In Draft No. 4, his collection of essays concerning the craft of writing, nonfiction mastermind John McPhee writes the following regarding the process of selection every writer faces in a story:
Writing is selection … It’s an utterly subjective situation. I include what interests me and exclude what doesn’t interest me. Broadly speaking, the word “interests” in this context has subdivisions of appeal, among them the ways in which the choices suggest some undercurrent about the people or places being described.
With this in mind, out of storytelling necessity much of what we learn during an interview about a brewery and the people behind it doesn’t make our main story’s final cut. We have the luxury, however, of not letting leftover quotes of interest disappear unrecorded into the sands of time. This is the impetus of “Last Pour,” our new series featuring interviewee quotes of note that add color between the lines. Think of this as the bonus material on a DVD, bonus tracks on an album, or perhaps a book epilogue.
We start with Yggdrasil Brewing, a heavy metal brewpub located roughly 65 kilometers south of Tokyo in Hiratsuka, Japan. Pair with our lead story here.
Chris Poel, Founder of Shiokaze BrewLab
On his first connections with Yggdrasil Brewing:
“Some years ago I met Davido at the annual beer spring cherry blossom party in Tokyo. I was working at Baird Beer and Davido was thinking about starting Yggdrasil, so we started chatting about it. I don’t remember most of what we talked about except that I advised him to give up on his foolish idea, that it was much harder to start a small brewery than he could imagine. Luckily he didn’t listen to me. Now that I’m starting Shiokaze BrewLab, he’s advising me whenever I run into the inevitable roadblocks.”
On what stands out to him about Yggdrasil Brewing:
“Davido comes from a heavy metal background and is one of the nicest guys in the Japanese craft beer world—those two personalities are reflected in Yggdrasil’s beers. [Gardahaut] is not afraid to experiment and brew some aggressive beers, but he does it in such a balanced and subtle way that the beers sneak up on you, and before long you’re banging your head to the music playing in the pub. I’ve learned a lot from him about European hops, especially French varieties, that I didn’t have much experience with.”
Davido Gardahaut, Founder of Yggdrasil Brewing
On building the brewpub:
“My business partner quit, construction took five months, and it was a nightmare because of the timing in July and August. There was no air-conditioning yet, so the construction workers wouldn’t work all of August. Every 30 minutes I had to take a break to drink a liter of water. It wasn’t the plan, but that’s what you have to do when you’re a small startup.”
On the state of sour in Japan:
“Two months ago we made a raspberry Berliner weisse. I tried to keep the alcohol really low, to keep it very dry, let it really taste like raspberry and not be too sour, but it still took a while to sell. Actually, it sold more in Tokyo, where you have more connoisseurs, but not much in the countryside or in Kanagawa.”
“For the sour beers, the problem is that Japan has a lager culture, and when you say sour some people straight away think of the lemon sour, like the cheap drinks they do in izakayas. We think it’s strange because in Japan they have the culture of umeboshi, you know the sour plum in bento boxes and such, but it’s the old people who eat them. Young people don’t really even eat pickles anymore—but I love pickles.”
On IPAs selling for upwards of ¥1,700/glass at some Tokyo beer bars:
“In this environment it doesn’t make sense to push up craft beer prices like that. If you do, it’ll just become a snob product and it will disappear.”
On Untappd:
“We get feedback. There are some snobs, or some travelers, who will always leave really negative comments. Homebrewers can be very picky and negative. There are very few in Japan, but they all think they are, like, brewing gods who are better than you.”
“It’s more to see where people are drinking our beer; that is more entertaining. What I’ve found most interesting in the feedback is that our most popular entry is our cider, so next week we’ll make a double batch of it. I use Japanese apples but French hops, so it’s a hopped cider. There are very, very few ciders in Japan, but ours is crazy popular.”
On whether it’s possible to brew a beer that “tastes” like a band/musician:
“I think the one 3 Floyds did with Cannibal Corpse is close. It’s an imperial red ale that tastes like blood—but not everyone likes it! Haha!”
On hops:
“Right now I like Loral and Ekuanot hops, but personally I’m sick of Citra and Mosaic. I’m tired of them. Mosaic hops are fine, but people use them in every beer, every style, even a Kolsch or stout. You can only taste the Mosaic, nothing else.”
On romance at Yggdrasil Brewing:
“We got our first couple last month. They met here; I don’t know how long it will last because they are very young and he’s very crazy, hahaha! But they are very cute.”
On Yggdrasil Brewing clientele, which Gardahaut says is roughly 95-percent Japanese:
“They drink less, but they behave better.”
On the surfing scene in Hiratsuka:
“There are lots of surfers, but they sometimes struggle for the waves. I’m not a big surfer, but I’ve seen the movie Point Break.”
On the band Rush:
“I’m still in shock that Neil Peart passed away, so I’ve been playing these Rush videos on weekdays. Some of our patrons are big, big fans. It’s fun to listen to the riffs; the originality is amazing. They did so much for future bands; so many people were inspired by their creativity. They were geniuses.”
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“Last Pour” is our running series that features interviewee quotes of interest that didn’t make the final cut of her or his main story on Beer Travelist. It is our last call, if you will, on a shared moment in time.
Lead photo features Yggdrasil Brewing brewer Shinsui Mori and founder Davido Gardahaut. All photos copyright Beer Travelist and cannot be reused.
