A Red Sour Beer Inspired by the Spirit of Bon Odori Is Born in Akita

A Beer Born from a Dance for the Departed

Akita Prefecture lies on the Sea of Japan side of northern Honshu, Japan’s main island. In Ugo Town, in the south of the prefecture, a craft beer called ‘Brewed with I : Chapter 1’ has been created, inspired by the summer tradition of the Nishimonai Bon Odori. Obon is a Japanese summer observance during which the souls of deceased family members are believed to return briefly. This Bon dance, which has continued for more than 700 years, is designated a nationally Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. It has been handed down not so much as a festival but as a dance to honour the dead. The project was planned by Godo Kaisha U, the company that runs the guesthouse Bon-yado U, a renovated 180-year-old merchant house. In an age when people have less time to confront grief, they say they wanted to convey this spirit through beer, an everyday drink.

A Gose Base, Layered with Strawberries and Indigo

The base chosen was Gose, a beer style originating in Germany, characterised by a refreshing lactic sourness and a subtle saltiness. Strawberries from Ugo Town make up about 20 per cent of the recipe, combined with salt from the Oga Peninsula and spring water from Mount Chokai. As a hidden touch, indigo is added in reference to the indigo-dyed costumes worn in the Bon dance. The flavour and concept were designed with Remède nikaho, a French restaurant in Nikaho, also in Akita Prefecture. Brewing was carried out by the local brewery Ugo Bakushu. Poured into a glass, the beer turns a vivid red. The makers describe this red as symbolising the bonfires of the night, the dancers’ kimono stitched together from patchwork cloth known as hanuki, and ‘love’. The packaging is also layered many times over, designed so that opening it piece by piece becomes part of the experience.

How European Readers Can Enjoy It

The beer was sold in advance on the Japanese crowdfunding platform Makuake from 29 June to 30 July, with delivery scheduled before Obon. The primary source makes no mention of sales overseas. Even so, what stands out is that Gose, a traditional European style, has been combined with Japanese fruit and salt and with a culture of mourning the dead. If you come across a sour ale made with Japanese fruit or salt at a specialist shop or beer bar that stocks Japanese craft beer, it is worth trying. Paying attention to the balance of sourness and saltiness and to how the fruit aroma comes through, and comparing it with a German Gose, may reveal the differences.