KAERU BEER — an Anglo-Japanese Writing & Professional Services consultancy that focuses on international Craft Beer & Cider. A trading name of Matsuda Mulville
Food & Drink
Warsaw Beer Festival returns with originality and freshness
Something special returns. Few beer festivals leave a more striking impression on visitors than the Warsaw Beer Festival. It excels with ease in every area. For seasoned beer travellers the unique experience is hard to beat — anywhere. Many other so-called ‘events’ pale in comparison. …
Jobs for the boys — a drinks industry anachronism
‘Jobs for the boys‘ seemingly remains a literal anachronism in industries where endemic favouritism is shown towards friends and supporters. In certain cliques, diversity has no place. Reminded by recent claims of sexism in the beer industry, I recall female colleagues – suitably skilled – …
Jamie Oliver’s B Corp model for hospitality
Businesses operating in the food, drink and hospitality industry often consider themselves excused from having corporate social responsibility, for whatever reason. Hence there is rarely an ethical values-based mission statement driving growth and progression. The commercial world is changing rapidly, and it is an oversight …
Grade A Cider Trustmark: independence, quality and traceability guaranteed
Strict wine laws exist to protect producers and consumers, to regulate the industry and combat fraudulent fruit juice or noxious substance adulteration. People enjoying wine expect to taste an artisan’s skill with fresh pressed grapes. Shoppers choose between fresh fruit-juice or concentrate, and the alcoholic …
Dijk Cider: drink local, drink natural, drink sustainable
Despite lacking craft beer’s trendiness, Dutch artisanal cider’s mass appeal continues to attract fans to the all-natural ingredients and traditional production methods. Cidermaking’s history pre-dates brewing, and today’s drinkers recognise why ancient cultures found it refreshing. No one expected a renewed, determined focus on regional …
Crises innovate a virtual beer industry
A Virtual Brewgaloo supplementing a physical event later in the year is a wonderful idea. Everybody needs cultural focus and social togetherness at this critical time. It’s a great opportunity. Introducing North Carolina and NC Beer to a much wider audience, national and global: North …
2020 Vision: aesthetics, community and sociocultural value sell beer
Engaging packaging doesn’t imply flavoursome, superior beer. A superb beer doesn’t need aesthetic appeal. But misjudge design and beer sits on shelves longer than necessary. Slapdash creativity confuses selecting-hands that avoid embellished chaos. Beer as a mere foodstuff or means to an (inebriated) end is …
Discovering a Craft Beer revolution in 34-minutes with Annie Gouk’s The North In Numbers
Craft Beer narrators focusing on the hip, trendy and popular overlook business. The what, where and who ignoring the why and how statistics. So, Annie Gouk’s The North In Numbers Craft Beer Revolution Podcast is a refreshing listen. Taking northern England as an example she …
US West Coast drinkers speak Japan Craft Beer’s New Language
The Japanese government stimulates international demand and boosts the country’s exports. Its overseas promotions and branding platform is JETRO (external trade organization). And the Japan Food Product Overseas Promotion Center (JFOODO) handles its Craft Beer. JFOODO represents 17 Japanese craft brewers distributing across the US. …
Fragility loses the right to brew without obligation
Commerce, at its simplest, is the right to trade without obligation. Having obligation to trade without the right is less powerful, less lucrative. Two extreme opposites form a model that demonstrates antifragility. For example, breweries have the right to brew whatever they choose without obligation. …
Pathfinders and trailblazers reveal new route to taste
Skill, talent and legwork seem less important than ever before. Do cronyism and social media’s universal popularity supersede expertise and flair? What are today’s desirable traits for a life in beer? And who are our innovative, ground-breaking peers refusing to travel a well-trodden path? Who …
Industry on the edge: Hunting Craft Beer to extinction
The craft beer industry’s fragile state is a hot topic. Beer Apps driving certain consumer demands are undermining industry confidence. From the supply chain to retailer, from brewers to wholesalers, it affects everybody. Drinkers’ continual search for ‘new’ beer has created a false market. This …
Miroc Beer’s Marugame taproom reinforces Shikoku craft beer benchmark
