruled this country. When it is on, their stout on handpump is the best in japan. the osaru series has been pretty good, mostly. They could well be higher up on my list (probably past swan lake) but i just havent had many of their beers.
7) Swan lake. probably my most contentious choice and still wondering about this one, to be honest. Still a little up and down but this years session IPa was bang on for me. Talked to the youngbrewer in yokohama and I gently slammed the barley wine release in tokyo as way, way too young and kind of shit and he took it well and listened - which was nice. Japanese release barley wine too young and hop it too much. Except for outsider - wow! That pitbull, had about 2 pints of that 12% baby in yokohama brewers cup. Excellent porter and amber ale, possibly among the best in japan. the weizen, though sweet is clean and fruity and many would enjoy it. some of the new attempts like the silver stout thing didnt really work.
(I wanted to say fujisakura but for me the shwarz weizen is an awful mistake, the bavaria manderin i cant drink-just too damn weird for me to handle and the helles is not bad but IMO too alcoholic plus they changed their weizen again and im not a huge fan but the pils has improved and the rauch has changed (though the brewer says no, i and others swear by it and its has become thinner, more watery and sweeter caramelly, not as good).
6) Thrash Zone. Small but recently they have really upped their game and envenom was awesome (especially 2 or 3 pints!).Not sure if i can or should go back there, though. Probably be ok but itll feel weird. speed kills, hope deicide, world downfall all tasting great and cleaner than usual, last time i was there, at new year.

I could have included isekadoya, iwate kura, daisen, yaho, bayernmiester (top 3 easily on quality alone and consistency but availability sucks) and a few others
My top 5 on next post...