天神蔵!!!

Nate and I decided some time ago that we would put the free time that we have in Japan to good use. We are lucky because we have pretty fun and fairly rewarding jobs that pay us well for what we do. Mind you, these jobs are not always a walk in the park. Staring at thirty elementary school students who don’t speak a word of English and who are trying to stick their fingers up your butt every chance they get is not my idea of a cake -walk.
When I say that we want to put our time to good use, I don’t mean that we are hitting up all of the tourist spots and taking in all of the sights. No no no. Any Johnny-come-lately can do that mess! What we have decided to dedicate our time to is touring the beer and sake breweries that dot the countryside in Japan!
We had a doozie of a day last weekend. Nate and I got up early, met at Toyohashi station, and headed off to Hamamatsu after picking up Miyuki. We toured two spots that make good brew, and I will relate our experience and opinions of the latter.
Tenjingura （天神蔵）is a nice place. After following Miyuki’s wonderful directions, we stumbled upon this place that is pretty well camouflaged by its urban surroundings. Don't let that fool you; these folks know their stuff. The main building and tasting room is an old traditionally built Japanese hall that survived the war. It’s always nice when you start a tour of a place with the guide telling everyone how this was one of the only places that wasn’t burnt to the ground during World War II. I almost felt the need to apologize and say something like, “Hey! But it’s all good now, right?”
We toured the sake making facilities (where we had to wear hairnets and sanitize our shoes!) and then made our way to the mash tanks, purchased from the Czech Republic. Come to find out, the brewery had sent people to Europe to buy the tools needed and study beer-making methods from the folks that know it best.
Tenjingura has three beers: a pilsner, a weizen, and a porter. The pilser and the porter were made with Czech recipes, the weizen with a German recipe. After tasting we quickly decided that whoever went to the Czech Republic must have been slackin’ on the job—because these beers were just normal at best. The weizen was another story.
This beer smells like local honey and blueberries. It was so good and sweet that I could have drank it all day, and if I didn’t have a limited budget and a girlfriend that would kill me, I might still be drinking it there right now! The more you drank of this beer, the better it gets. Certainly one of the top five micro brews I have tasted in Japan. In the picture on the right, the weizen is the lovely colored beer in the middle. We tried in vain to acquire the recipe for this beer, or at least get an idea of some of the ingredients used. No deal. The guy behind the taps wasn’t about to let us in on the secret. As they say in Japan, “Loose lips don't sell beer.” Or something like that…
Tenjingura offers half pitchers that are a steal. For about 1000 yen, you can get a half pitcher that has three full glasses (350ml) of beer in it. Not too bad! The people are friendly and the weizen is second to none.
I almost forgot! Sitting in the lobby of this place is the “free” sake for tasting after the tour. There are small cups that you can try each of the eight (I think…) sakes that are made on the spot. Japanese people know that this means you can try a little of each type to see what you like. Do you think this system works with Americans? If you can, picture Nate standing in front of the display with his cup and three sake bottles at a time drinking as much as possible before he is told to stop. If you can’t picture that, then this picture will help:


Tenjingura makes some good sake, two OK beers, and one excellent weizen. If you are in the Hamamatsu area you have got to check it out. Make reservations for a tour in the afternoon, relax and try the goods, then head to Meine Schloss for a fun evening. If you have been teaching elementary school students, you deserve it.