Minoh Brewery

On a recent mini-vacation we went stopped at the Minoh Brewery. Just east of Kyoto, and a bit before you hit Kobe on the train, in a tiny commuter town you can find Minoh Brewery.  To our knowledge the town is known for three things: a waterfall, the brewery, and monkeys. As we were only passing through to Kobe and back to Kyoto, we only had time for the beer.

Minoh is quickly gaining a mass following of Japanese and foreign people alike. They recently won multiple gold medals in the WBA (World Beer Awards), and are featured at a few bars around the country. Sadly, they can still be a bit hard to find around smaller towns (Kyoto included) as they are still very small and microbrew beers are still not in high demand by the Japanese. The guy behind the counter told us (and later showed us) their tiny set up, comprised of a few small tanks, one bottling machine, a guy who caps the bottles, and a few people who do all the labeling by hand. The best part was that two of the three sisters who run Minoh were actually their working when we went!

At the brewery, be sure to try whatever they have on tap. They don't keep much in stock long, so it is always very fresh. They brew one beer type a day, sell out, and make it again.

If you go to visit the brewery, the easiest option is to google map the brewery on your phone. If you don't have GPS, you can do the following:

Starting at Karasuma Oike or Kawaramachi station (under Shijo Dori)

Take the Hankyu train towards Umeda

At Juso Station transfer to Hankyu train towards Takarazuka

At Ishibashi Station transfer to the Hankyu train towards Minoo

Exit at Makiochi Station

Walk out the east side of the station and follow the map below (A is the station):

View Larger Map

If you get lost, just head east out of the train station, once your hit the main street (you'll know it, as it's the only non-residential busy street running north to south) find the Lawson's convenience store, south of McDonald's. Walk down the street on the north side of Lawson's (i.e. not the main street), when you hit the park turn right and follow around the park. Minoh will be on the right, across the street from the park. Or ask anyone who looks local, we are pretty sure it's crazy popular with everyone near by.

They also have a map on their website: http://www.minoh-beer.jp/ and you can check them out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MINOHBEER

Here are a few photos of our trip:

Outside the Brewery, looks like a beer junk yard. People return their used bottles, there are stacks of kegs of all sizes, a few pieces of broken machinery, etc. This place is small-time business at it's finest. 

A small glass door fridge holds all the beer that can be taken home from the brewery. You can also drink what you like right there, and take one for the road. No one will bat an eye at you drinking a beer while walking down the road (so long as you're an adult). 

A little girl learning how to politely pour a beer...

Minoh is frequently featured in many Japanese and global beer magazines. They have copies of a few at the brewery you can flip through while you enjoy their tasty brews. 

Minoh tasting room/front office/beer purchasing area/staff kitchen

They seem to know what they are doing...

The main line up

The Minoh exterior is hard to miss

BAU house: South Korean Dog Cafe

As a pet-parents and pet enthusiasts, BAU house was a must on our recent trip to South Korea. We had heard about these types of places, and really wanted to go. Sunday morning we made the trek over to their location, which was surprisingly easy to find (Google maps will get you there no problem). The set up is a little funky, when you first walk in there is a small dog area/waiting area for humans. This is basically over flow for when they don't have tables in the main area available. 

You will also have to buy a drink (aka admission fee). At $6-7 a pop, you are obviously paying for more than the drink. There is some light snacks available as well, but nothing to write home about. You will also need to buy treats. The dogs won't come near you if you don't have snacks for them. For the most part, they have all been there for a year plus and have learned what the sound of plastic means. 

They are allowed to go anywhere they want. Don't worry about your clothing, BAU house does have lint rollers you can use when you leave. 

 The overall quality of care for the dogs, seemed ok. If you are from a country that holds pets at the same level as human children, you may be a little sad to go here. The dogs are for the most part (especially the big dogs) significantly over weight, and breeds that tend to have skin issues (bulldogs) do. They were all very, very happy and well socialized though. There was one senior dog who was really struggling with his back legs, and when the staff saw him, they immediately removed him to go rest. They definitely care about the dogs, but may be used to Korean standards of pet-care.

Fushimi: The secret sake city

Having heard that Fushimi was home to numerous sake breweries, we made our way down for a festive Saturday afternoon. We spent an hour or so trying to find information online, and with no more than a link to the Sake museum, and Kizakura (a sake and beer brewery) we set off for Fushimi.

A quick subway/train ride south on the Keihan line and you will find yourself in Fushimi. If you speak Japanese, you may be able to make some sense of the maps around town. Unfortunately for us, we don't speak quite enough to make much of the maps. Instead we wandered around Fushimi for a bit, becoming more and more disappointed.

Continuing to search the internet on our phones we found that there was a brewery on the edge of town, whose name we are no longer able to find online (Sorry!). Regardless, we walked the 15 minutes from one edge of town to the other, only to find the now-forgettable brewery closed to the public.

On the up side, we did find a funky little shop that served sake from a small spigot in the wall. Yes, that's right fellow drinkers -a booze-serving spigot, in the wall of a small, rice-dealing shack.

In addition to a small bottle of sake, we picked up a 200 yen (~$2.00) cup of Umeshu to go. 

Small sake samples, and pricing in the background. 

Filling our sake bottle from a spigot in the wall. All the complaints about Fushimi disappeared -This was totally bad ass! 

Adding a finish touch of gold foiling. Keeping it classy in Fushimi.

Small snack and tasting bar at Kizakura brewery. They also apparently have a stellar restaurant, but we cannot verify this as we didn't try it on this trip. 

A couple weird/interesting items from one of the brewery's mini-museums...

The peeing (or whatever) river creatures seems really popular, as we saw similar statues all over town.

Tokyo -a trip in photos

Tsukiji Temple

You know you are at Tsukiji when you see a giant fish head eating its own tail

 Pieces number 2 and 6 weren't exactly what we thought we were getting...Turns out the land-dwelling mammal, the horse is also a common Tsukiji fish market sushi option and is considered a type of sea-dwelling fish....

Asakasa Temple

Kids playing in the park during a massive dance festival

 Festival dancers

View of southern Tokyo from our hotel

Tokyo subway map