Beer Story

ABOUT 100 YEARS AGO, ALL BEER TASTED LIKE THIS.
Beer has been made for thousands of years, since the times of the early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopo-tamia. It was the first processed grain product, and the first alcoholic beverage. Brewing beer was found to be the best way to make the vitamins and other nutrients of grain more easily assimilated by the human body. Beer was also found to be delicious. Many believe that it was beer that gave people a reason to settle down and become farmers. As the industrial revolution came into full swing in the 19th century, mechanization and refrigeration made it possible to produce beer in mass quantities and ship it far and wide. Beer made and sold this way was far cheaper, and large brewing industries began to emerge. Naturally, this led to the demise of beer as a high quality local product, much like good bread.

THE MICROBREWERY REVOLUTION
After over a century of traditional locally produced beer giving way to mass produced beer with less and less character, many people began to realize the loss of one of our oldest traditions:high quality fresh-brewed local beer. From the 1980s, very small breweries began to emerge again in Europe and North America, brewing traditional types of beer for people who cared about flavor. This“microbrew”revolution came to Japan in the mid-90s with a change in brewery license regulations. In 1997, T.Y.HARBOR Brewery became part of this revolution in beer flavor.

TRADITIONAL INGREDIENTS, TRADITIONAL FLAVOR
Over the centuries, it was found that malted barley made the best beer, and hops made the best way to flavor and preserve it. While beer could be made more cheaply using ingredients such as rice, cornstarch and sugar, the rich, satisfying flavors of all-malt beer could not be achieved. It was this reason that a law was enacted in 16th century Germany declaring that only malt, hops and water could be used as ingredients in beer. Even today, this regulation is observed in Germany. Unfortunately, large scale breweries in Japan and other countries use a variety of materials such as rice and cornstarch to manufacture their beer. Fortunately, for beer lovers, T.Y.HARBOR Brewery uses only 100% malt to craft their fine brews. Everyone can taste the difference.

LIVING BEER IS BETTER BEER
Specialty brewing yeasts are the heart of quality beer flavor. While these yeasts are killed by pasteurization or filtered out of mass-produced beer to achieve longer shelf life, they are welcome to remain in T.Y.HARBOR Beer after the brewing process. Our beers are entirely unfiltered and unpasteurized for maximum flavor, always. Yeast is also a source of various B vitamins and proteins, and is also considered beneficial for the digestive tract. Good beer is fresh and alive, and that's how we feel when we drink it.