Top 33 Best Japanese Craft Beers in 2020 - Tried and True!

Craft beer is defined in the US by the following criteria:

• It's small-scale and made by a brewer producing less than six million barrels per year
• It's independently owned or controlled by a craft brewer
• It's traditional and their main product is 100 percent malt beer
  

But ultimately, these criteria only apply to American beer. Japanese beer is regulated differently in terms of production volume, brewing process, and tax law, so the same standards can't be carried over directly.

So, rather than asking, "Is this beer a craft beer?" the better question would be, "What kind of intent did the brewer have with this beer?" If you sincerely evaluate each beer on its own merits, you'll definitely be able to find a beer or brewery that suits your tastes!

We picked out the most popular beers in Japan and evaluated their flavor profiles. Then, based on our tests, we ranked the top 33 Japanese craft beers available online. Make sure you check out the flavor chart we drew up for each beer to help you find what you like!

Japanese prices are given for the products, but they've been converted into US dollars to make it easy for you.

And why they didn't make it.

Uchu IPA is hopped with the juicy Mosaic hop, giving it a complex flavor with citrus and herbal characteristics. Seasoned IPA drinkers will love this one. However, Tamamura Honten's Shiga Kogen IPA split our tasters with its powerful hoppiness. It's a great beer, but only if you're really into hops.

Nagahama Roman Beer's Nagahama IPA Special is another good beer for IPA fans. It features a bitterness not only from the hops, but from the roasted malts as well.

Karuizawa Brewery's THE Karuizawa Beer Alt has the aroma of bottled soy sauce and a whiskey-like flavor that split our tasters in half, while Sanktgallen's El Diablo 2015, a barleywine, is quite bitter with only a faint sweetness. We'd recommend it mainly for craft beer veterans.

Ishikawa Brewery's Tokyo Blues Single Hop Wheat is hopped with Nelson Sauvin hops, which gives it a nice fruity aroma. Unfortunately, the beer itself has an unpleasant bitterness and tartness. Sanktgallen's Imperial Chocolate Stout offers very little chocolatey flavor, despite the name; instead, it tastes strongly of brandy.

Shimane Beer's Beerhearn Pale Ale is well-balanced with a slight bitterness that doesn't linger. Ginga Kogen Weizen has a sweet wheat flavor similar to white bread and is a good beer for casual drinkers. Suiyobi no Neko by Yoho Brewing is a light and slightly sweet beer. As you might guess from the name, which means "Wednesday Cat," it makes a good after-work sipper.

Dogo Beer Alto features some nice caramel and brown sugar flavors, but the light body left us wanting more. Sanktgallen's Sweet Vanilla Stout delivers on the sweet and vanilla but didn't leave a lasting impression. Heiwa Craft IPA is surprisingly mild for an IPA. It's not bad but tastes more like a regular beer than a craft one. 

Kinshachi Beer IPA is another IPA without much hop character, but it might pair well with a richly flavored meal. Tazawako Beer Alt is very drinkable but a bit forgettable, and Okushu Sendai Date Masumune Beer is a light beer, with what little malty flavor it has dissipating all too quickly.

We wanted to find the most delicious Japanese craft beers for you to enjoy, so we performed a taste test to evaluate seven characteristics:

• bitterness
• tartness
  
• sweetness
  
• body
  
• finish
  
• hoppiness
• aroma

This is how we tested for those factors.

Naturally, the biggest factor in choosing a craft beer is how it tastes. We rounded up six tasters from our editorial department, a mixture of regular beer drinkers and people who were curious about beer, and had them taste all 33 beers.

They rated the overall taste on a scale of one to a hundred. We also asked them to provide a 0.1 to 5.0 point rating on each of the beer's individual aspects.

As IPAs are a very popular beer style among craft beer enthusiasts, we lined up several different kinds for our evaluation. However, despite the fact that they were all the same style, the results from our tasters were very diverse between them.

The highest ranked IPAs were noted for their prominent showcasing of the hops used to brew them. There were a variety of hop characters among these beers, but the most popular by far were the IPAs featuring tropical or fruity flavors and aromas.

Beyond the hop haze, other styles with high drinkability, like white beers and fruit beers, landed high on our ranking. On the other hand, barleywines and other beers with unique, less common flavors did not fare quite as well.

By comparing the flavor charts of the top 10 beers, we learned that light-bodied craft beers with low bitterness and tartness, mild sweetness, a clean finish, hop character, and a robust aroma tended to receive the highest ratings.

The beers' aroma and hop character were quite highly rated across the board, so those with distinct fruity aromas seemed to match our tasters' palates. They also seemed to prefer medium- to light-bodied beers with low bitterness and tartness and a clean finish.

There are great brews even among the ones that appear lower in our ranking that we wouldn't want you to miss out on, so we've drawn up a flavor chart for each one. Be sure to refer to it to help you choose some delicious Japanese craft beers that will suit your tastes!

Here's what you'll want to look out for when shopping for your next favorite brew.

