Inside COEDO: What to Try, How to Enjoy It & the Craft Behind Every Glass

If you are trying COEDO for the first time, which beer should you choose?

Which bottle does someone who works at COEDO personally come back to? And what would they pair with a Sunday roast, shepherd's pie or even chocolate cake?

To find out, we spoke with Ms Tsukamoto from COEDO's Customer Communication Team about her favourite beers, the best place to start with COEDO, food pairings and some of the details behind the brewing process that customers rarely get to see.

Our previous guide explored COEDO's roots, brewing philosophy and the story behind its beers. This time, we wanted to go a little further and discover what COEDO feels like from the perspective of someone who works closely with the brand every day.

■ COEDO Still Feels at Home in Kawagoe

When we asked Ms Tsukamoto what makes something feel particularly “COEDO”, she did not begin with brewing equipment or even a particular beer.

She began with Kawagoe.

COEDO is a beer brand that has grown alongside the city. Today, Kawagoe is also a popular visitor destination, and social media is full of photographs and posts from people exploring the area.

Among them, Ms Tsukamoto often notices people enjoying COEDO.

The connection becomes especially visible during local festivals, when COEDO can be seen outside liquor shops and restaurants throughout the city.

In other words, COEDO's relationship with Kawagoe is not simply part of the brand's past.

It is a relationship that continues today, as people in the area keep drinking, serving and sharing the beer.

■ New to COEDO? Start with Beniaka

So, if you have never tried COEDO before, which bottle should you choose first?

Ms Tsukamoto's recommendation is Beniaka.

Beniaka is made using sweet potato from the Kawagoe area and is one of the beers most closely associated with COEDO's identity.

The company behind COEDO originally began as an organic vegetable wholesaler, giving it a strong connection with agriculture from the beginning.

Its alcohol content is slightly higher than some of the other beers in the range, but strength is only part of its character.

Ms Tsukamoto highlights the sweetness and richness of the malt together with the gentle mouthfeel contributed by the sweet potato.

For anyone who wants not only to taste COEDO but also to understand something of the story behind the brewery, Beniaka makes a particularly meaningful place to begin.

■ Already Love Craft Beer? Try Shikkoku

For someone who already drinks craft beer regularly, Ms Tsukamoto gives a different answer.

Her recommendation is Shikkoku.

COEDO enters international beer competitions held in countries including Germany, Australia and the United States. According to Ms Tsukamoto, Shikkoku has received more awards than any other beer in the COEDO line-up.

But the awards are not the only reason she recommends it.

What she particularly wants experienced beer drinkers to notice is the contrast between the rich aroma and body associated with dark beer and its surprisingly light drinking character.

It is a good example of an idea that appears throughout the COEDO range: a beer can have a distinctive character without allowing one element to overwhelm everything else.

■ Before the First Sip, Look at the Glass

One of Ms Tsukamoto's simplest suggestions for getting more from a COEDO beer requires no specialist beer knowledge at all.

Take a moment to look at it before drinking.

The colour is different from beer to beer, of course, but so are the aroma and even the way the foam forms after the beer is poured.

Aromas can come from very different sources too. Some are influenced by hops, others by yeast, while different hop varieties themselves can produce noticeably different aromas.

For many of the beers, Ms Tsukamoto recommends chilling the glass as well as the beer, helping it remain cold through to the final sip.

However, not every beer needs to be treated in exactly the same way.

Shikkoku and Beniaka can also be enjoyed at slightly warmer temperatures.

Pour one into a room-temperature glass and drink it slowly, and you can experience how the flavour changes as the temperature gradually rises.

■ Beniaka Tastes Very Different Before Fermentation

One of the most interesting details from our interview concerned what happens to Beniaka long before the finished beer reaches the bottle.

Beer production includes a stage known as mashing.

During conventional brewing, warm water is added to malt and enzymes help break the starches within the malt down into sugars.

With Beniaka, another ingredient enters that process.

Roasted sweet potato is added alongside the malt.

This means that starch from the sweet potato, as well as starch from the malt, is broken down into sugar.

According to Ms Tsukamoto, after the following filtration stage, Beniaka's wort tastes noticeably sweeter than the wort used for COEDO's other beers.

Then fermentation transforms it.

Much of the sugar is converted into alcohol, so the character of the finished beer becomes very different from the intensely sweet wort that existed earlier in the brewing process.

It is an aspect of Beniaka that would be difficult to discover simply by reading the bottle label.

And it helps explain why Beniaka is much more than simply “a beer with sweet potato”.

The sweet potato participates directly in the brewing process before fermentation changes the sugars and transforms the finished flavour.

■ The COEDO Ms Tsukamoto Keeps Coming Back To

When we asked Ms Tsukamoto about her own favourite COEDO, she chose Shiro.

Her favourite can change depending on her mood, she says, but Shiro has remained a favourite for a long time.

There is also a personal story behind the choice.

Ms Tsukamoto did not originally consider herself someone who particularly enjoyed beer.

Then she tried Shiro.

