Tokyo Weekender - November 2017

for an even deeper flavor. We were given a
chance to taste the barley, which reminded
us a bit of oatmeal that hadn’t yet been
cooked. Finally, tour participants get a
chance to smell hop pellets, which have a
sharp, bitter aroma that balances out the
natural sweetness of the barley malt.
After seeing the raw material that goes
into making the beer, we were brought
into a large section of the brewery where
the first part of the magic that is beer
brewing happens, and where you get to
learn just a bit of the science behind a tall
frosty one.
The malt is made from barley that is allowed
to germinate, or sprout, which kicks
off a biochemical process that gets it ready
to brew beer. It develops the enzymes
that will help turn the barley’s starch into
sugar, and other enzymes that transform
proteins in the grain into substances that
the yeast, which will be used for fermentation,
can “digest.”
In large tuns, or vats, the malt is
mixed with water and heated in a process
known as mashing. At this stage, the
starches in the malt are broken down into
sugars by enzymes that are present in the
malt. One of the techniques that Suntory
uses to add a special touch to their beer
is a process known as double decoction,
which means that part of the mash is taken
out of the tun and boiled, or decocted,
two times in order to draw out the unique
flavors of the malt.
A TASTY WAY
TO FINISH OFF
A LEARNING
EXPERIENCE
At this point, the sweet mixture of heated
malt and water is known as wort, and the
smell of it heating away in a large section
of the brewery is much like the smell of
oatmeal cooking in the morning – except
on a much larger scale. You can also peer
into the various tuns, thanks to windows
mounted on top of them, which let you see
exactly what is going on inside.
The next stage in the production of the
wort is crucial to the flavor of good beer. In
order to balance out the sweetness of the
wort and add complexity to the flavor of
the brew, hops are added to the wort twice:
once when it begins to boil, and again just
at the time when the boiling is about to
stop. Suntory uses aroma hops for the first
hopping stage, and these hops impart a
bitter flavor that balances out the sweetness
of the malt. Meanwhile, in the second
hopping, fine aroma hops are used, which
give the beer an elegant, refined aroma.
The next step is fermentation, which
takes place at a much lower temperature
than wort production. Yeast is added to the
hopped wort, and during fermentation,
the yeast turns the sugars in the wort into
alcohol and carbon dioxide. After about
seven days, the fermentation transforms
the mixture into “young beer,” which is
then matured as its flavor gets milder. Once
it is matured, it is filtered, removing all of
the materials that were used from the earlier
stages of the beer-making process. What is
left behind is the clear, golden color that is the
mark of a fine lager beer.
Finally, the beer is packaged in cans,
bottles, kegs, and other containers – guests
on the tour can watch cans of The Premium
Malt’s moving along conveyor belts, and boxed
into cases.
After seeing so much of the work that
goes into making the beer, we were more than
ready to taste the final product. Fortunately,
the final – and just maybe our favorite – part
of the brewery tour is a visit to Suntory’s
tasting rooms, where guests can sample three
different varieties of The Premium Malt’s: Premium
Lager, Kaoru Ale, and Master’s Dream, a
Pilsener type beer. Each is served, with just the
right amount of creamy head, in a special glass
meant to bring out the flavor of each brew. It’s
a tasty way to finish off a learning experience.
To schedule a tour at Suntory’s brewery in
Musashino, call 042-360-9591 or visit www.
suntory.co.jp/factory/musashino/index.html
TOKYO WEEKENDER | NOVEMBER 2017 | 31