I wanted to write a quick post about the experience I had last night in Hiroshima Japan.  I found this article online and decided to make the trip over to this establishment to see what the fuss was about.

Beer connoisseurs flock to Hiroshima bar, but sorry, 2 is your limit

I arrived at 5:45 and there was already a long lineup waiting to get in.

I waited in line for about 30 minutes and was eventually invited inside.  The place is literally just a small space carved out of his warehouse with 2 small tables with a max standing capacity of about 10 people.

Mr. Shigetomi has 5 ways of pouring which he claims changes the flavor profile of the beer.  He has two taps both pouring the same Asahi beer.  He says he uses Asahi because that’s what his father used and he was taught using Asahi beer.  He also says that he can obtain a much wider flavor difference using a lager with a higher IBU.  He has taught people using these beers, but only serves Asahi at his shop.  One of the taps is a modern tap from 2008 and one is a replica tap from 1933.  He uses either one or both taps in conjunction with each other to create the flavor and mouth feel that he is looking for.

Here is a picture of the 5 different pours.  Although he says that the English menu is not quite correct.  The Japanese one had the proper descriptions.

I started off by ordering number one, which is the classic pour.  He poured it out of the 1933 tap with a nice healthy froth of foam on top.  He created the foam by pouring the beer pretty aggressive.  One thing i have learned about the Japanese is that they really care a lot about the look of their beers and the foam is a very important part.  To the point where the 2008 modern tap has a secondary hose that only dispenses an extra little bit of foam to finish off the beer.

Honestly the beer tasted like a normal lager which i think is the expectation here.  I then asked him what he suggested getting next and it was a number two which requires two steps.  An initial pour, rest and then another pour.  I think these both came from the 1933 tap.  He did not remove the top layer of foam with the spatula as he did with the first one.

Without a direct comparison it was a bit difficult to tell the difference, but the mouth feel was different for sure.  There is a 2 beer limit, so the changeover is pretty high.  I was chatting with all the people at my table and we had a great time.  There was one other Japanese solo traveler that actually ended up being the owner of a Tokyo based brewery (Inazuma Beer), that was on a beer trip to check out the Hiroshima beer scene.  He was chatting with Mr. Shigetomi while he was drinking and Mr. Shigetomi offered Shota an opportunity to come back for a pouring lesson after they closed.  I had told Shota that while I travel beer is a big part of my travels and when Mr.Sigetomi invited him after close, he asked if I could come too.  He said yes and so we finished our 2nd beer and vacated the place in order to let more people enter and get their beer.

Shota knew of a craft beer place around the corner and so we headed there to kill some time until 7:30 when we could return for our lesson.

We arrived back at the bar and there were only two people left over from the initial crowd.  Mr Shigetomi started explaining some of the details of the taps he uses and soon enough the last few patrons vacated.

He uses two taps in a jockybox type set up with spiraled hoses allowing the beer to travel over ice.  The two taps use different diameter tubes as well as different lengths.  I am going to be honest, I don’t remember which one is which but I am pretty sure the old style tap uses a wider hose and has more length going around the ice.  The newer tap has a smaller diameter and has a shorter length of hose.  He says the longer hose is 30m long.  When Shota heard this he said that they only have 5m because otherwise you waste too much beer in the lines.  Mr.Shigetomi said that it should be all about the flavor and losing a little bit of beer for cleaning  should not be a consideration.

While we were talking about the cooling pipes, he brought us upstairs to show us his previous cooling draft systems including one from over 60 years ago that used tin pipes.

We headed back downstairs and he then continued giving us sample pours of the 5 different ways to pour.  At one point Mr. Shigetomi said he could make the Asahi taste like an IPA.  Both Shota and I were both immediately skeptical.  Mr Shitemoi took two glasses and poured one beer with with new tap, scooped out the foam, then poured a pint with the old tap creating a lot of foam.  He then transferred the old tap foam to the  new taps beer and then poured a typical pour of beer.

We did a side by side test and my gosh there was a huge difference in both the taste and mouthfeel of the “IPA” beer.  He worked pretty fast and I honestly did not see all of the details behind how he made all of the flavors but the side by side taste tests blew my mind.  When asked if a bar/brewery should use the 1933 tap or the newer ones, he said it would be best to have both and a beer can be poured depending on the beer style and preference of the guest.  Where this might not be 100% practical in most cases, I feel like this would be a great marketing idea for a bar or brewery(Mr. S’s beer shop always has a lineup).

After the demonstrations he then asked if we wanted to give it a try.  I tried to attempt a number 1 pour using the 1933 tap  but it proved difficult and I ended up needing to pour a 3 tiered pour due to the excessive foam on my first pour.  It ended up being ok, but this will for sure take some practice.

We ended up hanging out for almost 2 hours, which was probably one of my top 5 beer experiences of my life so far.  I would have never thought that the way the beer is poured would cause such a dramatic impact on the overall flavor.  I guess Guinness is adamant about how it is poured and I guess i now know why.  Shota and I thanked Mr.S and then headed out to a new brew pub that had jut opened a month or two ago.

I plan to visit Shota’s brewery in Tokyo and hopefully meet up with him!