My Visit to the Asahi Brewery   By Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong, Autumn 2008 update

I am Vietnamese and I work at the Hochiminh City Department of Tourism. I am currently attending the Hyogo Overseas Training Program for a total of 3 months in Kobe.

On August 7, 2008 I was lucky to be able to visit the Asahi Breweries Ltd. in Nishinomiya with the Hyogo Tourism Association staff. It takes 45 minutes from Kobe city by Hanshin/Hankyu Railways. I had a wonderful experience at the Asahi Brewery.

The main raw materials used to brew beer are malt, hops, water and yeast. Once harvested, barley is stored for 2 to 3 months. It takes around 10 days for the barley to turn into malt. Following this process, the malt is left to ferment for about one week, and then it takes another few weeks to reach maturity. There are 5 steps to making delicious beer: processing the barley (malting), the mashing process, the fermentation and maturation processes, the filtration process, and the bottling and canning processes.
The mashing, fermentation and maturation processes are in very big tanks. I was surprised at the size of these tanks! There are 180 tanks in the Nishinomiya Brewery and it takes 4000 years for one person to drink all the beer in one tank!

The final process is the fill-height inspection and a visual check. Everyday the sensory test gives the final assurance that the beer that is shipped out will satisfy the customers.
I like beer very much. I've been drinking it since I was 20 but this is the first time I've learnt about the brewing process.

I was very surprised to discover that all the leftovers from the brewing process are useful. For example, malt leftovers can be used to make foods and 10 empty bottles can be recycled to make one staff uniform.
After the Asahi beer tour, we enjoyed free fresh beer with snacks! If you visit Asahi brewery at Nishinomiya, you will have the chance to learn a lot about beer from a very nice staff. Don't forget to buy souvenirs for your friends!

[The Asahi Brewery]

Access:	By train 2 minutes walk from Hankyu Imazu Line Hanshinkokudo Station 15 minutes walk from JR Kobe Line Nishinomiya Station By car 10 minutes drive from Nishinomiya IC (Meishin Expressway)
Address:	11-52 Tsuto Otsuka-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8241
Tel:	0798-36-9595
URL:	http://www.asahibeer.co.jp/factory/brewery/nishinomiya/