Though younger than its counterparts in other countries, the Japanese craft beer industry continues to perform well in international competitions. For example, Osaka’s Minoh Beer has been scoring wins at the World Beer Awards and the World Beer Cup for more than a decade.
The latest brewery to make the growing list of honors is Yokohama’s Libushi Bashamichi: It took home the World’s Best American Style IPA award for its Existing is Exhausting, a West Coast IPA, at the World Beer Awards in August.
Libushi Bashamichi is a relatively new player in the local craft beer scene. Opened in 2022, the brewery was born out of Nagano Prefecture-based Anglo Japanese Brewing Company’s (AJB) desire to develop a presence in the Kanto region. Owners Tom and Emiko Livesey initially focused on Tokyo, but a space in the historic Kitanaka Brick & White complex across from Yokohama’s City Hall became available, and they couldn’t turn it down.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.