Getting Yggdrasil Brewing started was like waiting to get tickets for the front row of the concert of the century.  Davido had to wait 9 months from having a brewery ready to go to getting their ticket to brew from the city tax office.  While it was a long wait, it was like waiting for an artist to get on stage and the lights to come on.  Once he struck that first chord, the crowd went wild and they have been headbanging with him ever since.

Interview

Taihei:  Naturally the concept is heavy metal and Yggdrasil is the Norse tree connecting the nine worlds, but what does Yggdrasil’s brewery mean to you?

Yggdrasil: When I decided to pursue my dream of opening my own brewpub and create recipes inspired by Heavy Metal, my French heritage as well as local Shonan culture, I had no idea how tough yet rewarding it would be. A brewery never sleeps, beer ferments and matures 24×7 so brewing ended up becoming more of a lifestyle for me rather than a regular job.

Taihei: Obviously you have Yggdrasil beers on tap, do you try to balance your hardcore beers with your guest beer selection?

Yggdrasil: I tend to be overly creative these days as we release about 2 brand new original recipes per week. I do my best though to tap a couple yummy guest beers from friends and mentors such as Yorocco, Devilcraft, Shiokaze and Barbaric Works.

Taihei:  When talking about the collaboration beer, you said you prefer using European ingredients and styles, is there any reason to that?

Yggdrasil: I do have a passion for French Alsace hops and always try to showcase their complex unique character through various collabs disregarding style guidelines.

Taihei:  You were one of the first to use Taplist.io in Japan and you did help Untappd expand within the Japanese market, where are your feelings about them?

Yggdrasil: Taplist.io is a great simple tool which helps our regulars to keep in touch with our live beer lineup. Untappd probably still lacks data and contributors in Japan, especially in our area, but it is also a useful tool to keep track of your own beer journey as well as sharing it with drinking friends and beer travellers.

Taihei:  Many beer operators are using SNS to display taplists, but what are the benefits and drawbacks with using Taplist.io in your opinion?

Taihei: Nine months is an awful long time to get a brewing license, what were your feelings during those nine months, especially once you got that “ticket” to brew?

Yggdrasil: It was probably closer to 12 months in our case and when I finally got the holy grail license in hand, I had no idea how much busier life was about to become. Brewing and distributing your own beer through our taproom as well as kegs and bottles requires a huge amount of logistics, tedious official paperwork and of course endless cleaning and sanitizing.

Taihei:  If craft beer, cider, and mead were a heavy metal band, which bands would they be?

Yggdrasil: Craft beer would be ALESTORM because they are, imho, the ultimate beer party Metal band. Cider is a tough one, probably that crazy band NINGEN ISU because they are from Aomori. Mead would most likely be AMON AMARTH as they are the current kings of Viking Metal culture.

Taihei: Is there anyone you want to personally thank since starting Yggdrasil’s band?

Yggdrasil: It would be tough to name specific people but I am forever grateful to the Hiratsuka community especially beer, Metal and football lovers for their ongoing passionate support.

Taihei: What’s the next album for Yggdrasil?

Yggdrasil: We are about to finally release our first session Mead fermented carefully using a devilicious blend of select honeys.  I’m really proud and excited about this new Viking milestone.

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