The Best Japanese Beers to Drink in the U.S.
This Belgian-style witbier is brewed with traditional orange peel and coriander, but Japan's popular Kiuchi Brewery (look for its labels featuring an owl) goes a step farther with additions of orange juice and nutmeg. Brothers Eric and Bruce Bromberg have Hitachino Nest White Ale available at their Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya, where they recommend pairing it with their baked clams or fried oyster roll, and at their Blue Ribbon Beer Garden, where the brothers say try it with BBQ ribs. "Smoky BBQ works really well," the Brombergs say.
Local water and koshihikari rice from Japan's Niigata region, site of Echigo Beer Co., give this clean, crisp lager a sense of terroir. Its lack of malted barley or wheat makes it naturally gluten-free, and its unobtrusive flavor and relatively low alcohol content (5% ABV) make it an ideal session beer for, say, eating a whole bunch of different food while watching a game.
All of the big, bold, grapefruit-rind bitter flavors we've come to know and love in American-style India pale ales are present in this Japanese IPA from Ryujin Shuzo Co. Ozeno Yukidoke is a good choice at Koji Sake Lounge in San Jose, where its bitterness cuts through the fattiness of Spam handrolls and amplifies the salty flavor of Japanese fried chicken.
Japan's Coedo Brewery nails the banana-and-clove profile of a classic German hefeweizen in Shiro. It begs to be drunk with a banana tarte tatin with salted caramel and Tahitian vanilla ice cream from Cherry in New York. On the savory side, Shiro's malty earthiness holds up to complex dishes like wasabi fried rice with pickled ginger at Stephen Starr's Makoto in Bal Harbour, Florida.
The family-run Baird Brewery in Numazu, Japan, includes a fish-market taproom and features scores of beers that are every bit as adventurous (barrel-aged! with blueberries! and smoked malts!) as those from any American craft brewer. Their approachable Rising Sun Pale Ale is a wonderful approximation of West Coast-style American pale ales. Try it on draft at Kabocha in Chicago, where its clean citrus finish is a perfect complement to nori-crusted wild Alaskan salmon with yellow-pepper coulis.
The family behind Ise Kadoya Microbrewery has been making traditional Japanese sweets, soy sauce, and miso paste for hundreds of years. It got into the beer-brewing game relatively recently, in 1997, with its Pale Ale. Ise Kadoya has added other styles to its lineup over the years, but none more intriguing than Genmai, which takes the brewery's Pale Ale base and adds arare, soy-flavored roasted brown rice. Drink Genmai with ahi tuna poke at Frisco Taphouse in Columbia, Md.
Sometimes, the best flavors of Japan don't need to be imported. Japanese megabrewery Sapporo created a variety of hops called Sorachi Ace, which impart distinct lemony notes. The hops were embraced by U.S. brewers, and Sorachi Ace is now grown alongside American hops in Washington state. Brooklyn Brewery exclusively hops its aptly named Sorachi Ace saison with the Japanese-created variety, resulting in the best Japanese-inspired beer brewed in America.