A small selection of beers that will make your next feast of sushi unforgettable among great classics, Japanese goodies and Italian surprises
This evening sushi?
If you have said it at least three times in the last month, you are part of that big slice of Italian population that has embraced the Japanese gastronomy without hesitation. Parties with the ordering sushi and sashimi mixed to avoid mistakes, we ended up knowing every corner of the menu and remembering the names of the most complex dishes.
But also for the most hardcore lover sushi dilemma on perfect drinks to accompany the meal is something that is repeated from time to time. Water? Wine? Green tea? Sake?
They are all excellent ideas, but even beer is not bad. Rather. In some ways it is the perfect idea to enhance raw, marinated, fried and sauces. A smart and perfect choice to toast with friends without betraying the most authentic spirit of Japan.
What you drink in Japan
The wine is for the Japanese an acquired habit in more recent times and often linked to proposals imported mainly from South America. Although our labels are very popular, they represent an expensive and accessible niche for a few. Local wines are instead produced mainly by companies Mann's, Mercian and Suntory and a bottle is sold at the modest sum of about 1000 Yen (just under 8 euros).
The history of the sake, the Japanese traditional alcoholic beverage obtained from the fermentation of rice. During meals it is usually served in a dry version, that is karakuchi, but also the sweet called "amacuchi" is very popular. With 20% alcohol content, however, it is quite challenging during meals and comes traditionally served in a small glass before starting to eat. The drink for the whole meal known to tradition is in fact the you green, but it is also very popular in the English version, a black tea that is called kocha.
And the beer?
Yes to tea, sake, soups and some wine tasting. But today's Japanese people drink beer and produce excellent ones. Apparently the first production dates back to 1853 when the Dutch medical doctor Kōmin Kawamoto prepared it following the Dutch recipe found in a book. From then on, things began to move with great speed: in 1870 at Yamate in Yokohama veins founded by the American William Copeland the Spring Valley brewery. In the same year, the Dutch started to import one of their flagship products in Japan, meeting the taste of traders and fishermen.
We have to wait only two years to witness the first Japanese brewing of beer. In 1872 in fact Shozaburo Shibutani began to produce beer in Osaka. In Sapporo instead, in 1876, Kaitakushi was opened: the first government-run brewery. It will take ten years for local production to exceed the quantities of imported beer and continue to grow to experience a moment of arrest during the Second World War. But that between the Japanese and the beer is a love story that still goes on well today. If you go from Tokyo you can not do without visiting the Bakushu Club Popeye, one of the most famous pubs in the city with 70 spines ready to tap 70 beers.
The sushi and the glass
Letting us be inspired by the love of the Japanese for beer, all that remains is to find the perfect ones to accompany the sushi, or our obsession made in Japan. In the gallery below 5 very different choices for each source and style, to try and try again between a mouthful and the other.
