Craft Beer Tourism in Japan - Kawazu Brewing, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture

Korakuen is located about 5-6 minutes by car east of JR Okayama Station. It is one of the three most famous gardens in Japan, along with Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and Kairakuen in Ibaraki. It is a park that still retains the appearance of the time it was first built, and together with Okayama Castle on the opposite bank, it attracts many tourists as a major tourist area. Kawazu Brewing is located right next to the bridge over the Asahikawa River that surrounds Korakuen.

Kawazu Brewing
Address: 1-7-7 Izushicho, Kita-ku, Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, 700-0812

Korakuen is located on an island just before the Asahi River, which runs through almost the center of Okayama Prefecture, flows into Kojima Bay in the Seto Inland Sea. It is a vast Japanese garden that can be considered a tourist spot in Okayama City, with Okayama Castle overlooking the opposite bank, the Okayama Prefectural Museum on the grounds, and the Somei-Yoshino cherry trees buried along the river on the east bank that become a famous cherry blossom spot in spring. Around Tsurumibashi Bridge, located on the west side of Korakuen, there are rows of low-rise tenement-style buildings and shops that retain their traditional appearance, but there are also relatively new shops scattered along Korakuen Street. Kawazu Brewing is one of them.

Kawazu Brewing is located on the first floor of a three-story building, and its premises include a wide wooden deck along the road, with a cute sign in the same wood tone as the deck welcoming visitors. It would have been nice to have a drink on the deck, but since I visited on a cold, windy day in late December and the shop was largely empty, I decided to go inside.

Upon entering, you can see the craft beer brewing facility through the glass to your right, with table seats on the left and counter seats in the back. By the window above the tables are various bottles and cans of craft beer. You can really sense the beer-loving vibe here. On the day I visited, I arrived alone by taxi, so I sat at the very end of the counter and picked up a menu.

On this day, I ordered a Pergen Pale Ale called "Hi Cheers!"

By the way, this brewery not only offers their own craft beer, but also craft beers from neighboring prefectures such as Mabi Takebayashi Bakushu (Okayama Prefecture), DD4D BREWING (Ehime Prefecture), and Donzo Brewing (Kagawa Prefecture), and on this day they also had craft beer from WHITE DOG BREWING (Kanagawa Prefecture).

Even though it's December and the sun sets earlier, it was still light in the evening and there was only one group of foreign customers there. Due to its location, it's an easy place to stop by on your way back from sightseeing in Korakuen or Okayama Castle.

From my experience, including Kawazu Brewery, breweries are not always located near stations and have good access. Many breweries are located a little far from stations due to the limited space available for brewing facilities. This leads to the problem of how to get to the brewery. With the amendment of the Road Traffic Act in November 2024, driving a bicycle while drunk will be punishable by "imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen," but a bicycle is still an effective means of travel to the brewery. This time, I looked up the location on Google Maps in advance and estimated that I could get there from Okayama Station by bicycle share.

However, when I got there, I found out that the bicycle sharing services I usually use as a means of transportation, such as "Docomo Bike Share," "Hello Cycling," and "ChariChari," were not available in Okayama. The only service I could use was a unique service called "Okayama City Community Momochari." The rental procedures were a bit complicated for a first-time visitor, so I ended up taking a taxi on both the way there and back (and it was also difficult to catch a taxi on the way back, probably because of the time of day), so I recommend using public transportation.

For public transportation, take the Okayama Electric Bus from Okayama Station to Korakuen , the nearest bus stop is Tenjincho.