In an unusual partnership, Urban Chestnut Brewing Company of St. Louis and Miyasaka Brewing of Suwa City, Japan, have collaborated to craft a unique beer with sake influence to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Japan America Society of St. Louis (JASSTL). The beer, named “Konomi,” will make its debut at this year’s Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden over Labor Day weekend.
How did this partnership come about? In 2016, the JASSTL and Urban Chestnut partnered and presented a unique beer and sake tasting event. As both beer and sake are made through a fermentation process, the JASSTL put on an event with speakers from both brewing traditions. UCBC’s Adam McBrady explained their brewing philosophy as well as the beer brewing process and its history. In comparison, Katsuhiko Miyasaka of Miyasaka Brewing explained the brewing and traditions of sake as well as the history of the nearly three and a half centuries that the Miyasaka family has been brewing. Coming from breweries with a veneration for the past as well as an eye to the future, the two speakers found much in common, and they decided to remain in contact should future opportunities to work together present themselves. When Adam was approached by Dr. Chikako Usui, President of the JASSTL, and her associate Chip Meyer regarding the possibility of UCBC making a special beer for the upcoming 50th anniversary, they realized this was a unique opportunity to bring the St. Louis and Suwa cities and breweries together in celebration.
Miyasaka Brewing is based in St. Louis’ sister city of Suwa, in the mountainous Nagano prefecture west of Tokyo. Brewed by the Miyasaka family since 1662, their Masumi sake (meaning transparency, or truth) is highly regarded. It was also at their brewery where the world’s most popular sake yeast strain, “Brewing Association Yeast #7” was first discovered and isolated. After discussing the elegance of a sister cities collaboration to celebrate JASSTL’s 50 th anniversary, Miyasaka very generously sent Urban Chestnut some of their home yeast to brew the new beer.
Urban Chestnut’s Brewing and QA team went to work studying how best to work with the special yeast. Initial tests indicated that the home yeast gave the beer a fruity, mellow flavor, and the ultimate consensus was to replace a portion of the grain bill with rice and focus on making a light and refreshing beer suitable for the warm days of the Japanese festival. In homage to the Missouri Botanical Garden, a decision was made to include ceremonial grade matcha in small quantities to the beer. This addition gives the beer a slight essence of the intense, powdered green tea without overwhelming or competing with the Belgian-like characteristic of the yeast.
A call was sent out to select individuals to seek their expertise in naming the beer. The ultimate choice was Konomi , which means “to like,” or “to favour.” Dave Lowry, an expert on Japanese culture, suggested this name as in the tea ceremony konomi means “a creative impulse that enlivens something in a new way.”
The Japanese Festival was Saturday through Monday on Labor Day weekend at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Konomi beer was available in the food court at the Japan America Society beer and sake booth. See the Garden’s website for more information about the festival.
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/
Konomi - 好み
September 2- 4, 2017
Thank you to all who attended the Japanese festival, this year we had the second highest record of attendance coming in at 39,764! It was special to us at JAS because it was a part of our 50-year anniversary Celebration!
This year our Tee Shirt booth featured multiple shirts including our 2017 Japanese Festival tee shirt with danchiku 暖竹(giant cane of Bamboo), the five virtues of Bushido and beautiful calligraphy for Flower.
Urban Chestnut teamed up with Masumi Sake to make a perfect beer, Konomi 好み, for a hot summers day. This was our first year selling draught beer and it was a great success! It was so widely enjoyed that our last cup sold before 2PM on Monday. Thank you again Urban Chestnut for collaborating with Masumi Sake to make this tasty beer for the 50th anniversary of the Japan America Society of St. Louis.
Thank you Dr. Chikako Usui for the wonderful Ikebana demonstration that was standing room only.
Congratulations to International Institute on winning our first annual Trivia Night!
May 21, 2017
Following our successful partnership from last year, Japan America Society and the St. Louis Art Museum collaborated on the "Passport to Japan" Family Sunday program. Visitors to the museum enjoyed a hands-on origami workshop, several bon odori (including several with audience participation), taiko, and a lion dance. We look forward to bringing this program back next May.
Our Celebration of Japanese Culture was another successful partnership with the Missouri History Museum – our fifth! Despite the beautiful weather enticing everyone outside, many people came inside to learn about Japanese culture and traditions. We received compliments and thank-yous from appreciative attendees.
