Spend a few years in Japan and you start to notice that the country has a soft spot for people who burned bright and left early. Their names turn up on bookshop shelves, in museum exhibits and in the middle of conversations at the izakaya, usually when someone says “you don’t know him?” Takasugi Shinsaku is one of those names. This beer is a friendly way to learn it.
A pale lager for a young militia founder
Meiji Restoration Takasugi Shinsaku Beer comes from Nippon Craft Beer’s themed line in Tokyo, part of a modern themed series sold under the Ōkuma Shigenobu name. It is a Japanese craft pale lager at 4.5% ABV. The brief gives no recipe detail, so we will not describe hops or malt we cannot verify.
The name is the story. Takasugi Shinsaku (1839-1867) was a samurai who organized the Chōshū Kiheitai militia. His life was short, and the dates on the label tell you as much: he was in his late twenties when he died, yet his name still sits among the central figures of the Restoration era.
It is a themed expression, so the label is part of the product. A pale lager is a sensible companion for a story like this: light enough to keep pouring while someone explains who the Kiheitai were and why they mattered.
How Meiji Restoration Takasugi Shinsaku Beer is drunk at home
In Japan, a round starts with Kanpai (乾杯) (KAHN-pie), “dry the cup,” raised with eye contact. The same characters appear in Chinese gānbēi and Korean geonbae, three East Asian cultures sharing one toast.
A light pale lager like this belongs to the nomikai, the after-work drinking party that is the foundational Japanese social ritual. It goes with yakitori, the grilled chicken skewers that define the after-work table. Edamame arrives first, young soybeans with salt, the universal opener before anything else is ordered. As the night goes on, otsumami takes over: the pickled, fried and dried small bar snacks that keep the table busy between rounds. Come hanami in April, cherry-blossom parties under the trees bring sake and beer out together, and a themed bottle gives the blanket a story to pass around.
How to drink it in Japan
Serve it cold, in a glass if you like, and read the label while you pour. From the conbini, pick up a pack of cheese chikuwa from Lawson; the soft, salty fish-paste snack suits a light lager. For a Japanese dish, try it with karaage, Japanese fried chicken, where the crisp lager cuts through the oil and keeps the plate from feeling heavy.
It works from spring through early autumn, when a cold, light lager is what you want. At a Tokyo izakaya, a bottle of craft beer can run ¥800 or more. By the case at Omori Mart, the per-bottle price comes down noticeably.
Get Meiji Restoration Takasugi Shinsaku Beer delivered in Japan
Meiji Restoration Takasugi Shinsaku Beer is available now at Omori Mart, sold by the case in 330ml bottles.
- Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
- Pay at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, or Lawson, plus bank transfer and card
- Delivered nationwide across Japan
Rakuten and Amazon Japan don’t carry this themed release. If you like beers with a story behind them, this is where to find one.
[Shop Meiji Restoration Takasugi Shinsaku Beer →]
https://omorimart.com/product/meiji-restoration-takasugi-shinsaku-beer-330ml-x-24-bottles/
Kanpai (乾杯) is the word every other toast in this shop comes back to. Raise the bottle to the young samurai who organized the Kiheitai, dry the cup, and drink to the ones who did a great deal in very little time.
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