日本語で読む | This is the English version of a bilingual article.
Today’s Pairing
- Craft beer: Minoh Beer W-IPA — a Double IPA / strong ale brewed with 2.5 times the usual malt and hops, 9.0% ABV, IBU 75 / Minoh Beer Co., Ltd. (3-14-18 Makiochi, Minoh, Osaka)
Official site: https://www.minoh-beer.jp/ - Music: “Kanashii Iro Yane -Osaka Bay Blues-” by Masaki Ueda (1982)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5BtHzCHlB8
▶ If the player above doesn’t play, open it on YouTube
The Story of the Brewery
Minoh Beer was founded on October 17, 1996, when Masaji Oshita, who ran a liquor retail shop in Suita, Osaka, set up a small factory in Makiochi, Minoh (originally under the name A.J.I. Beer). Japan’s beer market at the time was dominated by four major brewers, and Oshita, having been exposed to the beer cultures of the wider world, felt Japan “lacked diversity.” When deregulation opened the door for small-scale brewing, he decided to become a brewer himself. According to the company, there were long stretches of financially precarious years, spent almost entirely on sales just to keep the business alive.
Masaji Oshita passed away on December 15, 2012, and the business was taken over by his daughter, Kaori Oshita. She had joined the brewery as staff in 1998, right after graduating from junior college, and later became factory manager. In 2014 the company was incorporated as Minoh Beer Co., Ltd., and she remains its president today. Every year on the anniversary of his death, breweries around the country still volunteer to brew a memorial beer called “Masaji Beer” in his honor.
One of the brewery’s signature beers, W-IPA, is a Double IPA (strong ale) brewed with 2.5 times the usual amount of malt and hops, at 9.0% ABV and IBU 75. It combines bright American hop aroma and crisp bitterness with a rich malt character. In 2013, it won gold at the World Beer Awards in the category for the world’s best Imperial IPA.
The Story of the Song
“Kanashii Iro Yane -Osaka Bay Blues-” is a single by Masaki Ueda, released by CBS/Sony on October 21, 1982. It was written by Jin-hwa Kang, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi, and arranged by Masaru Hoshi. After catching on through wired radio broadcasts, it became Ueda’s biggest hit through 1983, reaching No. 5 on the weekly Oricon chart and No. 26 on the year-end chart for 1983. The song was originally planned under the working title “Osaka Bay Blues,” before being finalized as “Kanashii Iro Yane” with “-Osaka Bay Blues-” attached as a subtitle. Lyricist Jin-hwa Kang is said to have written the words based on the view of Osaka Bay as seen from the coast of southern Amagasaki, in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture.
Masaki Ueda, who sings it, was born on July 7, 1949, in Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture. He made his solo debut in 1972 with “Konjiki no Taiyo ga Moeru Asa ni,” and after his band, Masaki Ueda and South to South, broke up in 1976, spent years working his way back up before “Kanashii Iro Yane” became the biggest hit of his career in 1982.
Why This Pairing
Minoh Beer isn’t based in downtown Osaka, but in Minoh, a quiet town on the city’s northern edge. There, the brewery pursued the Double IPA — a style that didn’t originally exist anywhere in Osaka, or in Japan — with single-minded focus, and ended up winning recognition as the world’s best Imperial IPA. It’s a beer that arrived at something extraordinary by taking an outside style dead seriously, from a spot just off-center.
“Kanashii Iro Yane” is also a song built from an outsider’s view of Osaka. What lyricist Jin-hwa Kang was actually looking at wasn’t Osaka itself, but Osaka Bay as seen across the water from the coast of Amagasaki, in Hyogo. And Masaki Ueda, who sang it, was born not in Osaka but in Kyoto. The “color” that caught the eyes of two people standing just outside Osaka became one of the defining songs about its bay. Sometimes a view from just off-center, or from outside altogether, captures a place’s character more vividly than a view from its middle ever could. In that sense, a beer brewed in Makiochi and a song born on the Amagasaki coast are cut from the same cloth.
Where to Find This Beer
The Rakuten Ichiba link below is an affiliate link.
- Brewery official site：https://www.minoh-beer.jp/
- Buy on Rakuten Ichiba: View the product page (¥720)
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
- Momiji no tempura (fried maple leaves)
A Minoh specialty: leaves of the ichigyoji maple, battered with white sesame and sugar and deep-fried. Legend traces it back some 1,300 years, to a mountain ascetic who is said to have served it to travelers on Mt. Minoh. Its crunch and faint sweetness round off W-IPA’s strong bitterness. - Kushikatsu (deep-fried skewers)
A classic of Osaka’s everyday food culture. The savory batter and the fat of the meat stand up well to W-IPA’s pronounced hop bitterness and sharp carbonation.
A note on the science: the oil in fried food is cut through and reset by strong hop bitterness and high carbonation, keeping the next bite tasting fresh. The sugar in momiji tempura also softens the tongue’s perception of bitterness, rounding off W-IPA’s sharp edge.
Visiting the Brewery
Minoh Beer (Head Office & Brewery)
3-14-18 Makiochi, Minoh, Osaka, near Makiochi Station on the Hankyu Minoh Line. Beer can be bought through the official online store or at directly run shops such as WAREHOUSE.
Sights Nearby
- Minoh Park & Minoh Falls, Minoh | ~8 min, ~3.5 km by car from the brewery
A waterfall 33 m high and 5 m wide, listed among Japan’s “Top 100 Waterfalls.” No vehicles are allowed inside the park, so visitors park near Hankyu Minoh Station and walk roughly 40-50 minutes uphill to the falls. - Katsuo-ji Temple, Minoh | ~18 min, ~10.4 km by car
The 23rd temple of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage, known for its “victory daruma” dolls and prayers for good fortune, on grounds spanning about 80,000 tsubo (26 hectares). Open 8:00-17:00 (until 18:00 on Saturdays).
Hot Springs Nearby
- Minoh Yumoto Suisyun, Minoh | ~5 min, ~2.6 km by car
A day-use bathhouse drawing natural hot-spring water (“Minoh Bijin no Yu”) from 1,200 m underground, a sodium bicarbonate/chloride spring. Open 9:00 to 2:00 the next morning (from 6:00 on weekends and holidays); it’s a day-bathing-only facility with no lodging.
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.
- IPA: Short for India Pale Ale. A pale ale brewed with a large amount of hops, giving it a strong bitterness and vivid citrus or pine-like aromas.
- Hops: The flower cones of a climbing plant that give beer its bitterness and aroma. Depending on the variety, the aroma can range from citrus to tropical fruit to fresh grass.
- Malt: Germinated barley. 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 a strong, heavier-drinking beer.
- IBU: International Bitterness Units, a scale for how bitter a beer tastes. Around 10 is barely noticeable bitterness; above 60 lands in clearly bitter IPA territory.
Sources
- Minoh Beer official site (Company Profile)
- Minoh Beer official site (About)
- Minoh Beer official site (W-IPA product page)
- Minoh Beer official site (Awards)
- Minoh Beer official site (About Masaji)
- “Kanashii Iro Yane” — Wikipedia (Japanese)
- Masaki Ueda — Wikipedia (Japanese)
- Masaki Ueda official site — Information (May 30, 2026)
- Katsuo-ji Temple official site
- Minoh Yumoto Suisyun official site
If you notice any errors in this article, please don’t hesitate to reach out at info@soundrecords.jp.
Read this article in Japanese: よそから見えた、この街の色