Winter 2013.
I had the great opportunity of visiting Asahi Brewery in Kanagawa, Japan thanks to Asahi Malaysia. It was a fun and knowledgeable trip. Kanagawa is approximately 2 hours by train from Tokyo. I was told the brewery is strategically located not far from Mount Fuji, where the water they use for the beer process is extremely fresh and flows from Mount Fuji. What more can you ask for?
This is the aerial view of the brewery in Kamagawa, Japan.
Main drive way into the brewery.
The view of the main building (right) which houses the lobby, beer tasting lounge, the theatre, the souvenir shop, offices, etc.
Fermentation and maturation tanks.
As you entered the lobby you’ll be greeted by a giant cant of Asahi beer! 🤣
They even have dolls of their staff in uniform. So cute.
Konnichiwa!! The reception staff welcoming guests in the main lobby.
The Asahi tasting lounge on the first floor of the lobby.
The key to Asahi beer making is its interaction with nature as Asahi believe beer is a gift from nature therefore all Asahi breweries recycle 100% of all it’s by-product to reduce CO2 and waste. Asahi uses state of the art energy saving equipments. Asahi even own a huge ( 2,169 hectors ) century old forest which they have been conserving since 1941, the Asahi forest. Asahi forest is located in Hiroshima prefecture. What I find encouraging is that at all Asahi breweries, their employees work together with the local residents in activities that helps preserve natural water sources such as weeding, planting and pruning to help develop forest in those areas. Asahi Group believe in 4 key themes in maintaining sustainable environment for the future. These themes are :
1. Building a Low Carbon Society
2. Building a Recycling-Based Society
3. Conserving Biodiversity
4. Spreading Awareness of the Gild of Nature
The theatre. This group is mainly distributors and selected medias from Malaysia. There were only 2 print media selected for this tour. I’m the ambassador for Malaysia Hottest Bloggers.
With TV host Megan Tan.
Malting process. These are mash and boiling kettles. Inside these triangle cylinders are malts. Asahi brewing process is very strictly guarded and quality controlled from it’s raw material to every single process to it’s packaging to delivery. The raw material for making Asahi beer is barley, hops and water.
At every stage of the brewing process, beer is subject to quality control and monitoring by state of the art equipment and human inspections. The fragrance, taste and color of each batch are randomly selected for inspection during the process.
The clean room sterile packing line. A clean room environment is a controlled environment where the air quality and particles contents are in accordance to a set regulation.
Asahi aims to exceed their customer’s expectation. Every steps during the process is subject to sensory tasting and if it is not up to expectation the product will not proceed to the next step. Experts evaluate fresh brewed beer everyday by drinking the beer.
Finished product is immediately packed into cans or bottles in clean room in sterile condition. Even the containers are inspected against any imperfection by machine and by human.
One of the Asahi staff explaining that their uniform is made of 100% recycled material. 14 of those big plastic bottles makes a jacket.
Collection of vintage Asahi commercial art work.
Variety of sizes. On average, it requires 3 days for the finished product to be shipped out from the brewery. There are 6 steps for Asahi brewing.
1. Malting
2. Mashing
3. Fermentation and maturing
4. Filtration
5. Packaging
6. Shipping
Conference with the top management team from Asahi Japan, Asahi Malaysia and Malaysian media.
Enjoying fresh Asahi off the tap during the conference.
Conference room with nice view.
From left to right : Kei Sakurai, Juliet Yap (Marketing Director, Carlsberg Malaysia), Takauiki Tanaka, Gary Tan (Sales Director, Carlsberg Malaysia), Yasushi Tahara, Hotaka Suzuki.
The view right outside the conference room.
Asahi cake!
Packed in a cool wooden barrel.
Asahi health supplement such as Vitamin C.
More health supplement.
Asahi beer mug.
TV host Megan Tan.
Asahi Malaysia’s brand manager Calvin Khoo.
TV host Megan Tan and myself.
Lunch menu at the brewery’s BBQ restaurant.
Fresh from the brewery.
Fresh Asahi Super Dry and Asahi Super Dry Black. Once you go black, you’ll never go back! This is true with Asahi!
Lush and myself. Waiting to depart Asahi brewery to Tamagawa.
On the way to Tamagawa.
Tamagawa sea front.
Ms Lush.
Megan Tan.
Group photo at the shrine.
This is the coolest shop I’ve ever stepped into.
I was told this town is known as the samurai town back in the old days.
This is too much for me! There are so many things I would love to buy!
Full Metal Alchemist!
I would so love to have some of those swords!
Sad to say all I could buy are the ninja stars! And they are made of metal.
Err…. I don’t think this is for sale!
THANK YOU Asahi Malaysia for the privilege. It was a fun and insightful trip. =o)