Japanese craft breweries are turning unsold beer into gin
(CNN Business)This was going to be a big year for Japan. With the Summer Olympics due to be hosted in Tokyo, the island nation expected 40 million tourists to grace its shores.
But when Covid-19 took hold, the Olympics were postponed and the already struggling economy took a further battering.
With bars and restaurants suffering a significant reduction in business, beer sales in Japan dropped 26% by volume for the first half of the year, according to Bloomberg.
That's a big problem for small beer breweries, says Isamu Yoneda, head distiller at artisanal drinks maker Kiuchi Brewery. With few customers in its brewpubs, and export orders canceled, Kiuchi Brewery was left with a stockpile of spoiling beer.
The company had to come up with a solution — and decided to turn the unsold beer into a different alcoholic beverage.
In April, Kiuchi Brewery launched the "Save Beer Spirits" campaign at its Tokyo distillery, offering local bars and breweries the chance to turn unused beer, a product with a four to six-month shelf life, into gin — a product without an expiration date.
A mission to save beer
In 1994, Japan relaxed its strict laws around microbrewing, sparking a boom in craft beer.
While overall beer sales in Japan have stagnated for the last decade, craft beer has been on the rise: its 0.5% share of the total beer market in 2007 had more than tripled by 2016.
Sakurao Distillery was opened in 2018 as the gin-focused extension of Chugoku Jozo, a 100-year-old sake and shochu maker. Its limited edition Hamagou gin has won multiple awards including The Gin Masters 2020, and the Tokyo Whisky and Spirits Competition 2020.
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Made at Asahikawa Distillery in the northern Hokkaido region, Etsu craft gin uses a neutral cane spirit with green bitter orange peel, coriander, licorice and angelica root botanicals for an unusual taste. It won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Made at Asahikawa Distillery in the northern Hokkaido region, Etsu craft gin uses a neutral cane spirit with green bitter orange peel, coriander, licorice and angelica root botanicals for an unusual taste. It won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018.
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Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Nikka Whisky's Coffey gin is distilled in traditional, Scottish, column-shaped Coffey stills. The company's founder imported the stills from Scotland in 1963, having spent several years in the country, learning to make whisky. Launched in 2017, the gin is flavored with Japanese citrus fruits — yuzu, kabosu, amanatsu and shikuwasa -— balanced with spicy sansho peppers and apples.
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Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
The second gin created by The Ethical Spirits & Co., Revive is made with Budweiser beer and flavored with lemon peel, beech wood, cinnamon and san'ontō (a dark, sweet sugar), as well as juniper berries.
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Using lemons, mikan (Japanese oranges), and sansho peppers — a relative of the tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorn — Save Beer Spirits Craft Gin has a citrus flavor, and is available as a traditional gin or as a sparkling canned cocktail.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Using lemons, mikan (Japanese oranges), and sansho peppers — a relative of the tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorn — Kiuchi Brewery's Save Beer Spirits Craft Gin has a citrus flavor, and is available as a traditional gin or as a sparkling canned cocktail. Click through for more Japanese craft gins.
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Global sales volumes for Roku — which uses traditional Japanese ingredients including sakura flower, green tea, sansho pepper, and yuzu peel — increased more than tenfold from 2017 to 2019, according to Suntory.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
The craft gin market in Japan has been growing since whisky giant Suntory launched its first craft gin, Roku, in 2017. Global sales volumes for Roku — which uses traditional Japanese ingredients including sakura flower, green tea, sansho pepper, and yuzu peel — increased more than tenfold from 2017 to 2019, according to Suntory.
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uses a rice spirit base and incorporates Japanese flavors like yellow yuzu, hinoki cypress wood chips, bamboo and green tea.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Japan's first dedicated gin distillery, Kyoto Distillery, opened in 2016. It's KI NO BI gin uses a rice spirit base and incorporates Japanese flavors like yellow yuzu, hinoki cypress wood chips, bamboo and green tea.
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Sakurao Distillery was opened in 2018 as the gin-focused extension of Chugoku Jozo, a 100-year-old sake and
Sakurao Distillery was opened in 2018 as the gin-focused extension of Chugoku Jozo, a 100-year-old sake and shochu maker. Its limited edition Hamagou gin has won multiple awards including The Gin Masters 2020, and the Tokyo Whisky and Spirits Competition 2020.
Hide Caption
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Made at Asahikawa Distillery in the northern Hokkaido region, Etsu craft gin uses a neutral cane spirit with
Made at Asahikawa Distillery in the northern Hokkaido region, Etsu craft gin uses a neutral cane spirit with green bitter orange peel, coriander, licorice and angelica root botanicals for an unusual taste. It won a double gold medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2018.
Hide Caption whisky. Launched in 2017, the gin is flavored with Japanese citrus fruits — yuzu, kabosu, amanatsu and shikuwasa -— balanced with spicy sansho peppers and apples.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Nikka Whisky's Coffey gin is distilled in traditional, Scottish, column-shaped Coffey stills. The company's founder imported the stills from Scotland in 1963, having spent several years in the country, learning to make whisky. Launched in 2017, the gin is flavored with Japanese citrus fruits — yuzu, kabosu, amanatsu and shikuwasa -— balanced with spicy sansho peppers and apples.
Hide Caption
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innamon and san'ontō (a dark, sweet sugar), as well as juniper berries.
