Osaka Beer Festival

Most stores in Japan that sell beer have maybe 10-20 different varieties made by one of the four main drink companies: Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, or Suntory. Each has one or two 'premium' beers, which is to say actual beer, and a handful of beer hybrids made of rice, corn, and various other fermentables. Most cities will have a limited number of local beers sold in specialty shops and you can usually find foreign beers like Guinness, Heineken, and Budweiser. Bars often have a limited selection on tap and whatever bottles the owner happens to like.

In contrast, the Osaka Beer Festival had over 120 different types of beer. While I know some bars in Minneapolis and Chicago that can say the same thing, I would be hard pressed to find 120 different types of beer in the entire city of Kyoto. Everyone who entered got a small 50 mL glass. It was free with the 4100 yen entrance fee:


Most the beers were Japanese and on tap, but there a few were from other countries and some only came in bottles. Here was some Chimay from Belgium and Anchor from San Francisco:


The event was held in Osaka Dome, which is a baseball stadium that houses the Kintetsu Buffaloes, the only Japanese team to never win the championship. It was at the top of the Dome in an area where you couldn't watch the game. As I walked towards the Dome from the train station I was surprised how many kids were heading that direction. Only a few came up to drink:


Later on some Japanese posed for a picture. Little did they realize my camera was also handy: