日本語で読む | This is the English version of a bilingual article.
Today’s Pairing
- Craft beer: Oriental Brewing “Yuwaku Yuzu Ale” — fruit wheat ale, ABV 5.0%, 330ml bottle. Ingredients: barley malt, wheat malt, hops, yuzu / Oriental Brewing (Kanazawa, Ishikawa; founded 2016)
Official site: https://orientalbrewing.com/ - Music: “Hananoiro” by nano.RIPE (2011; opening theme of the TV anime Hanasaku Iroha)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GMrg7d7AQk
▶ If the player above doesn’t play, open it on YouTube
The Story of the Brewery
Oriental Brewing was founded in 2016 and is based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa.
Where it brews is where this article starts. Thirty minutes by car up into the hills from central Kanazawa lies Yuwaku Onsen, and there stands the Oriental Yuwaku Brewery. In 2022 the Oriental Kanazawa Distillery went up next door, using the techniques learned in brewing to make whisky from its own base spirit. The company also runs eight brewpubs around the prefecture, in Higashiyama, at Kanazawa Station and elsewhere.
The beer here, Yuwaku Yuzu Ale, makes generous use of yuzu, a specialty of that same Yuwaku Onsen area. It is a fruit wheat ale at 5.0% ABV, brewed from barley malt, wheat malt, hops and yuzu. The brewery describes the result as distinctly fragrant, with the yuzu meeting the esters — aromatic compounds — that the beer throws during fermentation.
The Story of the Land
Yuwaku Onsen lies in the Yuwaku-machi and Yuwaku-Araya-machi districts of Kanazawa. It is said to have been opened in the Yoro era, in the eighth century, and has long been called Kanazawa’s inner parlor. From the Meiji period onward it was favored by writers and artists including Takehisa Yumeji, and the Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan museum stands in the village.
The village has a newer piece of history as well.
In the 2011 television anime Hanasaku Iroha, the hot-spring town where the story unfolds, “Yunosagi Onsen,” was modeled on this village. In the story there is a festival called the Bonbori Festival. A fictional festival.
And then, on 9 October 2011, Yuwaku Onsen held it for real. Begun as a way of making the festival from the story actual, the Yuwaku Bonbori Festival has been an annual autumn event ever since. The 2026 edition fell on 17 October and was the fourteenth.
An event that existed only inside a story made it onto a town’s calendar. That does not happen often.
The Story of the Song
“Hananoiro” is the opening theme of that same Hanasaku Iroha, performed by nano.RIPE. It dates from 2011, and what you can hear here is the full-length promotional video released by the record label’s official channel, Lantis.
Why This Pairing
These two are joined at a single point: something made becoming something that belongs to a place.
The festival was invented inside a story and became an event in a hot-spring village. The yuzu was already there in the ground, and the brewery turned it into beer that now ships in bottles across the country. The directions are opposite, but both are cases of something that exists only here changing form and carrying on.
At the Yuwaku Bonbori Festival, paper lanterns line the village on an autumn night. A beer that smells of yuzu is well suited to exactly that season. If you can get there, drink it on the night of the festival. If you cannot, ordering a single bottle and playing the theme song while you drink it is, I think, enough.
Where to Find This Beer
The Rakuten Ichiba link below is an affiliate link.
- Brewery official site：https://orientalbrewing.com/
- Buy on Rakuten Ichiba: View the product page (330ml, ¥526)
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
- Jibuni
A Kanazawa local dish. Chicken or duck is dusted with flour before simmering, which thickens the broth. It is often finished with wasabi, which lightens the finish in the same direction the yuzu does.
Recipe (in Japanese): Kurashiru, “Jibuni with Chicken Thigh” - Buri daikon (yellowtail simmered with daikon)
Ishikawa is known for its winter yellowtail. The carbonation of a wheat beer and the acidity of yuzu rinse away what the fat leaves behind.
Recipe (in Japanese): Kurashiru, “Light Salt-Seasoned Buri Daikon”
A note on the science: the aromatic compounds concentrated in yuzu peel — essential oils such as limonene — work to lower the impression of heaviness when they meet fatty food in the mouth. A beer brewed with wheat malt carries more protein and holds its head longer, so the carbonation lingers and pushes in the same direction. That is why even a dish with a thickened broth, like jibuni, does not weigh the palate down.
Visiting the Brewery
Oriental Yuwaku Brewery (Oriental Brewing)
Yuwaku Onsen area, Kanazawa, Ishikawa. About a 30-minute drive from JR Kanazawa Station.
Founded in 2016, the brewery works with Yuwaku’s water and local ingredients, and in 2022 the Oriental Kanazawa Distillery went up next door. The company runs eight brewpubs around the prefecture, including Higashiyama and Kanazawa Station.
Sights Nearby
- Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan / Kanazawa | in the onsen village, walking distance (~0.3 km from the brewery)
Takehisa Yumeji was among the writers and artists who favored Yuwaku Onsen from the Meiji era onward. This city-run museum exhibits his work. Open 9:00–17:30 (last entry 17:00), closed Tuesdays. - Kanazawa Yuwaku Edomura / Kanazawa | in the onsen village, walking distance (~0.3 km from the brewery)
An open-air museum run by the city, made up of Edo-period farmhouses and townhouses from the old Kaga domain, relocated here and opened to visitors. Open 9:00–17:30 (last entry 17:00), closed Tuesdays. - Kenrokuen Garden / Kanazawa | ~25 min, ~19 km by car from the brewery
Come down from Yuwaku into central Kanazawa and you reach Kenrokuen and Kanazawa Castle Park — close enough to see both the hot-spring village and the city side of Kanazawa in a single day.
Hot Springs Nearby
- Soyu Shirasagi-no-Yu / Yuwaku, Kanazawa | in the onsen village, walking distance
Yuwaku Onsen’s communal bathhouse, open to day visitors. Yuwaku is said to have been opened in the Yoro era (eighth century) and is known as Kanazawa’s inner parlor.
Opening hours, closing days and day-use bathing availability can change. Please check each facility’s official information before visiting.
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.
- Ale: Beer made by top fermentation, with the yeast working near the surface at close to room temperature. It tends toward fruity aromas and a fuller body.
- Weizen: A German wheat beer. The yeast leaves aromas often described as banana and clove, over a soft, rounded body.
- Malt: Germinated barley. It forms the foundation of a beer’s sweetness, colour and body; how deeply it is roasted determines colour and toastiness.
- Hops: The cones of a climbing plant, which give beer its bitterness and aroma. Depending on the variety, that aroma can read as citrus, tropical fruit or open grassland.
- ABV: Alcohol By Volume. Beer typically runs around 5%; above 8% is considered a strong, heavier-drinking beer.
Sources
- Oriental Brewing — official site
- Yuwaku Yuzu Ale — Oriental Brewing
- Yuwaku Onsen Tourism Association — official site
- The 14th Yuwaku Bonbori Festival — Yuwaku Onsen Tourism Association
- Kanazawa Yuwaku Yumeji-kan (City of Kanazawa)
- Kanazawa Yuwaku Edomura — visitor information (City of Kanazawa)
- Yuwaku Onsen — Wikipedia (Japanese)
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Read this article in Japanese: 物語の中にあった祭りが、町の行事になった