Kiuchi Brewing – best known for Hitachino line of beers suffered some damage in the recent Japan quake. Posted to their website since the quake –
A big earthquake happend around our brewery. It will take a long time todo our ordinary job including export to foreign countries.
We will do our best to reconstruct our brewery, so please wait for a while.
In leiu of brewing, Kiuchi Brewing is has suspended production of beer and is bottling water to help the victims of this terrible tragedy.
Posted to a BeerAdvocate forum today was a response from B. United, importers of Hitachino:
Hi Polly:
Thank you so much for your very kind words & understanding. Indeed, New Orleanians can probably best relate to the incredible scope & scale of this disaster. I received the following email from Toshiyuki Kiuchi yesterday {see below}.
I am in touch with Toshiyuki to organize how best the proceeds of many fund raising events can be transferred directly to him /to the families in need without loss to bureaucracies and/or administration.
1. They are all ok . Kiuchi brewery, in particular the Sake part, was damaged & need fixing/rebuilding. He will keep you posted.
2. The most damage was caused to Sendai, about 180 miles northeast of Mito. Lots of damage, but more importantly, lots of people missing.
3. Kiuchi brewery is now using their full brewery capacity to bottle water for people who have lost their homes. As you might have read on the internet there is a severe shortage on food & water there. We are extremely proud of Kiuchi Brewery’s commitment
and fast action to help everyone in need.
4. We are putting together a shipment of special kegs & cases [at our cost] to be shipped to Kiuchi Brewery as soon as possible/appropriate. We want to organize a special event at Kiuchi brewery to raise money for all these many people who have lost their homes and loved ones.
I will keep you posted.
PS Over the next months we will not be able to perfectly serve all our markets with Hitachino Nestbeer. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and your /our Hitachino customers. But we DO believe that you and all your /our Hitachino customers will understand & embrace Kiuchi Brewery’s societal responsibility and commitment.
Here is a brief update on the situation of several
Japanese craft brewers in the earthquake region:
http://beeringinmind.blogspot.com/2011/03/japanese-craft-breweries-in-earthquake.html
Thanks for the Japanese brewer update. I’ve been collecting articles for a post… much appreciated.
Is there some way that we can support Kiuchi and/or those who are distributing their water in their efforts to bring water into the areas of Japan hit hard by the Tsunami?
It would be great to be able to directly support a small Japanese group that is working so hard on the ground right now while the bigger organizations are taking a while to amp up and get their aid ready to go. Here this little company can have a huge, direct impact simply by bottling water instead of beer.
Let us know if there is a way. I can certainly give up the cost of a few six-packs of premium beer to help people who don’t have enough clean water right now.