Hello! Welcome to my wee, constantly evolving, digital space.

I am still currently working towards the dream of opening a small, independent craft beer brewery in rural Japan.

As it stands we are on the brink of hearing the verdict on a subsidy application which has the potential to kick off the brewery construction.

Nothing happens quickly in this part of the world but updates about this journey and life in general can be found within these pages.

If you are interested in keeping in touch then there are various contact options under my photo on the right, and if you just want to follow my updates then please click on the feeds link at the top and copy your preferred feed link into your RSS reader of preference.. not sure what RSS is?

Latest note

Drinking culture is quite different here than it is in my experience in Scotland.

I don’t think it is necessarily unique but it is different to my experience.

Food is very important in drinking culture here whereas ordinarily in my experience in Scotland (yep, repeated 3 times, intentionally).. food was generally before or after drinking.. with the rare exception of dinner parties or going out for a meal (as the main event of the evening).

As such the topic of food pairing with beer often comes up and I am entirely useless in this regard.

We bought an Irish red ale for someone as a souvenir and thanks for recent help and I was pushed into suggesting a food pairing.. all I could say was stew.. then in a Japanese context hasashi rice (rice in a sort of tomato demi-glaze meat sauce).

Not necessarily a bad pairing but lucky if it is a good one.. I probably need to study this topic more.


Moving to Japan Checklist - abbreviated post move

Be in JapanBecome a brewer

Latest photos

Latest articles

Currently

Studying: Lots of books about beer styles, branding, hop growing and establishing a craft beer brewery.

Progress: In discussions about potential sites for our brewery.