Minoh Beer's Oshita Kaori

For your reading enjoyment, here is an email interview with Ohshita Kaori, the brewmistress at Minoh Beer in Osaka. While I was trying to dig up some photos off of google, I came across Stephen Lacey's post about Minoh from 2007. He doesn't seem to update his blog much, he's probably too busy making beers that are going to win the WanCup. Anyway, here is Kaori's interview translated by Miyuki and fixed up a bit by me. Miyuki will have the original Japanese interview up on her blog shortly.

1. Where did you learn to brew?

Pretty much by myself. I took a 6 month brewing course about 10 years ago back when brewing education was controlled by the National Tax Agency. Alot of my original brewing knowledge came from brewing sake...

2. What do you do on a normal working day?

I am bottling, kegging, shipping product, clerical work, and delivering everyday. I brew two to five times a week depending on the season. My work is just about endless, so I really want more time.

3. What is your favorite beer to make or drink?

I like to make everything, but I'm not good at brewing wheat because my equipment isn't good for it. I like to make new limited edition beers because it keeps my tension high and is exciting.

As far as drinking, I follow my feeling at the moment but it is easy for me to get tired of something. So I drink pale ale until I am tired of it, then I drink stout...and so on. It's not really an answer. It is hard for me to decide my number one. I keep drinking the beer when I think it is delicious.

4. What was the first beer you ever drank?

A big company pilsner.

5. What was the first beer you ever brewed?

A Pilsner was.

6. Have you ever made any brewing mistakes you can tell us about?

My brewery isn't good at making wheat beers. The winter seasonal weizenbock is hard to brew. Even the regular weizen is hard. The weizenbock uses a double amount of malt and last years brewing was hard. This is secret but I did make one mistake. It is not a mistake that tastes bad. I couldn't get the barley sugar to my goal gravity so that weizenbock became the regular weizen. That time the weizen was very rich!

7. What is the worst beer you have ever drank?

The beer I have to drink when I have a hangover.

8. If the world was going to end and you could drink one more beer, what would it be?

It's hard to decide one...probably the Double IPA.

9. What do you think about the future of craft beer in Japan?

Although the craft beer industry is still small, I feel that it is steadily getting bigger. Before craft beer in Japan, beer was equal to pilsner. Now the market has little interest but beer needs to be viewed with more depth like wine and shochu. For that to happen, beer must be made available and tasted by consumers. This business is not easy so I have to make sure there is an oppurtunity for our beer to be tasted. Taste is everything so I have a big responsibility as a brewer.

10. Why is your Double IPA so delicious?

Thank you so much!!! I'm the happiest when people say my beer is delicious. It encourages me to brew. I mostly work by trial and error so I try to change the recipe a little bit every time. I have to really take care of and consider the yeast because of the high alcohol in the Double IPA. Also, I don't want to make it too bitter. My goal is high alcohol beer that can be drank while eating. I drive myself crazy thinking about how to perfectly balance that beer.


Thank you so much Kaori for taking time out of your busy day to answer our questions! I speak for Miyuki, DH, and myself when I say we definitely plan drinking your beer until we get silly at some point in the future. The first two pictures in the post I did not take, so thank you to whoever put them on the internet. The last picture was taken by Miyuki at Grande Biere and yes, that is the Minoh Double IPA in my hand!