Off-spec curry becomes beer: Nichirei and a Yamagata brewery

Turning curry left in the pot into beer

Nichirei Foods Corporation, a major Japanese frozen food company, has announced a craft beer called “#2101 Part2 Beef Curry Beyond upcycle! Never before!!”, made with “off-spec curry” from its Yamagata factory. Yamagata Prefecture lies in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu and is known for its fruit. The factory makes beef curry for restaurants, but curry that sticks to the inside of the pot during simmering cannot be used in products, even when there is nothing wrong with its quality. The company regards this as a form of food waste and has been looking for a new use for it. This time the curry is turned into a paste and added to the beer after fermentation has finished. It is added after fermentation so that the aroma of the curry spices is preserved.

A pale ale with the scent of spices

The style is pale ale, with an alcohol content of 5% and a volume of 330 ml. The ingredients are malt and hops, plus curry sauce made in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture, dates and spices. Because it uses ingredients other than malt and hops, it is classified as “happoshu” (a sparkling alcoholic beverage) under Japanese liquor tax law. It is to be stored refrigerated at 10 degrees or below.

The beer was brewed by Brewlab.108, a brewery in Tendo, and its representative Katsuaki Kato. The number 108 refers to the number of earthly desires in Buddhism, and the concept is to brew 108 flavours made with Yamagata fruit and local specialities as “Japan Origin”. The name “#2101 Part2” means it is the second beer after “#2101 Men”, a beer made with off-spec noodles released in October 2025. It is the fourth upcycled product from Nichirei Foods.

Where food waste meets craft beer

The Nichirei Group was founded in 1945 and marked its 80th anniversary in December 2025. This beer is positioned as an initiative to mark that milestone. A large food manufacturer putting ingredients left over at its factory to use in an experimental beer from a small local brewery: in Japan, such pairings are slowly becoming more common. Sales began on 11 October at the online shop of Brewlab.108, and the beer is also served at home games of Montedio Yamagata, a football club of which the company is a partner.

Production volumes are small and the beer needs refrigeration, so it will be hard to find in Europe. Even so, it is worth noting as an example of how the range of ingredients used in beer is widening. If you enjoy it at home, try pairing a pale ale with a gentle aroma with Japanese-style curry rice (a sweet, mellow curry made with roux) and see how the spices and hops layer together. When you look for Japanese craft beer in specialist shops, also keep an eye out for the word “happoshu” on the label. It signals that ingredients other than malt and hops have been used.