Hiroshima Heiwa Beer

When you think of Hiroshima, most don’t think about microbreweries and great food. I highly recommend visiting Hiroshima both to those who are living in Japan, and to those simply traveling through. The atomic bomb dome and the memorial museum are simply breathtaking and a part of history that you must see.
After that, try some Hiroshima Ji-beer. When my girlfriend told me that she was taking me there for my Christmas present, I immediately started looking for info on the Internet to help me learn more about beer in Hiroshima. Not surprisingly, there isn’t much at all in English to be found. I did discover Heiwa beer and Kure Beer, both of which we found with relative ease.
Heiwa beer is brewed in ‘downtown’ Hiroshima near many shops and restaurants. The shopping district of Hiroshima has enough to keep you busy for hours, and a day of history and shopping is best topped off by a great dinner and micro-brewed beer. Heiwa beer’s brewing operations aren’t open to the public, but the restaurant on the floor above the brewery serves two beers on draught: A Brown and a Gold. Names aren’t too clever, but the beers are pretty good.
Ebisu no Utage is the restaurant where we drank Heiwa’s brews, and I think it is owned by the brewery, but I am not 100% certain. We knew the general area where the restaurant was located, and a huge sign across the street announcing ji-biru helped us find the restaurant with ease. The place was pretty crowded, and we had a short wait to get a table for two. If you are planning on going with a large group, reservations would be a good idea.
I drank the brown beer and Michi had the gold. The Gold was very fruity weizen which neither of us cared for. It would have suited a warm summer day much better than a cold Hiroshima night. The Brown beer was a very tasty brown ale that I could have drank all night. It went great with the food and had tons of malty goodness and taste. Of course I would have liked to have seen a few more types of beer, but two is better than none.
The beer was good, but the food was stellar. We had kim-chee nabe which was absolutely amazing. We also tried some of the house sake, which was also great.
Beer – B-
Food- A
As we were leaving from Hiroshima station, Michi also spotted Heiwa Carp Beer, brewed for the local professional team. To my knowledge, no carp was used in the making of this beer, which I seem to recall was a pilsner, but honestly I can’t remember. The bottle looks cool on my shelf though.
If you are in Hiroshima, Ebisu no Utage and Heiwa Beer should definitely be on your “must do” list. It is only about a twenty-minute walk from the A-bomb dome to the restaurant, and you will be walking through the shopping district the entire way. Also, it is only a twenty-minute walk from Hiroshima station as well, so either way it’s very easy to get to.
Surprisingly, I didn’t find this beer in any convenience stores, which means you have to go to the restaurant to buy it, and you can buy bottles to go.
Overall it is pretty good beer. Not the best in Japan by far, and not the best in the area, as that award goes to Kure Beer.