Great Japan Beer Festival 2009

Last weekend in Tokyo was one of the Great Japan Beer Festival where you can sample more than 120 micro brewed beers.  Unfortunately Tokyo is a bit of a trek from Kansai where I live, but fortunately, the Festival is also coming to Osaka next month (18th-20th July)!

They have a great system in restaurants and some bars in Japan called “nomihodai” which basically means “All you can drink” (there’s also “tabehodai” which is “All you can eat” – if you can get these 2 together it’s a marvellous night out )

Usually there’s a time limit of 90minutes or 2 hours. (No one would make money otherwise!). The “All you can Drink” kind of works in Japan as they’re not a nation of drinkers, unlike say, the English. Or rather, I should say, they do like  a a drink, but usually get drunk after 3 as opposed to 6 or 9 like the English generally do.

So, for ￥4000 ($40) you can drink all the beer you want at the Festival. Nice. Not sure if I’ll be able to work through the 120 beers though, even if you do only get a 50ml glass.

While I was investigating this festival and the Japan Craft Beer Association who organize it I was surprised to see their headquarters are located in my city! And a couple of days later I happened to walk past their office. It was closed at the time (think they were in Tokyo getting drunk…), but am very tempted to contact them, if only my Japanese will hold up. Although it does tend to improve with alcohol consumption…

I’ll blog about the Osaka Festival next month, and try and get some photos too.

• Great Japan Beer Festival 2009 Pt 2
• Great Japan Beer Festival 2010
• Sake at the Nishinomiya Ebisu Festival, Japan
• Beer and Coke – Not a Great Cocktail Idea