Marumachi's Craft Rice Beers

    For some adults, summer is time to hit the beer garden and enjoy some choice brews, but in light of the ongoing pandemic, it might be better to take some great local craft beers home to enjoy instead.

    That's just what I did on our Golden Week trip to Marumori, a cute little town in Miyagi, when we stopped by a shop specializing in local goods and I purchased a couple of fantastic looking local beers. Both beers feature cats on the labels as a nod to the cat god legends of the little town. Long ago, silk was the main craft of the area and the best way to keep the silkworms safe from rats was to employ many cats. As the town and the silk worms prospered, the people praised the cats, deifying some in monuments found throughout the Marumachi area.

    The first of these beers that I decided to try was the Marumori Gold Craft Rice Beer Herb Ale which registers at five percent alcohol by volume, not too weak for the average Japanese beer, and sports a great yellow label with a black cat eating ovals that resemble both grains of rice and old Japanese money. I'm not entirely sure which one was intended.

    The taste is clear, comfortable, and easy to drink. With even less aftertaste than the average beer, the drink is a lovely cold compliment to a warm summer evening and would pair well with a number of dishes and the website recommends enjoying it alongside a meal.

    After reading the label, I realized why I liked it so immediately. Yuzu, one of my favorite flavors, is featured alongside hops. Between hops and pilsner, I almost always prefer the prior as many cheap American beers I have experience with were pilsner heavy and otherwise flavor deficient. This beverage was so much the opposite. The yuzu wasn't overpowering but lent its talents well to the hops and rice, combining to form a crisp beverage that I found very easy to enjoy. I did pour some into a glass to get a picture of the color and clarity of the beverage, but it was better and colder when imbibed directly from the bottle.

    While this beer wasn't brewed in Miyagi, it was brewed in nearby Iwate, in the town of Ichinoseki which also houses one of my very favorite Buddhist temples in all of Japan, Chuuzonji, the roof of which is pictured on the label.

    The other beer that I picked up in Marumachi was was Marumachi Rocket Craft Rice Beer Brut IPA which has a dark blue label that shows a cat with an astronaut helmet, floating through space, clutching a rocket labelled KAKUDA. Why space? In addition to the "galaxy" theme they attempted to capture with the flavor of the beer, the beverage is brewed in Kakuda city, home to a JAXA Space Center.

    The beer was a little more opaque that the gold variety and the flavor was a little more tart but in a deliciously fruity way. Another very enjoyable beer, the brut IPA has a slightly higher alcohol content of six percent and is brewed in Marumachi's neighboring Kakuda city, still in Miyagi prefecture.

    According to the website, this beer is made using five types of hops and is recommended to accompany fatty meat dishes and western food. It also states that the beer has a specifically dry aspect that I was surprised to read about as I am someone who doesn't really prefer dry beverages and someone who really enjoyed this beer, though I will admit that it is more dry than the previous beer. The flavor is also a little more rich and full-bodied comparing to the gold version.

    Both of these fantastic local beers are lovely additions to any summer adventure for adults in Miyagi.