Going to Sasebo Japan for a few days

[dyennie]

Going to Sasebo Japan for a work thing and will be there for about a week. Looking for good places to go (to drink beer or buy and bring back to my hotel) that are near the Navy base. Also looking for beer that's not in the states. Any help would be great.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Personally, if I were in Japan, I'd be seeking out the sake instead.

 

[Teromous]

Personally, if I were in Japan, I'd be seeking out the sake instead.

Habu Sake

 

[worlddivides]

While I am not a fan of American macrobrews, I am a huge fan of Japanese macrobrews. If you don't like lagers, though, you're going to be in for a huge disappointment since 99% of the beers in Japan are lagers, mostly pilsner style too.

My favorite is draft Kirin Ichiban Shibori (it's decent in a bottle or can, but it's WAY better from a keg at an izakaya).

Since other posts are mentioning stuff other than beer, you might also want to try some Japanese whiskey, assuming you like scotch (which Japanese whiskey tastes most similar to). If you like "sake" (which is known as "Nihonshu" in Japan), you might want to try out some shochu, which is very similar to Korean soju. It's made from any of the following: rice, barley, yams, or brown sugar (not mixed. Generally just one of any of those things). The Okinawan version, known as Awamori, is quite different but quite good too.

It is quite ironic that in the US I love craft brews and despise the macrobrews, while in Japan I love the macrobrews but dislike most of the craft brews. I lived in Tokyo for about 10 years and always bought new craft beers whenever I saw them, but I thought most of them were mediocre at best. Personal taste, sure, but just my two cents.

 

[Funkychef]

There are 2 craft breweries is Sasebo Nagasaki sorry they are all in Japanese http://beer-cruise.net/beer/020500.html and http://beer-cruise.net/beer/Z00059.html Most beers here are lagers but some large manufacturers are making ales but they are cans and you can find them in supermarkets and convince stores. Kirin makes a nice one called Heartland and another called kirin stout. The stout is a schwartzbier and quite tasty.

 

[kannonzaki]

Up to the roofs for starters. My favorite from the wayback machine was Kirin half and half...

 

[worlddivides]

There are 2 craft breweries is Sasebo Nagasaki sorry they are all in Japanese http://beer-cruise.net/beer/020500.html and http://beer-cruise.net/beer/Z00059.html Most beers here are lagers but some large manufacturers are making ales but they are cans and you can find them in supermarkets and convince stores. Kirin makes a nice one called Heartland and another called kirin stout. The stout is a schwartzbier and quite tasty.

I was actually pleasantly surprised about 5 years ago when suddenly some Japanese companies started making stouts. Of the different stouts made by Sapporo, Asahi, Kirin, Yebisu, and Suntory, I think Kirin Stout was my favorite. Not one of my favorite stouts around the world, but it was my favorite Japanese stout. Pretty easy drinkin'.

I actually really like Heartland, but it's one that I didn't see too often. Never in convenience stores and rarely in super markets. I did see it in most liquor stores that had a good beer selection.

Kannonzaki did remind me, though. There might be a beer garden somewhere near where you'll be staying. They're usually only open in the summer time, but there might be a few that are open right now (although I think most of them don't open until July). At Japanese beer gardens, you usually pay a flat rate and it's all-you-can-drink and all-you-can-eat. Whether this is a good deal or not will depend on the beer garden. One that I used to go to was between $35 to $40 a person and it had some of my favorite Japanese beers on tap (Kirin Ichiban Shibori and Kirin Stout were the main ones), liqueurs, Japanese whiskey (lower mid-range), shochu, and so on. The food wasn't anything amazing, but it was mostly stuff that went well with beer - sausages, fried rice, potato wedges, etc. If you can find a good one and go on a day with good weather, this is definitely worth it.

 

[serum]

I liked the black lagers they do out there. Strangely there were loads of expensive lagers and I actually seemed to favour the cheap ones as they had some sort of taste to them. The high end ones were super clean and probably hard to produce but didn't really taste of anything.

 

[Blue-Frog]

There are 2 craft breweries is Sasebo Nagasaki sorry they are all in Japanese http://beer-cruise.net/beer/020500.html and http://beer-cruise.net/beer/Z00059.html

???
I think these are both dead drunk out...
waydown at the bottom:
＃1 残念ながら、醸造を終了しました
＃２ 残念ながら、閉店しました。

The site does seem helpful though and indicates both opened and closed sites by color coded icons.

If you can post on the "Home brewing in Japan" thread, someone reading that tread might
have some info....