Howdy from Japan

[Sober]

Hey guys, new brewer here in northern Japan, originally Dallas, TX. I'm US military, and yes, things were effing crazy here 3 months ago. The community here came through with minimal damage from the earthquake, and local geography saved us from the tsunami, despite being right on the coast.

Things are calm now, so my wife and I finally started brewing with (sigh) our Mr. Beer kit. I'm a natural snob, so I knew right away that we would have to upgrade. We now have most of what we'll need to start doing proper 5 gallon batches very soon. We've done two batches of cider so far, and they turned out pretty well.

The only special considerations in my situation are that there aren't any homebrew shops here, despite the existence of several small breweries nearby. I'll have to order most things online. We have well water, so I'll have to use filtered water or do a lot of planning with the water report.

I like dark, heavy, strong beers, and I love cider. This area of Japan has a huge selection of farm-fresh fruit, so I think my cider experiments will be very fun. The Japanese don't seem to drink cider. They tend to drink very dry beers, so maybe that's just the natural palette.

I look forward to sharing a lot with you folks. I do radio and tv for the US Air Force, so maybe I'll put some silly video products of our brewing process together. Kanpai!

 

[JetSmooth]

Welcome to HBT! And thanks for your service to our country!

My dad was stationed in Yokota several years ago. I was already out of the house and didn't get to live in Japan. Though I did get to visit once.

I don't have much advice other than to say we have a few folks in japan on the forum. There seem to be a good number of expats over there trying to build a homebrew community. Use the search and i'm sure you'll hook up with them.

 

[Sober]

I've got buddies at Yakota, they do great work there. Training for my job happens at Fort Meade, MD, so I'm familiar with your neck of the woods as well.

I've been reading through this forum for weeks, looking forward to hanging out here. The only equipment I need now is buckets, then it's down to recipe building.

 

[KoedBrew]

Hey Airman! I am also in the Air Force... I was stationed in Italy for 4 years, never made it to the pacific.

1. you picked the wrong screen name for your taste in beverages
2. If they like dry beers cider should be enjoyable as most of the ones I have made are very dry.
3. AFN, ?? Really? No just kidding. I have a couple friends who are in AFN I might have to PM you their names to see if you know them. One was in Misawa prior to you.
I am in Engineering now, was SF.