There are over 100 different styles of beers brewed all over the world. From sour beers to juicy beers to beers brewed with dark roasted malts that taste like coffee, the flavor a beer can have varies widely.

We'll introduce the main beer styles below so you can effectively pick the Japanese craft beers you think you'll enjoy. If you get to know the styles, you'll be able to find the beer that's right for you!

The pilsner, also known as the Bohemian pilsner or German pilsner, is one of the most well-known beer styles throughout the world. Pilsners are characterized by their transparent yellow color, moderate hoppiness, and fresh aroma.

 In Japan, beers such as Asahi Super Dry, Kirin Ichiban Shibori, Sapporo Black Label, and Suntory The Premium Malts are commonly-seen examples of this style. If you're a fan of these beers, try a craft pilsner next time, like Pilsner Urquell or Flensburger Pilsener.

Pale ale, originating in England, earned its name from the pale-colored malts that are used to brew it. Pale ales are boldly bitter, with a dry finish and a fruity aroma reminiscent of banana. If you want something other than lager, pick up a pale ale! Think of ones like Bass Pale Ale or Samuel Smith Organic Pale Ale as representative brews.

Weizen is brewed using over 50 percent wheat malt, which explains why it was named for the German word for "wheat." It has an aroma and taste similar to bread, with low bitterness, a creamy head, and a refreshing finish.

Also, the yeast used to brew weizens imparts aromas of banana, clove, and nutmeg. This is the perfect beer to down on a hot day! Check out Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse and Hofbräu Münchner Weisse to get a sampling of this type.

Belgian white, with its characteristic cloudy appearance, has a spicy-sweetness and intense aroma from the coriander and orange peel used in the brewing process. It has a light, smooth mouthfeel and low bitterness, which makes it great for beer novices!

Chilling it too much will inhibit its complex flavor, so try to enjoy it at 44 to 48 degrees Fahrenheit. Give Hitachino Nest White Ale, Hoegaarden White, or Blue Moon a go.

IPA, or India pale ale, gets its name from the pale ales that were shipped from England to India in the eighteenth century. Because of the natural preservative quality of hops, these beers were heavily hopped to survive the long journey.

IPAs are known for the fruity aroma and bitter flavors imparted by the hops, and is recommended for those who like their drinks a bit bitter and dry!

One interesting quality of IPAs is that you never know just what you're going to get, as the hop character, dominant flavors, and alcohol content all vary greatly depending on the brewer and even the brew itself. Try YOHO Brewing Indo no Ao Oni or Brewdog Punk IPA.

The stout first came to be when the porter, a popular beer style in London, made its way over to Ireland, where its alcohol content was amped up and sold as a "stout porter."

Stouts have a sharp bitterness which comes from roasting the malts that are used to brew it. Despite their heavy-looking color, stouts tend to be light on the tongue with a surprisingly clean finish. This is a beer that coffee drinkers are sure to enjoy! Representative brews include Murphy's Irish Stout and of course Guinness.

Barleywines are strong brews, clocking in at about 8.5 to 12 percent alcohol. The reason they are referred to as wines is because of the extended aging process they go through, which can be anywhere from six months to several years.

Full-bodied and heavy, barleywines tend to have complex flavor profiles, featuring a dryness from the high alcohol content and a sweetness that shines through. Because of this, we recommend barleywines to those who already have a taste for beer or other alcoholic beverages.

To sample what these ales have to offer, try Anchor Old Foghorn or Sankt Gallen El Diablo.

Fruit beers, as you can probably guess, are beers with fruit or juice added during the brewing process. These beers showcase the aroma and flavors of the fruit used as an augmentation of the hop character and flavors of the underlying beer.

We recommend this style to those who enjoy drinks on the sweet side, or non-beer drinkers. Some good examples are Liefmans and Minoh Beer Yuzu White.

Sour ales are brewed using a process called spontaneous fermentation, which relies on naturally occurring yeast or bacteria in the air or in wooden barrels. A beer brewed with wild yeast is called a lambic, which is a very prominent style in the Belgian beer scene.

The flavor is characterized by a tartness paired with a distinctly yeasty flavor and aroma. Having very little hop character, a light body, and a dry mouthfeel, these beers are highly drinkable.

Also, raspberries or blackcurrants are sometimes added during fermentation, resulting in a special type of fruit beer. These fruit lambics are perfect for people who don't usually enjoy beer! Try to find Cantillon Gueuze or Boon Kriek to give these a go.

Looking to broaden your horizons or fill up your liquor cabinet? Check out these other great drinks for more options to quench your thirst!

There's nothing quite like cracking open a cold beer after a hard day's work, or even when you haven't done any work at all! If you're looking for a tasty brew, there are more options available today than ever before, so refer to this article to decide what to try next.

Figure out which styles sound appealing to you, then use the description and flavor chart we've provided for each beer to pick out the ones you think you'll enjoy. Cheers!

Translation: Joshua Kizuki

• Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more mybest recommendations!