The Cultural Exchange of Fuji to Hood
Those who have experienced beer in foreign countries recognize it as a kind of universal password. Pubs may look different, and people may behave slightly differently within them, but at their essence, drinking halls are familiar wherever you go. Several years back, a group of Portlanders who recognized this culture-bridging capacity decided to create a kind of exchange program between Oregon and Japan. Breweries from the land of Mount Hood (and a cidery or two) would collaborate with those of Fuji to create a product that reflected both. One year they’d serve the beer in Japan, the next, in Portland.
Fuji to Hood
Date: Saturday, July 20
Location: The Redd, 831 SE Salmon
Hours: Noon-8pm, VIP entry 11am
Tickets: General Admission ($30), VIP ($45)
More info: fujitohood.com
The event that emerged from these collaborations—Fuji to Hood or Hood to Fuji, depending on the host country—has consistently been one of the most interesting festivals staged in the United States. More than a mere beer fest, it explores the culture of Japan, with Japanese food, performances, and arts and crafts. This year there will even be a soundtrack; a Japanese DJ and music producer sent 70s and 80s Japanese vinyl records to Oregon DJs, who sampled them and created a playlist. The fest is a celebration of everything Japanese, not just beer.
Beer does anchor matters, however, and for years I’ve wanted to peer behind the curtain and hear how this fest functions for those who participate in it. How do the breweries negotiate these cultural differences, and what do they learn through these collaborations? It turns out the fest is incredibly enriching for the brewers, and a lot of fun along the way.
Getting Started
Red Gillen is one of the principals behind Fuji to Hood, an informal ambassador to Japan for Oregon’s beverages and the host of the Japanese language blog Oshuushu. Prior to Fuji to Hood, he’d reached out to beer fests and asked them to include a Japanese component. The positive reception encouraged him to pursue something more formal. “Given the overwhelmingly positive reception from Oregonians, the Japanese enthusiasm for being involved, and the budding of friendships that resulted from these events,” he told me, “I thought it just might be possible to take the cross-cultural aspect to a deeper level.”
Before Fuji to Hood (F2H) could begin pairing breweries, it first had to recruit them. They originally started by finding Oregon breweries exporting to Japan, and Japanese breweries Gillen had worked with, as well as those recommended by a craft beer magazine. Since then, they’ve created a system of what he called “incumbency,” inviting past participants back. When a brewery opts out, they add more breweries. The fest has gotten popular among breweries, and now there’s a waiting list.
Red and the organizers then match breweries. Sometimes this is more than random chance. Alesong Brewing and Blending only works with barrel-aged beers, and co-founder Matt Van Wyk thinks F2H took that into account when pairing them with Himitsu. “Our partner, Himitsu Beer, makes a lot of beer with local ingredients as well as barrel aged and mixed culture beers. So, to me, there is a little more of a 'common language' to start, even though we use different languages.”
Once they’ve been paired up, they begin a relationship that will ultimately lead to a unique beer made with at least one Japanese ingredient. Stephen Hughes, Brewing Operations Manager at ColdFire in Eugene: “[Organizers] monitor the progress of each set of partner breweries in order to help them with any snags that might arise, and to make sure that everything is progressing in a way that ensures a successful festival.”
Once the participants have been selected and paired, the collaborations can begin.
Cross-Continental Collabs
Collaborations can happen in a lot of ways, but coordinating with breweries sixteen hours into the next day creates certain challenges a brewery wouldn’t have with a cross-town partner—especially when you’re trying to track down and work with an unusual ingredient. But that challenge seems to be a feature rather than a bug. “The process has been really organic and fun,” Hughes said. “From my perspective, specialty ingredient ideas get proposed by each brewery team and we just see what sticks. It seems like initial ingredient suggestions are really bombastic and then get narrowed to a list that creates a high potential of success with a variety of beer styles.”