Industry- and process-focused commentators entrust beer critique to taste experts. But everybody values well-rounded beer. Discovering a skilful malt and hops balance is joyous. And so, Marugame’s Miroc Beer ranks among the area’s high-profile craft beer breweries. It deserves its position. The Miroc Beer taproom’s …
2020: Sake’s year
Another year and a new focus on brewing, yeast and natural fermentation. The cider- and beer-lovers’ interest in special yeast production, usage and spontaneous fermentation sees sake as a logical progression. There are many similarities in process and method. And with draft Keg Sake available …
New Year’s spicy sake tradition conquering Japanese evil spirits
New Year’s Eve in Japan is a muted affair. Away from downtown’s neon spectacle there is little appeal at midnight for the west’s effusive, tactile rapture. Popping champagne and igniting fireworks is rare outside popular tourist hubs. And yet, the Japanese staid stereotype is a …
日本酒という新たな魅惑の扉
今の世の中人々はどこに居ようとも, 自分のお気に入りの異文化を自分の住む身近な環境でお披露目する事が可能となった. 例えば, 日本の ‘寿司’ が現代において国際的料理と言える事がこの事を物語っている. 日本酒 — Sake — も今や世界規模で国際的なプレミアム価値のある飲み物として名声を拡大し続けている. これは間違いない事実だ. 長い歴史を持ち, 東アジア特有の並行複発酵という手法で造られるこの飲み物は日本という文化や味を象徴するに実に代表的と言える. Sake Passion はベルギー南東部, ルクセンブルグにほぼ近い Fouches で, 日本酒輸入並びに販売代理店を行っている. キュレーターの如く選び抜いた高品質の日本酒を扱うのは Vincent と Florence の ‘日本酒大使’ の2人. 彼らの旅は 2010年 に始まった. Vincent はベルギー人として数少ない日本酒の達人の資格を持つ1人でもある. 二人は年に1度日本へ足を運び, 一つ一つ酒蔵を訪れ彼らの目と舌でこれだ!と感じた酒を選び抜く. これらの中から更に選ばれた酒が今回 BXL にてお目見えとなるのだが, 今回は特に料理とのペアリングに焦点を定めた酒達が披露される. クラフトビールのフェスティバルという場でリアルな日本酒を味わう事が出来る機会は, 海外ではなかなかない. 日本酒は実に奥深く, 味わえば味わうほど益々虜となるだろう. 2人が選び抜いた日本酒達を是非ともこの機会に知って欲しい, そして舌の肥えたクラフトビールファン達が日本酒という新たな魅惑の扉を開いてくれるよう, …
Europe welcomes Australian sour: Farm Ale & Cider and Wild Ales
It is 10,500 miles from Tasmania to Italy. And yet, for the love of farmhouse ales, cider, mixed and wild fermentation, Tasmania’s Two Metre Tall is pleased to be making the mammoth and monumental journey to participate in Reggio Emilia’s Arrogant Sour Festival. With 500 miles …
Berlin excels at the Handgemacht-Brauereifest
Berlin excels in beer. Berlin excels in breweries. Berlin excels in beer festivals. And the 2019 spring edition of Handgemacht-Brauereifest will once again excel in Berlin. Taking its cue from the weekly Street Food market in Berlin’s KulturBrauerei — the industrial landmark in Berlin’s Prenzlauer …
North Brabant celebrates the unforgettable apple
Biezenmortel’s De Vergeten Appel has an extensive appeal. Firstly, there are the cider fanatics who not only relish Dutch artisanal cider for its quality, but also cherish traditional production methods used from time immemorial — the cider-making process remains unchanged over many hundreds of years. …
Aren’t Food Halls great?
Aren’t Food Halls great? Especially if there’s a Craft Beer element. All the best cities of the world have them. Take an abandoned industrial space with some heritage and upcycle it into a food market. Each business in the Food Hall either prepares its own …
Visually appealing design sells Craft Beer to the unacquainted
In today’s crowded market an ever-increasing number of start-up Craft Beer breweries compete for finite consumer expenditure. Shelf-space is finite, too. How a Craft Beer sells itself visually in a supermarket or bottle-shop is vital to success. A Craft Beer that demonstrates it understands branding …
Paying It Forward
Because Kaeru Beer believes in the influence wielded by Social Media and its latent marketing muscle, we have decided to start occasionally paying the compliment forward by randomly selecting an organisation or group from our Social Media followers. We shall spend 5 minutes briefly investigating …
Beer-lovers and film-buffs, caught between the tigers
The carpet is red. Of course it is. Movie Premieres focus attention to the big screen, but the premier events are happening in the bars, cafés and restaurants of Rotterdam during the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Movies and Craft Beer go hand in hand, …
食べて飲んで笑うは極上時間
飲食は, 至福のひと時. これぞ, 万国共通であれ! Brewery KAEN / Diamond Brewing ここは, 熊本では非常に珍しいクラフトビールのタップルーム兼レストラン. 熊本も, クラフトビールはまだまだ浸透しているとは言い難いエリアです. サントリー工場ありますしね…でも, 一度工場見学行ってみたい😳 元々は, ガッツリお肉を提供するレストランだったようですが, 新しく, ここで作られたクラフトビールも提供するようになったとか. レストランに併設されたガラス張りの空間に, 海外製の新しいピッカピカタンクが見えます. 今年の2月からだったかな, 出来立てホヤホヤの brewery です. こちらのビールを飲むことが出来る場所も, このレストランと, あと一軒くらいだったかなー. これから, どう展開していくのか, かなり楽しみ. というのも, こちら. 新しい brewery なのですが, 既にいろんなタイプのビール作られています. 作り手さんは, 御二人. 御二方ともお話しさせていただきましたが, ヘッドの方が, かなり好奇心旺盛とみた！笑笑. Sour …
Meet your new best friend: the uKeg
Kaeru Beer was introduced to the innovative GrowlerWerks uKeg yesterday. And we’re impressed. It originates from Portland, Oregon — of course it does! — but is available in Europe through Belgium’s Brouwland. Our love of innovation and disruption is no secret. Our love of innovative …
Is Craft Beer becoming a spent force?
