Anyone who has handled a ¥1,000 note in Japan has seen a face that is not on it today. For years, a bearded statesman in a formal collar looked out from that note, and most residents never learned his name. Ito Hirobumi is the sort of figure who turns up everywhere once you start looking. This beer is a friendly way to begin.
A pale lager for the first prime minister
Meiji Restoration by Hirobumi Ito 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. Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909) was Japan’s first prime minister and the architect of the Meiji Constitution. Few people in Japanese history can claim to have shaped both the office of prime minister and the document that framed the modern state.
It is a themed expression, so the label is part of the product. A pale lager is a sensible companion for a figure like this: light enough to keep pouring while someone explains how the first cabinet came together, and why a constitution mattered so much to a country that had only recently opened its doors.
How Meiji Restoration by Hirobumi Ito 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 tonkatsu, the breaded pork cutlet, where the crisp lager cuts through the fried coating.
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 by Hirobumi Ito Beer delivered in Japan
Meiji Restoration by Hirobumi Ito 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 by Hirobumi Ito Beer →]
https://omorimart.com/product/meiji-restoration-by-hirobumi-ito-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 first prime minister, dry the cup, and drink to the ones who put a young nation’s rules on paper.
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