Today, she enjoys Shiro with meals, but that is not the only way she drinks it.

One of her recent favourites is drinking it outdoors in the early evening as the sun begins to set.

Another is simpler still: enjoying Shiro at home in the evening with a light snack.

For someone who often finds conventional beer too bitter, Shiro may therefore offer an interesting way into the COEDO range.

■ COEDO with Sunday Roast? Absolutely.

It is easy to assume that a Japanese beer should naturally be paired with Japanese food.

But Ms Tsukamoto encourages drinkers to be much more flexible.

COEDO's range has been designed so that different beers can be enjoyed alongside food, and those combinations do not need to be limited to Japanese dishes.

For UK drinkers, she specifically suggests experimenting with familiar British favourites such as Sunday roast and shepherd's pie.

There is also a simple starting point if you are unsure what to pair.

It is not a strict rule, but it can be an easy way to begin experimenting.

And the pairing does not have to stop after the main course.

Rather than treating beer simply as a drink before or after dinner, COEDO can become part of the meal itself.

■ COEDO Is Older Than Many UK Drinkers Realise

Because COEDO has only been sold in the UK for a relatively short time, Ms Tsukamoto says that some people assume it is a new brewery.

In fact, COEDO has been brewing beer since 1996.

Ms Tsukamoto describes it as part of the first generation of Japanese craft beer.

She explains that small-scale brewing had previously been difficult in Japan, but changes to the law in 1994 helped open the way for smaller breweries.

COEDO began brewing two years later.

Compared with the centuries-long history of brewing around the world, that may still sound relatively young.

Within modern Japanese craft beer, however, COEDO has been brewing since close to the beginning of the movement.

Today, Ms Tsukamoto notes that COEDO can be found not only in specialist shops in Japan but also in convenience stores and supermarkets.

It therefore occupies an interesting position: rooted in craft brewing while also becoming a familiar part of everyday beer culture in Japan.

■ One of the Most Important Jobs in Brewing? Cleaning.

When people imagine beer being made, they may picture malt, hops, tanks and fermentation.

But when we asked Ms Tsukamoto which part of COEDO's brewing process requires particularly careful work, her answer was surprisingly simple.

Cleaning.

Beer is not created by human hands alone.

Yeast plays an essential role in transforming the ingredients into beer, which means one of the brewer's most important responsibilities is creating the right environment for that yeast to work.

And yeast is sensitive.

Even a small amount of contamination can cause significant problems, so the equipment used throughout the process — from brewing to filling — needs to be kept thoroughly clean.

It is work that is almost invisible in the finished glass.

Yet that invisible attention to cleanliness helps create the conditions needed for the beer to develop as intended.

■ Around 20 Brewers, Adjusting the Details Batch by Batch

According to Ms Tsukamoto, around 20 beer craftspeople are involved in brewing at COEDO.

Their attention begins with the raw materials, including the selection of malt and hops, relationships surrounding the sweet potatoes used in brewing, and the cultivation of yeast in-house.

But consistently making the same beer does not necessarily mean following exactly the same process without adjustment every time.

Agricultural ingredients change.

Temperatures change.

Conditions vary from batch to batch.

COEDO's brewers therefore look at the condition of the raw materials and the surrounding circumstances, making small adjustments to the recipe as needed.

That combination of consistency and human judgement is another part of the brewing process that is difficult to see from the bottle alone.

■ What COEDO Wants UK Drinkers to Experience

Finally, we asked Ms Tsukamoto how she would describe COEDO to someone in Britain who had never tried it.

Her answer brings together many of the themes behind the brewery.

COEDO continues to make authentic beer influenced by German brewing techniques, while remaining closely connected with its own history and local roots.

Each beer has its own individual character, but Ms Tsukamoto describes the flavours as delicate rather than overpowering.

They are distinctive, but not designed simply to shout for attention.

The visual identity also carries something of Japan with it. COEDO's labels use colours inspired by traditional Japanese colours.

■ Which COEDO Should You Try First?

After speaking with Ms Tsukamoto, it becomes clear that there is no single correct place to begin.

Whichever beer you choose, take a moment before the first sip.

Look at the colour.

Notice the foam.

Smell the beer.

Try it with food.

And if you are drinking Beniaka or Shikkoku, consider letting the glass warm gradually and noticing how the flavour changes.

Explore COEDO at Yutaka Shop Online

COEDO Beniaka

Ms Tsukamoto's recommendation for first-time COEDO drinkers. A beer closely connected with Kawagoe, agriculture and COEDO's history.

View product →

COEDO Shikkoku

Recommended by Ms Tsukamoto for experienced craft beer drinkers who want to explore the balance of richness and lightness in a dark beer.

View product →

COEDO Shiro

A long-time personal favourite of Ms Tsukamoto, particularly for its fruitiness, gentle bitterness and soft mouthfeel.

View product →

COEDO Kyara

One of the beers Ms Tsukamoto suggests exploring with food — including the unexpected combination of Kyara and a buttery financier.

View product →

■ Frequently Asked Questions