Today’s hot-topic, albeit far from a new discussion, comes from The Burnt Out Beer Guy, in which he discusses the “consumer culture where beer doesn’t necessarily need to be great anymore. It just needs to be new.” It’s a topic for which Kaeru Beer has …
Culture Contact: Social, Hospitality and Hostelry
It is a world of social and cultural delights for the taking. For drinkers, diners and socialites there is a magnificent abundance of marvellous options: bars, cafés, restaurants, brewpubs, brasseries, taprooms, bistros. See Also: Paying It Forward Bierlokaal de Uiver Theatre-goers, out-of-towners visiting the City’s …
Celebrate Craft Beer’s Ruby Anniversary with the Tar Heel State’s Finest
Which event celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2019? Which monumental occasion kickstarted a Craft Beer revolution? Before this milestone the world of beer was very different. Imagine it. A handful of breweries . A small number of beer styles. A tiny fraction of the choice …
So, what exactly is Glühbier?
What is more heart-warming than a tipple of Glühwein at a traditional Christmas Market? We all overindulge in delicious red wine, heated and mixed with fruits, sugars and spices. There is nothing better on a cold winter’s day. Or so it seems. We’re familiar with …
Un-untappd
Who still uses Untappd? It seems as though I speak to at least one person per day who has abandoned it, whether it’s a taproom owner who’s fed-up of beer-tickers only visiting to drink whatever’s ‘new’ — the smallest serving, of course; a free sample …
ポーランドで本格的なお握り！
Warszawski Festiwal Piwa にて、なんとお握り屋さんに遭遇です！ Pani Onigiriはワルシャワにあるお握り屋さん、ヴェトナム産コシヒカリを使用した限りなく日本のお握りに近いお米の炊き方、塩加減にびっくり！ コンビニで販売しているような綺麗なラッピングに、ちゃんとそれぞれの味を示すシールを付けて、ヴェジタリアンとノンヴェジタリアンのお握りを販売されています。 私は2日連続で、「サケ」「枝豆」を、後「梅干し」「ウォールナッツ味噌」「豆腐」を購入！ どれもとっても美味しく頂きました。ポーランドでこんな本格的な🍙に出会えるとは感涙。 枝豆が売り切れていた時も、即座に目の前で綺麗に作って下さいました。 お店の方々もポーランドの方たちでしたが、とってもフレンドリーで🍙愛を感じましたよ！ これからも頑張ってくださいね！
The Gentleman’s Journal names the 6 hottest craft breweries in Europe
Congratulations to our friends at Laugar Brewery, Galway Bay Brewery and CR/AK for being named among the “6 hottest craft breweries in Europe right now” in The Gentleman’s Journal (recommended by HonestBrew), alongside Poland’s Browar Stu Mostow and France’s Popihn and Azimut Brasserie. The Basque …
Rebalancing power in favour of independent business
The march of capitalism is incessant. Many countries that tried to halt and reverse its progress were devastated by a crippled economy as the large-scale social-experimentations in achieving parity and fairness dramatically failed. Throughout the socioeconomic growth and collapse in these lands, however, the top-level …
Craft Beer in Japan
A common question we’re asked at Kaeru Beer is, “What is the Craft Beer scene in Japan?” Answering that it is a buoyant scene, growing year-on-year, is no substitute for actually seeing it yourself. Lightcurve Films recently made a short film that joins brewmaster Rob …
Latest popular hotel amenity: a brewery
It seems the latest boom area for craft beer is luxury hotels attracting guests with in-house breweries on-site. But it’s certainly nothing new. Long before the jet-age or advent of the internal combustion engine—when the most luxurious form of travel was literally several horse-power with …
CO2 shortage’s impact on beer
Beer and cider drinkers who love something fizzy may soon find themselves without a beverage due to the reported shortage of CO2, a result of European ammonia factory closures and bio-ethanol factory maintenance activities. The food industry is also affected because it has many applications …
A big drop in alcohol does not mean a big drop in taste
Ipswich in the UK is the home of Big Drop Brewing Co., which focuses on modern craft beer of no more than 0.5% ABV. “To drink. Not to be drunk” it says on the label, although we’ve not drunk a beer virtually free of alcohol …
What future for young brewers facing a monopoly?
