Hansharo Brewery and how the future should play out

DH is leaving so I am gonna push forward and write more about Hansharo. I need to tie up some loose ends to make way for hanami drinking news.

Hansharo Brewery is named for the giant furnaces that are adjacent to it. These furnaces were secretly built in the 1850's to make cannons that were then hauled to Tokyo Bay to blast the smithereens out of the Black Ships when Perry returned. Before you know anything else about the place, that is just cool. Above is a picture of Miyuki and I, looking like total crap after drinking and a night's sleep in the car, posing in front of the Hansharo furnaces. To get to the Hansharo Brewery, you go to Mishima Station and take the Izu Hakone line toward the Shuzzenji area. Get off at the Izu Nagaoka stop. It will take about 20 minutes and cost 320 yen. From there, Hansharo is about 2.5 kilometers. You can hoof it and get some exercise before consuming that beer or take a taxi or a bus, if there is one. I went there by car. They have a sweet lunch deal. 2000 yen gets you a wagyu yakiniku set plus the five beer sampler. The food set includes the meat, vegetables, rice, miso soup, two dessert type dishes, and the coolest thing of all, fresh wasabi root with dried shark skin to grind it on! It doesn't get much cooler than that.

The beer sampler set includes, from left to right, a sake yeast beer, a pale ale, a porter, a weizen, and the seasonal. These beer tates fresh because Hansharo has clean mountain water. They just lack taste and the water comes through making the beers very similar. I mean, come on! How can you call that middle beer a porter? From the color and the taste, it is doing well to be called a light brown ale. The head of Hansharo told us that he wanted to make beers that everyone can enjoy. This is all fine, but it gets you nowhere. Like Bryan Baird said, "When you got your finger in the air, you're lost!" Hansharo needs to cut these similar tasting beers down one, say a pale ale, and then concentrate on what they are doing best. The sake yeast beer is interesting and with some more batches and improvements could be something sets Hansharo apart. I talked to Wantanabe-san, the brewer, about using a little sake rice and koji in the brewing proccess to make a hybrid beer, he said he has thought about it too and is working on it. That shows promise for the future!

Where Hansharo is really shining in the beer department is their involvement with Rainbow Brewing. Currently they have their Hansharo Chocolate Ale seasonal which some Tokyo drinkers know as Rainbow's Chocolate Dusk Ale. The new beer we brewed with Rainbow's Kawano-san will be the new seasonal in a month and will hopefully be just as delicious. Hansharo's problem is that these more complex beers aren't as marketable out in the beer education-less country. Hansharo and Rainbow need to make the most of their cohabitation and push their beer outward toward good beer drinkers like myself. Here is a picture of me puttin' down the great seasonal chocolate ale at Hansharo! That is my beer rant for the day. Now back to Hansharo.

Hide-san, the son of Hansharo's owner, took us on a tour of the grounds. The place is pretty spectacular. They compost all the spent grain and food waste to make a rich fertilizer that is spread on their green tea fields (pictures above and below). They have their own shitake mushroom farm and vegetable garden supplying much of what the restaurant serves. Hide-san told us that they currently have plans to start growing their own hops which is awesome.

Hansharo's beer has potential to be very good and the restaurant and location are amazing. If you find yourself with nothing to do, go to the Hansharo Brewery, pay 1500 yen for 90 minutes of all-u-can-drink, and throw your Hansharos in the air!