If you haven't guessed - "Baeren" is the plural word for "Bear" in German.

Established in 2001, Baeren has become the pride of its hometown in Morioka, of the Iwate Prefecture in Japan. What started out with the goal of simply being a real local small town brewery - the sort that dots the European countryside and communes - has in fact become one of Japan's most popular craft beer producers.

So how did that all happen?

Takeshi Kimura, founder of Baeren.

The story starts with one Takeshi Kimura. Kimura had grown up in Morioka, which by all accounts is a fairly quiet sort of a smaller town in the prefecture. With not much of an idea at the time as to what he had wanted to do for a career, he would enroll into the Economics program at Tohuku University, where he would also pick up golf. He had found the entire experience to be rather liberating as he could pick and choose what he wanted to engage in, and of course as a college student he had found that beers were a great way to break the ice and get to know others. 

And so when Kimura had graduated, he would go on to work for one of the major Japanese beer producers. This was the 90's and it was the height of the beer boom. Kimura would find himself spending much of his time visiting liquor stores and restaurants to bag new accounts, and it was then that he began being exposed to imported beers from Europe. This made him realised that whilst most domestically produced Japanese beers tasted the same, European beers offered a wide variety, many of which came from village breweries that reflected a regional style, where beers were brewed traditionally for generations. This appealed greatly to Kimura, even though at the time the local regulations were tenuous and made brewing difficult.

Baeren's 100 year old brewing equipment.

Yet change was around the corner. In 1995, the Japanese government would set off a massive boom in craft beers in Japan. They had relaxed regulations and it was now much easier to be a brewer. This clicked for Kimura, and he would immediately leave his sales job to work for a newly established local brewery. The local brewery that Kimura spent time in had brought in German brewers which gave Kimura further insight into European beer-making. Kimura had observed that with the craft beer boom happening in Japan, because of the ease of now setting up a brewery, there was not only an oversupply of craft beer, but perhaps most damning was a lack of quality of the craft beers being made domestically. Japanese craft beers were thought to be gimmicky, expensive, and difficult to regularly enjoy. Yet on the other hand, Kimura had found German beers full-bodied and flavourful, pairing perfectly with food. And thus Kimura was set on producing German styled beers in Japan.

Together with a friend, Yoichi Shimada, who was also from the drinks industry, and with the help of a German brewer, the pair were able to pull together some money to start building out their brewery. As fate would have it, they would be alerted of a brewery in Germany that was going out of business, and this allowed them to purchase the brewery's equipment and have it shipped over to Japan - and this was some historic brewing equipment indeed, having been used for well over 100 years! In the vein of wanting to produce a beer that would suit the local palate and reflect a sense of locality, with the brewery rooted in the local community, they thus decided to establish their brewery in Morioka - they would call it Baeren.

Morioka City, a much underrated hidden gem.

For them, the bear symbolised the natural riches of the Iwate Prefecture, as well as the strength of the beer brewers - and thus they've taken the bear as their mascot! You'll also notice that the bear carries a shield in which you'll find a beer barrel with tools that are traditionally used by European brewers, reflecting Baeren's embodying of traditional European beer-making.

With a town that was neither too small, not overly large, Morioka felt perfect for the pair. It also helped that in their previous line of work, they had already established great rapport with the local businesses, who would quickly become Baeren's first customers. By 2003, Baeren Brewery was up and running, and had begun producing their now popular line of German style beers - the Classic and the Schwarz. Yet getting the brewery up was just half the battle won, by the time Baeren had began brewing, the craft beer boom in Japan had now gone bust and folks were largely weary of local craft beers, and thus it was up to Baeren to show customers why they were different. Kimura and Shimada would figure that what they really needed to achieve was to get customers to simply try the beer for themselves, and thus they had rented out a store in the city for one day each month where they would host a beer party where folks could not only try Baeren's beers but also that of other rare imported beers.

Baeren's brewery.

