The time I recently spent in Ise was directed mainly at seeing and drinking Isekadoya beer. I have always thought pretty highly of Isekadoya and I’ll get to them in a future post. The most surprising find of the weekend was a brewery I’d never heard of, though. 
Hosokawa Shuzo Sake and Beer brewery makes Ise No Kuni Beer. When my friends and I happened upon them in a shop we were a bit surprised to see beer none of us had any idea existed so we naturally picked up a few bottles each. While the beer wasn’t that amazing it was nice to see another brewery in the area producing drinkable beer.
The dunkel was a little too vegetal for my liking. Still, it had an overall nice caramel maltiness that made it a pretty nice drink. The helles was quite nice and the better of the two. Grassy hops and a nice malty flavor with a medium body made for a good brew. I don’t know if I’d pick up the dunkel again but I’d go back for another round with the helles. I do love those little breweries.
On the web: Hosokawa Shuzo
Filed under: ale, brewery, Ise No Kuni Beer Tagged: | Beer, Japan
I found that one down there too. Takahashi liquor shop near the shrine? Nice guy. Cheaper than Ise Kadoya, but not as good. When are you heading home?
Their website seems to have other brews by them but those were the only two I saw anywhere down there. And yes, it was along the market near the shrine. I head back to the States on the 9th of March. Sad to see this island nation go…