日本語で読む | This is the English version of a bilingual article.
Today’s Pairing
- Craft beer: Daisen G Beer Weizen — Weizen (a wheat beer style from Bavaria, southern Germany), brewed with wheat malt (sourced from Germany and the UK) and Weizen yeast to bring out aromas of banana and clove, 5.0% ABV, under 20 IBU, 330ml / Kumezakura Beer Co., Ltd., Kumezakura Daisen Brewery (1740-30 Maruyama, Hoki, Saihaku District, Tottori)
Official site: http://g-beer.jp/ - Music: “Daisen Sanka: Waga Kokoro no Yama” (“Hymn to Mt. Daisen: The Mountain in My Heart”) by Duke Aces (1972)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr7SYoyUA5E
▶ If the player above doesn’t play, open it on YouTube
The Story of the Brewery
Kumezakura Daisen Brewery sits at an elevation of 300 meters, at the foot of Mt. Daisen inside a national park, in Maruyama, Hoki Town, Saihaku District, Tottori. Its parent company, Kumezakura Shuzo, is a sake brewery founded in 1855. In 1985, chasing the good water of Mt. Daisen, it relocated its brewing site from the city of Yonago to this spot. In 1996, Kumezakura Shuzo and Sanin Sanso Kogyo Co., Ltd. jointly established Kumezakura Beer Co., Ltd., and beer brewing began the following year, in 1997. As of 2026, the brewery has been making beer for 29 years.
Brewing draws on groundwater pumped from roughly 150 meters below Mt. Daisen — extremely soft water, said to make it easier to strike a good flavor balance. Right next to the brewery is “Jizodaki no Izumi,” a spring where that same groundwater actually surfaces, and the surrounding fields grow some of the barley, hops and sake rice used as ingredients, open to viewing depending on the season.
The Weizen featured here belongs to a style born in Bavaria, southern Germany. Brewed from wheat malt and fermented with Weizen yeast, it develops bright aromas of banana and clove alongside the malt’s natural sweetness. Bitterness stays gentle, under 20 IBU, at 5.0% ABV, using malt sourced from Germany and the UK. It won World’s Best in the Weizen category at the World Beer Awards in the UK in 2011, and has kept collecting international recognition since — Country Winner and Japan Gold in both 2024 and 2025, and Japan Silver in 2026.
The Story of the Land
Mt. Daisen stands 1,709 meters tall (its highest point, Kengamine, reaches 1,729 meters), the tallest peak in the Chugoku region. Seen from the west, its gently sloping silhouette has earned it the nickname “Hoki Fuji,” and it sits within one of Japan’s second-oldest national parks, designated in 1936 (now Daisen-Oki National Park). The mountain’s groundwater doesn’t only go into brewing at Kumezakura Daisen Brewery — it also feeds the dairy farms at its foot. The milk and dairy products of the Daisen Dairy Agricultural Cooperative, known for its “Shirabara” (White Rose) milk, and the branded chicken “Daisen-dori,” raised largely around the mountain’s base, are both sustained by that same mountain and its water. Hoki Town, home to the brewery, and neighboring Daisen Town remain separate municipalities, but both share the same mountain as their common symbol.
The Story of the Song
“Daisen Sanka: Waga Kokoro no Yama” was created in November 1972 by what was then Daisen Town, Tottori, to commemorate the skiing events of the 27th National Sports Festival’s winter games, held on Mt. Daisen that February. With backing from San-in Broadcasting, the town held a nationwide public contest for lyrics, drawing 736 entries. The winning poem was written by Matsuda Miyoko, then a third-year student at Daisen Junior High School. Matsui Yuo added supplementary lyrics, and Kawaguchi Makoto composed and arranged the music. The song was performed by Duke Aces, already a popular vocal group at the time. It was played at the festival’s opening ceremony and then released as a single record by Toshiba Music Industry.