A decade since, Baeren continues to host these events, even having expanded to holding a beer festival twice a year at the brewery. Baeren is even credited with having been the first brewery in Japan to produce a Chocolate Stout, which was a huge hit! The brewery has also tinkered at times with the use of a coolship (allowing the beer to be fermented spontaneously with natural yeast), which is a deeply traditional European practice that remains highly lauded, and has also gone into crafting Ciders and Sparkling Wines. Baeren is thus deeply beloved for the consistent and tireless work they've done over the past two decades in helping to promote interest in craft beers locally.

"I never had the feeling that I was waiting for the right timing to make craft beer because "it looks like it will sell in the future." On the other hand, I didn't think, "I'll do it because the public image is bad." I just started doing what I wanted to do at my own timing, regardless of the times. It just happened to be a tough time. Rather, I started the business because of the question, "Why isn't craft beer being drunk?", so in hindsight, I think that was a good thing. I was able to think, "So what should I do?"" says Shimada.

Yoichi Shimada, co-founder of Baeren.

Attesting to Baeren's success in achieving its goal, the brewery was crowned Grand Prix Winner for the 2015 Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan's "Japanese Craft Beer That We Want To Share With The World". "At that time, we were very touched that the local people were even more pleased than we were and thought of it as "their beer". We would like to continue to make beer that will be loved by the locals for a long time, focusing on good ingredients, serious brewing methods, and good quality. In the future, we would be happy if we could also grow hops locally. We would
like to be deeply rooted in the local area, so that it can be said that "that brewery in that village," and provide the joy of living in the local area through beer." reflects Kimura.

And so today we'll be trying Baeren's Classic beer and Schwarz! Let's go!

Beer Review: Baeren Classic (ベアレン醸造所 クラシック)

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Orange 

Aroma: Really malty, good richness, with quite a hefty bit of orange. There’s a light wheatiness in the background. Some grassiness as well, but more along the lines of wet grass.

Taste: Medium-bodied, it’s malty with again quite abit of oranges. There’s quite a big bread note here too of toasted bread - it’s somewhat doughy with a slight umaminess of char, with a deeper but subtle sweetness. More on Meiji crackers. It’s quite rich too.

Finish: Slight bitterness here, really Lager like here. Lingering notes of citrus, backed by richer malt. Quite a bit of savouriness.

My Thoughts

This nailed the classic Dortmunder style, with that combination of bread-y, savoury and grassy, slightly bitter flavour profile, except here I found the flavours more robust and bolder. The flavours felt more forward, with this overt citrusy quality to it, that almost tipped it into American Pale Ale territory, which I really enjoyed. This also featured a much greater maltiness to it, that made it richer than the usual Dortmunder lager as well, which again, made this very enjoyable.

All in all, a real classic, it's easy to drink, really enjoyable and refreshing, with even an understated complexity to it that makes it really well rounded. It has big notes of citrus and a body that's really rich and malty, giving it that boldness of flavour. This is a solid everyday all-occasion beer.

Beer Review: Baeren Schwarz (ベアレン醸造所 シュバルツ)

Tasting Notes

Colour: Espresso Black

Aroma: Quite rich and savoury. There’s caramel, roasted coffee beans, burnt ends of charred meat, with a deep umami savouriness of drops of oyster sauce. There’s a roasty bitterness here. Also a sort of gentle creamy milkiness like a sort of coffee creme. 

Taste: Really lovely richness and creaminess, it’s fuller in flavour here with a thicker body. It’s really creamy with a slight bitterness of espresso and roasted coffee beans. It’s a good balance of bitterness and sweetness - closely resembling a big cup of espresso with just a dash of milk. Light bits of brown sugar. The savoury umaminess is nowhere to be found here.

Finish: Lingering light bitterness of espresso. Pretty clean here.

My Thoughts

This was also really enjoyable! I really liked how rich it was, with all those lovely roasty aromatics, holding back on that bitterness too, which keeps its really approachable and friendly. There's a slight bit of creamy sweetness that rounds it out and again makes it really easy to lean into. It's also neither too savoury or umami, which makes it rounded and aromatic, and really enjoyable. This is the gateway for Stout lovers to tiptoe in! 

Kanpai!

@111hotpot