Sapporo Beer

For my second beer related post I will cross the ocean and arrive on a grouping of small islands. Four islands (plus Okinawa and other smaller islands) where Samurai once roamed and now beer and sushi are plentiful. Keeping to my last post of supporting your local I will talk about Sapporo Beer, from a place where I have until recently spent a great deal of time.

Drink Sapporo Beer

Even Geisha drink Sapporo Beer

I want this tap

My love for Sapporo Beer and Japan started a long time ago. Since my first year of High School I was drawn in by the language subjects we had to learn. Japanese was a strange subject which I ended up spending the next ten years learning about. At first Japan meant little to be but by University I was eating sushi, watching cult Japanese films, and buying Samurai Swords. I was fortunate enough to visit Japan for the first time in 2006 and my love for the country continued to grow. My love for all things Japanese brought me to alcohol, sake (Japanese rice wine) was difficult to adjust to but Japanese beer on the other hand was something I was familiar with.

          

Fortunately in Australia we have access to alcohol from all over the world. Popular Japanese Beer brands such as Asahi, Kirin, and even Sapporo can be found at most liquor stores around Australia, in particular BWS (Beer Wine and Spirits) outlets.  I was sampling Sapporo beer in stubbies (355ml size) and bigger cans (500ml) and it was added to my frequent flyer list.

International versions of Sapporo 

A little explanation on Japanese beer: “In the West beer made with rice is generally looked down upon as it’s mainly used in cheap lagers like Budweiser as an inexpensive way of increasing alcohol without adding flavor. Despite this reputation, there are some interesting beers with rice out there. The most well-known type of beer that uses rice as a main ingredient, the rice lager, also comes from Japan. The rice lagers produced by Kirin, Sapporo and Asahi are extremely popular throughout Japan, and at sushi restaurants here in the USA. Because rice lacks certain enzymes that traditional beer grains like barley have, most rice lagers contain a certain amount of barley as well, but it’s the rice that define this style’s flavor and alcohol. As I mentioned before, rice is not a very flavorful grain when used in beer so rice lagers tend to be very light, clean and dry, similar to American lagers like Budweiser and Coors. Hop flavor is also light, with soft, round notes to it.” http://blog.beeriety.com/2010/04/14/japanese-rice-beer/

In 2012 when I was chosen to go on the JET Programme and teach English in Japan I realised how ironic it was that I was placed in a city that was only half an hour away (by train) from Sapporo, the birthplace of the beer I had been drinking for a while.

Sapporo Classic is a special Hokkaido only beer

Sapporo, a city of about two million people is the capital of Hokkaido, a Tasmania sized island with ten times more people has been brewing this amazing beer since 1876 and is Japan’s oldest brewery. Created by Seibei Nakagawa, “Japan's first German trained Brewmaster, Nakagawa blended age-old European brewing techniques with refined Japanese sensibilities, creating a fine golden lager as unique as it is appealing.” http://www.sapporobeer.com.au/#/theHistory

Sapporo Beer, best drunk cold

If you visit the Sapporo Beer Australia website http://www.sapporobeer.com.au/ you will see a lot of snow in the background. Seasons in Japan are the opposite of Australia and from late November to sometime around August it snows on the northern Japanese island, a lot. The annual Sapporo Snow Festival in early February attracts two million people. The golden star on every can and stubby of Sapporo Beer is the North Star which has been a symbol of the pioneering spirit when it was first settled by the Japanese. I would like to acknowledge that when the Japanese settled on Hokkaido they weren’t the first settlers. The indigenous people called the Ainu were already there and sadly are no longer around today, their culture and language has almost completely disappeared.




Most weekends I would visit Sapporo to watch the AFL and see the sights and festivals. Every drinking establishment in Hokkaido had Sapporo Beer as its first pour drink and there wasn’t a restaurant visit or karaoke stint that didn’t involve Sapporo Beer in some form. In my opinion, the best way to enjoy Sapporo beer is at a Hokkaido style BBQ restaurant, doing an all you can eat + drink plan, drinking Sapporo Beer and eating jingiskhan (a Hokkaido style lamb BBQ).

Jingiskhan cooked on a dome hotplate

Jingiskhan ready to go

Even though I’m back living in Australia now I have still been drinking Sapporo Beer and will continue to do so. Unfortunately the closest place to me that sells it on tap is Little Ramen Bar in Melbourne http://www.littleramenbar.com.au/ which sells Hokkaido style butter corn ramen (Chinese soup noodles).

Cheers/ Kanpai!

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