The Japan America Society of St. Louis thanks the Missouri History Museum and everyone who attended this event—performers, speakers, volunteer assistants, our JASWA friends, and our many guests. This was a wonderful experience of learning and celebrating and sharing the richness of Japanese heritage.
The JAS mission is to promote friendship and understanding between the people of Japan and the US. We support those who are learning Japanese arts as well as those with years of expertise. Thanks to a grant from Boeing, we can expand our mission of sharing culture and nurturing local talent.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chip Meyer Tel. 636-221-0926 Email: cmeyer@jasstl.org Date: 03/21/2017
Dr. Chikako Usui, President of the Japan America Society of St. Louis (JASSTL), has been elected to the executive committee of the National Association of Japan America Societies (NAJAS) in 2017 for a three-year term. She has also recently been awarded a Commendation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for outstanding work in promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S.A. Mr. Toshiyuki Iwado, Consul General of Japan, Chicago, came to St. Louis for the 40th anniversary of the Japanese Festival and to personally present Dr. Usui with the Commendation.
These achievements are a fitting honor following Dr. Usui’s ten years as president of JASSTL. During her tenure, she has obtained funded grants to revitalize the Japan America Society of St. Louis, greatly increasing its activity, exposure, and service to the St. Louis community. Her election to NAJAS will provide opportunities to fulfill her commitment to US-Japan relations on a national level.
Dr. Usui is an Associate Professor of Sociology and a Fellow of International Studies and Programs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has served as President of the Japan America Society of St. Louis (JASSTL) since 2008. Under her leadership, JASSTL expanded its business and cultural programs and its presence in the community and increased its membership and corporate sponsorships. JASSTL provides Japan-US business programs with signature networking sushi and sake receptions, as well as authentic cultural experiences such as ikebana floral arrangement and tea ceremony, which are open to the public. It partners with schools and local institutions to present programs on Japanese culture and history and is a major player in the popular annual Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the largest Japanese festivals in the country, drawing well-over 30,000 visitors annually.
Since the 2011 earthquake-tsunami disaster in Japan, JASSTL has been recipient of grants offered to only three other Japan America Societies in the US to foster exchange between child victims of the disaster and US students. Through the Tomodachi Friendship program, JASSTL has brought young students from Ishinomaki (near Sendai) to St. Louis to discover American culture and has taken St. Louis area students to the tsunami-damaged regions to study recovery efforts and see the resilience of the people.
Founded in 1967, the mission of JASSTL is to promote exchange and understanding between the people of Japan and the US, provide business and cultural programs, and be the go-to source of information about Japan. People have mistakenly believed JASSTL is only for Japanese and Japanese-Americans, but its membership is diverse and welcoming to all who are interested in Japan. JASSTL is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in 2017.
View PDF of media release here.
We had a packed house to hear three engaging speakers at our Spring Japan Update event hosted by our member, Novus International. Talks by Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Carnegie Asia Program senior fellow James Schoff, and founder and managing director of The Yield Lab Thad Simons were followed by a wonderful sushi and sake reception provided by Chef de Art Catering. A big "Thank you!" to our speakers, to the sponsors - the National Association of Japan America Societies (NAJAS) and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, to everyone who attended, and to everyone who worked to bring this opportunity to St. Louis.
The Japan America Society enlists local writers each year to contribute to A Touch of Japanese Tradition - an annual publication focused on different aspects of Japanese culture. Previous topics included haiku, chanoyu (tea ccermony), kimono, and botany. The topic for 2016 is Japanese Food and that latest issue is now available!
Click here for A Touch of Japanese Tradition.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the ANA Ticket Raffle at the 40th Annual Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens!
Our winner, Susan W., was randomly drawn from over 350 tickets on September 5th during the Japan America Society’s Tomodachi Presentation. Congratulations Susan, and we hope you enjoy a wonderful trip to Japan!
We cannot thank you enough for your continued support of the Japan America Society of St. Louis. If you would like to stay up with date with all of the opportunities and discounts offered by the Japan America Society, please consider becoming a member.
"Japan America Society of St. Louis" is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. University of Missouri - St. Louis 362 SSB 1 University Boulevard St. Louis MO 63121-4400
