[:en ]We are pleased to announce that seven of our products won awards in five categories at the Asia Beer Championship 2023, where the awards ceremony was held on Friday, October 20, 2023 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The Asia Beer Championship is an international beer competition in which brewing companies from Jordan to Japan and other Asian countries participate. 32 categories are divided, and Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards are determined for each category. In each category, a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal is awarded. The brewery with the highest number of medals in each country will receive the ” Country Champion” award, and the “Chairman’s Selection ” will be awarded to the brewery with the highest quality beer above the standard level. This year, the tasting was held in Singapore on September 30 and October 1, and the results were announced at a ceremony held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on October 20.
Seven of our products received awards in five categories. Among them, “Hop Frontier -Juicy IPA-,” which has been a standard item since 2021, won the Gold Award in the New England/Hazy IPA category and the “Champion IPA of ASIA” award.
Also, “Off Trail Kriek in the Barrel 2023″ won its third Gold Award in the Wild Beer category. Off Trail” products also won Silver and Bronze awards in the same category. This is the first time in the history of the Asia Beer Championship that the same brewery has won all the awards in one category. As a result, Far Yeast Brewingwas named “Country Champion of Japan“.
We are very honored to have been awarded the title of Champion in the IPA category, which is the most popular category in this competition, and to have our unique and challenging brand “Off Trail” recognized for the first time in the six years since the Headwaters Brewery has been in operation, as well as for the taste and quality of our beers in other categories. We are very honored to have been recognized for the taste and quality of our products in addition to the other awards.
We will continue to strive to increase our presence not only in Japan, but also in the booming Asian craft beer scene.
Click here formore information about Asia Beer Championship
About the award-winning beers
New England / Hazy IPA Category: Gold Award and Champion IPA of ASIA
“Far Yeast Hop Frontier -Juicy IPA
Far Yeast Hop Frontier -Juicy IPA-” is our standard product that challenges the new realm of seasonal style Juicy IPA by being the first to implement the latest hop theory and advanced brewing techniques in Japan. Juicy IPA is full of fruity and tropical aroma, which is created by maximizing the “aroma component” of hops through a scientific approach. We are deeply exploring the use of hops, with methodology and “biotransformation,” the formation of new aroma components that occurs through contact between hop components and yeast, as the keys.
Wild Specialty Beer Category: Gold Award
“Off Trail Kreik in the Barrel 2023
This is the fourth collaboration with Portland brewery Culmination Brewing. The past three products have been highly acclaimed in numerous international competitions, including this competition, and have attracted much attention around the world. The main beer is a red ale lacto-fermented by kettle souring and aged for 12 months in oak barrels with Brettanomyces yeast, blended with a sour porter aged for 22 months in red wine barrels. This Barrel Aged Sour Ale has a deep and complex base beer with soaked cherries.
Wild Specialty Beer Category: Silver Award
“Off Trail Mended with Spice
This product is a rare marriage of chai spice and chocolate porter among Off Trail products. The base beer is made from four barrels of unique Imperial Porter and one barrel of Salted Caramel Chocolate Porter, and the chai spices of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and cacao nibs are used to tie the complex base beer together like a “gold patch”.
Wild Specialty Beer Category: Bronze Award
“Off Trail Upstream“
A barrel-aged sour blonde ale with floral and pleasant aromatic flavors of jasmine, red clover, and meadowsweet dried flowers infused into the beer. The base is a sour blonde ale and a strong ale aged in oak barrels for up to 21 months. This is a collaboration product between our company in Yamanashi Prefecture, which is located across Lake Okutama and brews beer using water from the same source, and VERTERE in Okutama, Tokyo.
Saison category: Silver Award
“Far Yeast Tokyo White
The flagship of Far Yeast’s classic “Tokyo Series”. This product is designed to be a high quality product that can be enjoyed by craft beer novices and core fans alike. It is characterized by its dry and sharp taste. The fruity estery aroma and gorgeous hop flavor can be enjoyed.
American IPA category(ABV over 5.5%): Chairman’s Selection
“Far Yeast Trigger Chapter.2
This is the second in the “Trigger” series of West Coast IPAs, in which Far Yeast, which has specialized in Bergen styles since its founding, takes on the challenge of creating a royal American style. Focusing on Oceania hops, Wakatu and Galaxy are used to add citrus and floral flavors by introducing them at both hot-side and cold-side timing. It has a complex, strong aroma, clean flavors, and a guttural, intense bitterness that shoots through the drinker’s mind.
The product is designed from the logistics of delivering it in perfectly refrigerated conditions to the label design that makes you want to pick it up.
Experimental Beer Category: Chairman’s Selection
“Far Yeast Hazelnut Explosion
This product was created in collaboration with Baerlic Brewing, a brewery in Portland, Oregon, for “HOOD TO FUJI 2023. This red ale is characterized by malt sweetness, caramel-like flavor and aroma, and is overflowing with the aroma and caramel flavor of Oregon’s famous hazelnuts.