“The ingredients can be tricky,” says Charles Porter, co-founder of Little Beast. “Sometimes they will be able to send some, other times I've tried to source them in the U.S.. The more exotic the ingredient, the harder it is to find here. The toughest is getting a large enough quantity for a full size batch, depending on how much you will make. Sometimes you can divert a barrel or two into another tank and infuse the wort/beer with the specialty ingredient.”
For the American brewers, selecting the ingredient is only the first step. In many cases, they haven’t used it before, and aren’t sure how it will behave or what beer style suits it. “[Himitsu] suggested seaweed because of its prevalence in both Japanese nature and cuisine,” Van Wyk said. “ I've never brewed with any type of seaweed, so I went to work on some research and bench trials.” Those trials revealed some types of seaweed to be fishy, which Alesong rejected. But other types “give a lot of salinity and umami character.” Van Wyk liked how they worked with Alesong’s saisons. To round out the beer, they added a variety of orange, Dekopon.
The breweries trade ideas back and forth, pivoting off the ingredient and style suggestions. The host country’s brewery does the brewing, so this year the Oregon half of the team had the pleasure of bringing their vision to life. This year’s fest features 22 brewery and three cider collabs. Because they use culinary ingredients, you’ll see more saisons and sours at this year’s fest than you would in the wild, but the offering is broad: lagers, two hefeweizens, porter, English ale, biere de garde, and only one IPA. There are a number of high-concept creations, and a special sighting of some of Hair of the Dog’s final lots. The special ingredients include some familiar Japanese produce and spices, and some unfamiliar ones as well (at least to me): mirin, (a Japanese rice wine), umeboshi (a savory plum), Japanese sweet potato, Kuromoji (spice bush), Hatomugicha tea, and Shikuwasa lime.
Alesong and Himitsu have a barrel-aged saison with Wakame seaweed and Dekopon orange, ColdFire and North Island are bringing a lager made with Koji rice and Japanese plum, and Little Beast and Ushitora are bringing a biere de garde with hatomugicha tea. You can see the full list here.
The Deeper Exchanges
“Although Fuji to Hood is ostensibly a beer festival,” Fuji to Hood’s Gillen said, “it is actually a festival celebrating bonds between Oregon and Japan.” He noted that the Fest actually attracts more people interested in “the Japanese cultural component,” as Gillen described it. He added: “Put another way, there were more ‘Japan fans’ than ‘beer fans’ in attendance.” That makes it a rare beer event in which brewers can speak to people outside their normal ambit.
For the breweries who participate, it serves as a kind of cultural education. “I honestly didn't know much about Japanese culture or brewing tradition prior to last year's Hood to Fuji festival,” ColdFire’s Hughes said. “I believe that this is also true with the budding craft beer scene in Japan. When I arrived in Tokyo, I was overwhelmed and amazed by the beauty of their cities, countryside and the warmth and generosity of the people. It's been a while since I've felt that much excitement talking with other brewers. The energy is palpable and contagious. This sort of excitement is always inspiring and a good reminder as to why I got into brewing craft beer.”
For Alesong’s Van Wyk, who is experiencing this event for the first time, it’s the beginning of that relationship. “I'm hoping we are selected in 2025 when the fest moves to Japan and I can learn more about the craft beer culture in Japan. Our beer has been sold in Japan for years, but I've yet to be able to go over and experience it all.”
For Little Beast’s Porter, who has been involved in the past few rounds of the Fest, it has been a very meaningful experience.
“This festival is very close to my heart. It allows the brewers to let go of preconceived notions of what beer should be or how we were taught to brew. Not only because of using a non-traditional ingredients, but because of how we process the beer itself to reflect the character of that ingredient in a unique light. And of course it's not just the use of alternative ingredients that makes the learning of how the Japanese approach to brewing works. It's the unique view and cultural disposition that imparts passion, precision, and tenacity which is very inspiring.”
The fest is held just one day every two years. If you’re interested, don’t miss it: Fuji to Hood is less than two weeks away.