Victory Collaborates With Tokyo’s Devil Craft Brewery

We all know that lagers take patience and time to become the delightful things that they are. But, would you believe that this one took nearly two years to be realized?

The first step in the process was in April of 2014 when Albert of AQ Bevolution, our importer into Japan, introduced me to Jason, John, and Mike, the three founders/brewers of the landmark Tokyo beer bar, Devil Craft. There we talked loosely of a collaboration as they were moving steadily toward opening their own brewery, and as we had some excess capacity that would permit us the chance to do such fun things now that our Parkesburg brewery was up and running.

Then, in June of last year a whirlwind five day tour full of promotions and account visits in Tokyo placed me at Devil Craft’s new brewing facility the very first night of my trip. It was an awesome open house as the installed equipment was being shown to the homebrewing and craft beer community, including professional brewers, for the first time. I felt honored to be among this thirsty crowd that sweaty evening. The energy and enthusiasm surrounding craft beer in that place that night took me back to memories such as the 1988 Great American Beer Festival where Ron and I really got swept up in the thrill of great beer and great beer community.

Supporting the culture of great beer around the globe is part of the thrill for us today. We do that by exporting a bit, keeping up supportive banter on Twitter and with sporadic collaborations such as our recent one with Freigeist Bierkultur of Germany.

Bill (left), Jason

The planning of our collaboration brew got pretty serious during that June visit. This picture of Jason Koehler of Devil Craft and I at the Brewers Association sponsored American Craft Beer Experience festival seems like a window into our future now as our very own Matt Couch, who guided the Devil Craft Lager brew to perfection is seen on a video shown in the background. Our use of whole flower hops really intrigued the Devil Craft guys and we began talking about pils as an option. We all agreed that a lager was the right angle to play, as a nod to Pennsylvania’s rich lager brewing tradition.

On Sept. 29 Jason wrote “One possible variant idea we might consider, is a session variant of an IPL,” taking us into a whole new range of possibility. Albert stoked the fire of creativity further by noting “Most craft beer drinkers in Japan think of Prima as being the best American craft pils. A riff on this base would be exciting and buzz-creating,” focusing in on how we could expand Japanese consumers’ sense of styles. A few days passed and Jason came back with

“We talked a little amongst ourselves – we could get behind an Amber Lager. One good way to do so is to use a little bit of crystal rye malt. Not only would it add color, it would also add a slight bit of extra character and complexity that would serve as a good counterbalance to what we are envisioning as fairly abundant hops in a lager/IPL.” And with that, we were off and running! In the final recipe crystal rye shines brightly at 13% of the grain bill while mostly Hull Saphir hops are featured with Spalt Spalt hops finishing.

The fateful brew day arrived on November 30. We had strategically planned the afternoon and evening before that to ‘acclimate’ the boys (Albert from AQ, and Jason and John from Devil Craft; Mike took one for the team and stayed in Tokyo to continue brewing the early Devil Craft beers) to the waters of Downingtown as they had been on the road before arrival, visiting with their families in the states for Thanksgiving. Over about six, patient and fun-filled hours they managed to try samples of most of our draft line-up that day, Round Robin being a sublime highlight for Albert and John especially. The brew proceeded without a hitch, leaving us some time to tour the Parkesburg brewery together.

As much as the whole process was fun to experience, the real fun is enjoying the resulting beer. We were all a bit anxious to taste what we had created. Matt Couch put our minds at ease by reporting this on Dec. 29. “It’s a fantastic mix of malt character, yeast ester, and hop character. The hops are starting to shine through now, as cold time has done its good work. The taste leading in is a hint of biscuit maltiness followed up with a hop character takeover. Earthy, floral, and a touch of lime zest all finish out this well balanced IPL. Thoroughly enjoyable.”

I could not agree with Matt more, also sensing an earthy character that the rye malt and hops tag team on in this flavorful 5.1% A.B.V. Sensation. It won’t wait 2 years for you to try it, I’m sure!

–Bill Covaleski

Bill, John, Jason, Albert (left to right)