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
The second gin created by The Ethical Spirits & Co., Revive is made with Budweiser beer and flavored with lemon peel, beech wood, cinnamon and san'ontō (a dark, sweet sugar), as well as juniper berries.
Hide Caption
Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Using lemons, mikan (Japanese oranges), and sansho peppers — a relative of the tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorn — Kiuchi Brewery's Save Beer Spirits Craft Gin has a citrus flavor, and is available as a traditional gin or as a sparkling canned cocktail. Click through for more Japanese craft gins.
Hide Caption
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Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
The craft gin market in Japan has been growing since whisky giant Suntory launched its first craft gin, Roku, in 2017. Global sales volumes for Roku — which uses traditional Japanese ingredients including sakura flower, green tea, sansho pepper, and yuzu peel — increased more than tenfold from 2017 to 2019, according to Suntory.
Hide Caption
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Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Japan's first dedicated gin distillery, Kyoto Distillery, opened in 2016. It's KI NO BI gin uses a rice spirit base and incorporates Japanese flavors like yellow yuzu, hinoki cypress wood chips, bamboo and green tea.
Hide Caption
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Photos: These craft gins celebrate traditional Japanese flavors
Sakurao Distillery was opened in 2018 as the gin-focused extension of Chugoku Jozo, a 100-year-old sake and shochu maker. Its limited edition Hamagou gin has won multiple awards including The Gin Masters 2020, and the Tokyo Whisky and Spirits Competition 2020.
Hide Caption
Kiuchi Brewery — which began as a sake producer in 1823 — is one of many drinks producers that branched into craft beer when microbrewing laws changed. It has been making its signature Hitachino Nest craft beer for 24 years.
Yoneda says that turning beer into spirits isn't a new innovation. Kiuchi Brewery has been using beer to make plum wine liqueur for years, and has experimented with gin liqueurs in the past.
Most gins are made with a base of grains like barley, rye or wheat, which are fermented into a mash, then distilled into a high-proof "neutral" spirit. The spirit is then distilled a second time with juniper berries and other botanicals, which add flavor.
The beer replaces this neutral spirit, skipping the mash and fermentation process, and jumping straight to distillation.
Kiuchi Brewery asked participating bars to send in a minimum of 20 liters of unused beer, which would be sent back as gin, says Yoneda. Kiuchi can produce eight liters of gin from every 100 liters of beer. It then sends back the gin as a standard 750ml bottle of gin or as a sparkling gin cocktail, either in cans or in a keg for bars to use in their taps.
Gin is distilled in copper stills. The stills used by Kiuchi Brewery have a "swan neck" design.
Gin is distilled in copper stills. The stills used by Kiuchi Brewery have a "swan neck" design.
Yoneda says the beer base makes the gin bitter, but in addition to juniper berries, Kiuchi uses sansho peppers, lemons and mikan (Japanese oranges), which helps to "balance out the bitterness" with "citrusy notes."
The bars only have to shoulder the cost of delivery, with Kiuchi Brewery offering its distillation service free of charge. "In these troublesome times, it is our responsibility to offer this service to everyone," says Yoneda. "Most importantly, we want to keep the breweries and bar community alive."
A sustainable spirit
Kiuchi isn't the only brewery using beer to make gin.
The Ethical Spirits & Co was founded in February 2020 to help sake distillers turn leftover sake lees into new spirits, says co-founder Chikara Ono. When the pandemic hit and beer sales plummeted, Ono says the company began exploring new recipes to make gin from beer.
Revive gin is made with Budweiser beer, and flavored with lemon peel, beech wood, cinnamon and san'ontō, a dark, sweet sugar.
Revive gin is made with Budweiser beer, and flavored with lemon peel, beech wood, cinnamon and san'ontō, a dark, sweet sugar.
In May, they received a donation of 20,000 liters of expiring Budweiser from drinks giant AB InBev, who had a surplus of stock due to a drop in beer sales. The startup used the beer to create 4,500 bottles of gin.
"We had a problem of excess inventory and Ethical Spirits had the knowledge and the right ethos to create a product that we mutually thought would be a positive impact," says Takahiro Shimada, head of marketing for AB InBev Japan, adding that the company wanted to support local businesses.
The Ethical Spirits & Co is still in the process of building its own distillery in Tokyo, scheduled to open in December, so they collaborated with Gekkeikan sake distillery to distil the Budweiser.
The beer-based gin initiatives are tapping into a rapidly emerging market.
Beam Suntory purchased British craft gin makers Sipsmith in 2016, and launched its first Japanese craft gin, Roku, the following year.
Beam Suntory purchased British craft gin makers Sipsmith in 2016, and launched its first Japanese craft gin, Roku, the following year.
Japan's first dedicated gin distillery opened just four years ago in Kyoto, but the gin market is already estimated to be worth $209 million and is anticipated to grow by 4.4% annually over the next three years. Large drinks companies, including Japanese whisky giants Suntory and Nikka, have helped launch Japanese craft gin onto the international stage.
Drinking trends in Japan are pointing towards gin sodas and ready-to-drink canned cocktails, creating an opportunity for creative spirit producers to sustainably reuse surplus drink stock, says Ono.
"If you can essentially use unused or remaining ingredients to create something special and something premium, that's great. It follows with our vision of trying to achieve a sustainable, circular economy," says Ono.