A poem written by one junior high school student didn’t stay a one-year commemorative song. In 2015, Daisen Town formally adopted it as the town’s official anthem. A community exercise routine, “Daisen Sanka Taiso,” set to the same song and aimed at promoting residents’ health, is still practiced locally today.
Why This Pairing
Both started as something ordinary, belonging to no one in particular, at the foot of the mountain. The groundwater behind the Weizen isn’t owned by anyone specific — anyone who can pump it up from 150 meters underground can use it. Kumezakura Shuzo, a sake brewery, relocated here and eventually changed its craft from sake to beer just to chase that water. “Daisen Sanka,” traced back to its origin, is nothing more than a poem written by one third-year student at Daisen Junior High School. Selected from among 736 entries, then passed through the professional hands of a lyricist, composer and arranger, and sung by the already-popular Duke Aces, it grew into a town’s official anthem.
In both cases, something that should have been unremarkable at the mountain’s foot — water, or one student’s words — crystallized, through skilled craft, into a single form that now represents the mountain itself. Listening to this song over a glass of Weizen, it’s easy to feel that what this land has built up isn’t just the mountain — it’s also the accumulated handiwork of the people who live around it.
Where to Find This Beer
The Rakuten Ichiba link below is an affiliate link.
- Brewery official site：http://g-beer.jp/
- Search on Rakuten Ichiba：see results for “大山Gビール ヴァイツェン”
These are Japanese storefronts. If you are visiting the brewery, drinking it fresh at their own taproom is by far the best option.
Pairing Dishes Worth Trying
- Daisen-dori salted fried chicken
A branded chicken raised largely around the foot of Mt. Daisen. Its tender meat and moderate fat let the Weizen’s bright aroma come through without getting in the way. - Shirabara milk cheese
A dairy product from the Daisen Dairy Agricultural Cooperative, drawing on the same mountain’s blessings. Its mellow milk fat pairs naturally with the gentle mouthfeel of a wheat beer.
A note on the science: Weizen yeast produces two key aroma compounds during fermentation — isoamyl acetate, which reads as banana, and 4-vinyl guaiacol, a spicy note close to clove. The browning on fried chicken’s crust comes from the Maillard reaction, sugars and amino acids bonding under heat, and that toastiness layers with those same two aromas for extra depth. The milk fat in cheese gets reset by the beer’s carbonation and mild sweetness, so the richness never feels heavy and the glass keeps moving.
A Quick Glossary of Beer Terms
- Craft beer: Beer made by small breweries that put the character of the maker front and centre, as opposed to the uniformity of mass production.
- Weizen: A white ale from southern Germany brewed with a high proportion of wheat. Its yeast produces aromas suggesting banana and clove.
- Malt: Germinated barley (or wheat). It forms the foundation of a beer’s sweetness, colour and body; how deeply it is roasted determines colour and toastiness.
- ABV: Alcohol By Volume. Beer typically runs around 5%; above 8% is considered strong.
- IBU: An international measure of bitterness. Around 10 you barely notice it; above 60 you are in clearly bitter IPA territory.
Sources
- Kumezakura Daisen Brewery (official)
- Weizen — Daisen G Beer (official, Japanese)
- Daisen G Beer Weizen 330ml — Kumezakura brewery shop (Japanese)
- Daisen G Beer (Kumezakura Beer) — Tottori Prefecture official site (Japanese)
- “The World’s Best Beer: Kumezakura Daisen Brewery” — Odekake Colocal, Tottori (Japanese)
- Mt. Daisen (Tottori) — Wikipedia (Japanese)
- “Daisen Sanka: Waga Kokoro no Yama” — Wikipedia (Japanese)
- CD sales of “Daisen Sanka” — Daisen Town, Tottori (official, Japanese)
- Daisen Dairy Agricultural Cooperative (official, Japanese)
- What is Daisen-dori? — Zenkoku Jidori Meigaradori Guide (Japanese)
If you notice any errors in this article, please don’t hesitate to reach out at info@soundrecords.jp.
Read this article in Japanese: 一人の言葉が、山の歌になるまで