There is a common feeling shared by all young, independent brewers across the world operating in territories dominated by Big Beer industrialisation. They feel stifled by monopolisation, and consider it the ruination of their industry. Whilst having a monopoly over a market is a highly-desirable …
A tale of Apes and KeyKegs
The 1940s design team behind Italian scooter manufacture Piaggio’s Ape had great foresight in conceiving something that is not merely adopted as a modern-day craft beer icon, but has the precise dimensions to carry a handful of KeyKegs in refrigerated comfort. Visit a beer festival …
The Great British Non-Alcohol Beer Festival
Changes are indeed afoot at CAMRA, yet this is perhaps not the momentous shift in policy and wider beer or cider inclusion that many CAMRA members recently voted for (and some voted against). Welcoming non-alcohol beer to its Great British Beer Festival is a great …
Cider and ice? Says who?
Since when has cider-on-the-rocks been the de facto serving method? What started as a monstrous marketing gimmick now seems completely out of hand. The nadir of this ludicrous situation is a poorly-trained server who believes every cider (sometimes even bottled beer, too) aspires to be …
Step inside, Walk this way, You and me babe, Hey hey! Pour some hops, malt, yeast and water on me!
Long-gone are the days when a rock band’s merchandise portfolio consisted of T-shirt, badges, patches, caps and, for the very affluent, a signature guitar, bass, drum kit as endorsed by our favourite musical heroes. Signature wine, beer, whiskey and hard liquor are now the trappings …
How to enjoy beer on a sunny day
On these sunny, warm days when a beer patio / beer garden is the most attractive place to sit and have a delicious cool beer, how many of us actually notice the effect of the sunlight on our beers? Few, for certain. Despite the resultant …
Are you interested in Alvinne’s limited edition beers?
If you’re a fan of Brouwerij Alvinne’s innovative sour beers, as Kaeru Beer is, you may be interested in Alvinne’s Fellowship of Exceptional Ales, which is an idea to reward hardcore, loyal fans with some delicious limited beers — so limited, in fact, that …
BeerCellarList: the go-to app for beer collectors
The practice of storing our favourite beers to consume at a later date, once we hope the flavour has matured, is nothing new. People have been ‘cellaring’ beers at home for about as long as beer has existed. Most beer lovers will have a cool …
Post-hardcore beers from Deftones
How did Belching Beaver Brewery become the official brewer for everybody’s favourite post-hardcore band, Deftones? Kaeru Beer visited the brewery’s North Park Tasting Room to find out. Being avid fans of the Grammy Award winning metal titans, Belching Beaver Brewery heard rumours that the band …
The art of south-London’s bees
It is a rare occurrence to taste something that is wholly unique. It is even rarer to taste something that’s wholly unique and tastes delicious. Finding the latter to be astonishingly drinkable and something of an undiscovered marvel is almost unheard of. Today is that …
Italian Grape Ale
One of the nicest beers we have never tasted is perhaps an Italian Grape Ale, officially recognised as a beer style by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) a few years ago. And much like the early days of many other well-known beer styles …
Is the future marijuana, cannabis and hemp beer?
Marijuana, cannabis and hemp ‘beers’ are seemingly on the increase, but in many cases they’re not even beers. Whilst they start life as traditional beers, the alcohol is replaced by an extract at the end of the brewing process. The psychophysiological effects, however, are alleged …
The legend of Travis the trout and the widowed countess
With the current propensity towards myth and legend, it is unsurprising that heroes and villains, monsters and demons are prevalent in the worlds of cinema, televisions and animation, despite existing in literature for hundreds of years. I eagerly await the appearance of a storyline involving …
Fuelled by craft beer and ramen
Alternative pop and indie punk is fuelled by ramen, we’re told. Yet any ramen shop worth its noodles carries a decent enough supply of craft beer to provide a wonderful counterbalance to the soy- or miso-flavoured fast-food beloved of the late-night beer-fuelled revellers. Ramen plays …
Marshmallow and edible-glitter beer?
Mmm?! Interesting! A beer brewed with marshmallow and edible-glitter? Pinch me, somebody, please — it’s not April Fools’ Day is it? Peeps is not something I am familiar with, but, apparently, it’s a US brand of cute animal-shaped marshmallow candy, which The Collective Brewing …
The Independent Craft Brewer Seal
Any discerning drinker of American Craft Beer may have recently noticed the appearance of The Independent Craft Brewer Seal logo, which may be used completely free by any Craft Beer brewer who meets the criteria specified by the Brewers Association. The popularity of Craft …