What's the best motivation to getting down to starting your own brewery?

Well, helping design someone else's distillery might be right up there!

How Derrek Buston Went From Architect To Hop Dude

Derrek Buston, who's an architect and designer based in Japan, and originally from Seattle Washington, had in 2014 been commissioned to design and construct what would today become one of the most promising Japanese craft whisky distilleries, the Shizuoka Distillery, that many Japanese whisky fans might already be all too familiar with. Yet in the process of getting the Shizuoka Distillery up and running, Derrek would begin to gain some insight into how a distillery operates, how brewing is done, the way the equipment had to be laid out, the production flow, and all that.

Derrek Buston might be brewing beer in Shizuoka, but he's 100% made in America.

He began to develop an appreciation for the idea of starting his own drinks business - but in his case, it would be a brewery instead of a distillery. Growing up along the US West Coast, Derrek was mighty familiar with craft beers, and through his time in Japan, he found that it was difficult for him to pick up the same quality and style of beers he enjoyed back home. Beers in Japan were obviously either catered to the Japanese palate, or if he really wanted something from the US, he'd have to be prepared to wait weeks for it to arrive, thereby losing lots of that freshness.

The Shizuoka Distillery.

Nevertheless Derrek had no background in craft brewing - well, he's never really needed a background in anything, to jump right into anything, really. Back in Seattle, Derrek would study music in college, before later switching to Japanese linguistics. As we'll see from the trajectory of Derrek's life, here's a guy who really just prefers to dive right in. Wanting to get better with his Japanese, he decided to study abroad in Keio University in Tokyo, and would later even go work for a Japanese company in Seattle.

He eventually moved entirely to Shizuoka, Japan, and there, he would decide to start a design and architecture company called West Coast Design. He would pick up the skills needed and become a licensed architect, and that's how he got in contact with Shizuoka Distillery's parent, Gaiaflow - and if you've seen the architecture of Shizuoka Distillery, you'd know Derrek did an incredible job.

West Coast Brewing is located in an absurdly scenic spot along the Mochimune Port.

Going Full Hop Dude, And The Start Of West Coast Brewing

And so when it came down to craft brewing, Derrek's approach was no different. He had first wanted to see if like him, there were others who would seek out such US styled beers, and so he started a bar named Twelve in 2017 to serve authentic American beers to check out its reception. Along the way, he would interview people from the drinks industry, as well as visit countless breweries and distilleries, which would help him gain a firmer understanding of what he needed to do. 

Derrek (in the blazer) with the team.

By 2019, Derrek was ready. He would get his brewing license and establish his own brewery, West Coast Brewery (or WCB), in Mochimune, Shizuoka. Derrek had now fully evolved into what he affectionately nicknamed himself Hop Dude. Interestingly, Derrek's philosophy here - with a hard emphasis - is to make authentic American West Coast style beers, which also means that he's actively not trying to tailor his beers to the Japanese palate. Yet for Derrek that's how he feels he can best stand out - just call a spade, a spade! He is after all an American in Japan - why shy away from the style of beers he knows best and loves. 

Yet where he does pay homage to the country in which he is brewing his beers, comes in the form of engaging in the high quality of Japanese craftsmanship and being uncompromising on quality (paying premium prices to have hops flown over directly and cold-chilled, and even making wholesale customers sign a pledge on making sure WCB beers are kept in the ideal condition until it is enjoyed), as well as utilising the incredibly pure water that Japan has to offer, in his case well water that's pumped from 60m underground in Mochimune.

A no flagships approach - that's the Hop Dude!

Another aspect that defines WCB is that they've got no flagships. Derrek, or Hop Dude, has demonstrated great awareness on this topic - on the one hand knowing that customers might familiarise quicker with WCB if they had a consistent and recognisable flagship beer, but at the same time knowing that the team at WCB is much more motivated by a constant creative churn where they are able to work through styles that match Japan's seasons, pushing the envelope where they can and bringing something new to fans each time.

5 Years In, Many More Years To Come - The Adventures of Hop Dude

Ultimately, Hop Dude wants to create beers that have a pronounced hop aroma and flavour, but with an appropriate bitterness to fit the style that should not be overwhelming, and instead be complementary. And above all, to create beers that are drinkable, that makes you want to go back for more.

The Mochimune coast.

Now, about 5 years into craft brewing, and it seems that WCB has done an amazing job - Hop Dude's thesis has proven correct! WCB's over 100 different craft beers are sold across all of Japan's 47 prefectures and have begun to be exported to other parts of Asia.

And where's WCB headed? They've touted producing more unique styles beyond IPA's, doing more collabs, and also getting out a barrel program of aged beers.

So today we've got something right out of West Coast Brewing, this is their Magical Finish Hazy Double IPA that's done in collab with JRA. This collab is called Hanshin Racecourse, and makes use of a dry hop blend of Freestyle Rakau, Freestyle Nelson D27, Freestyle Waimea, as well as some Nelson Hop Kief, and is finished off with some Idaho 7 T90 for a magical finish.

"Finally, the second magic is unleashed. A race for victory in the enigmatic Parallel World, where Nemesis and the others are enjoying themselves. The magic of the hop sinks into your body as you nervously watch the BIG race with anticipation for the sound of the horses' footsteps that will ring the ground. The Hop Dude jockey puts his whole heart and soul into the battle that unfolds near the finish line, and bets his fate on the final speed-up. The way he sharply dodges the increasingly intense race and grabs victory like a light shining out of the darkness is truly a “MAGICAL FINISH”."

Let's give this a go!

Beer Review: Magical Finish Hazy Double IPA, West Coast Brewing x JRA

Tasting Notes  

Colour: Dark Orange 

Aroma: It opens up rather dank, it’s giving diesel, wet grass, pine, devil’s lettuce, but somehow does so in the most aromatic way. It’s soft and mellow, yet pronounced, instead of the usual bright and striking dankness. There’s not much bitterness here. With time some of those apricots and pineapples start to show up, along with some pith. With time it’s all orange juice.

Taste: Really rich, creamy and rounded here. It starts off with more of that dank hit of diesel and wet leaves, alittle bit resinous, but again really cohesive and mellow here despite the pronounced quality. This is immediately accompanied by heavy notes of orange juice, citrus cordials, a mix of apricots, pineapples and also a big hit of mango juice. Whilst the hoppy dankness is prominent, there’s still no bitterness. 

Finish: The plush and velvety richness of fruit juices and cordials carries into the finish. It cleans out softly, with some lingering apricots and mango juices and cordials on the finish. Again, it’s not bitter at all, some pith if anything.

My Thoughts

This was incredibly impressive - I am floored! What really blew me away was the way in which the hops have been expressed here. The hops are incredibly mellow, yet thoroughly fragrant - you do get some of the classic dankness of cut grass, the piney resin and diesel, but here it's so ridiculously rounded and soft, almost as if it's just fresh hop flowers coming out of the beer. And on top of that, there's barely any bitterness throughout the beer at all! And through all of that, the tropical and citrus fruits are equally impressively expressive! You've got big hits of mangoes, oranges and apricots! It's all so flavour forward and bold, yet oh so mellow and rounded. I also like how the pith isn't overly dominant here, and there's just a good amount of sweetness to keep it incredibly approachable, as opposed to many American style IPAs that tends to be much more dry and devoid of any sugar, where you just get a blast of pith and dankness.

The way it's integrated together here is also something to be marvelled at - such balance! Finally, it finishes off so beautifully with that last hit of a mix of fruit juice. And all across, it sports this incredibly rich and velvety texture that is just so incredibly velvety and plush.

This is by far one of the most impressive IPA's I have ever had.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot