Three female Japanese-Brazilian brewers, Japas Cervejaria, are the most exciting story in craft brewing.
Japas Cervejaria, based in Sãu Paulo, Brazil, is co-owned by the three Nipo-Brazilian women who share their passion, culture, and craft. Their beers blend heritage, flavors, and culture. They are their beer brand in the United States and the world.
Maíru Kimura, Yumi Shimada, and Fernanda Ueno co-founded the company. They recently traveled on a U.S. east-to-west coast trip featuring beers, collaborations, and media requests.
The threesome launched their brewery in 2015.
As a whole, women are under-represented in the craft brewing scene today.
Many women brew beer and always have, but mostly what you hear about are the men. That’s one reason these women piqued my interest on a different level. Japanese women brewing craft beer in their home country of Brazil? How much more interesting could it get?
Hundreds of thousands of craft breweries are worldwide, so I’m not ashamed to have just learned about this trio. If you’re like us, you’ll also be happy to know about them. I wish I had known about them earlier.
Beautiful Images
The images posted by their P.R. agency, Indie Creative Co., a Colorado-based communications firm specializing in food and lifestyle promotions headed by Chea Franz, were compelling.
The Asian influence in the images with chopsticks, ginger, or coffee beans is attention-grabbing. A beer can with Asian or Brazilian symbols or orange slices is immediately eye-catching. The artwork is a reflection of the Japanese population that makes Brazil home. That interested me, as well.
History
Nipo-Brazilians or Japanese-Brazilians are Brazilian-born people with Japanese ancestry.
Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan. Japanese immigration to Brazil happened in 1908 when the Japanese ship Kasato-Maru arrived in Santos, south of Sāu Paulo.
More than two million Nipo-Brazilians call Brazil home today.
Nowadays, everyone seems to like fusion, and fusion in craft brewing is a natural appeal in the U.S. With a love of Asian culture, Brazilian passion, and cutting-edge craft beer creations, this was a perfect story for us.
The trio promoted and told their story with beers such as the American pale ale with wasabi or yuzu (a Korean orange and grapefruit blend). The beers also include a strong influence from Sãu Paulo, Brazil.
Máiru Kimura is the business director, Yumi Shimada is the creative director, and Fernanda Ueno is the brewer. The beers honor both cultures’ cuisine. The combination of flavors such as ginger, jasmine, and yuzu with jaboticaba (Brazilian Grape Tree) and orange peel is unique.
“Through Japas, we got deeply connected with our ancestry, and we got to know our past better. It also connected us more with our families as our lineage and history are proudly showcased in the beer,” says Maíru Kimura, the brewer and business strategist for the Japas Cervejaria team. “Through this process of beer-making, we learn about ourselves and about Japanese culture every day.”
The term Japas is slang and refers to people of Japanese descent.
The three co-founders say the name or term should only be used when given permission or mentioning anything about the brewery.
The brewers say they use the slang to re-signify and reappropriate the term to showcase their pride in their background.
Who are the Founders?
Kimura started brewing beer at home in 2009. She learned to brew professionally in England in 2011 and took technical courses. She also received her brewer’s certification from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.
She graduated from the British Brewing Technology course at Brewlab, England, and once back in Brazil in 2012, she graduated from SENAI’s Advanced Brewing Technology course and Doemen’s Beer Sommelier.
Kimura
Kimura was a partner at 2cabeças Brewery, a craft beer distribution company in Rio de Janeiro.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from UFRJ (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) and an MBA in marketing from FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas). She takes management, entrepreneurship, and business development classes at PUC-RS’ MBA (Pontifícia Universidade Católica).
Ueno
Ueno gives credit to her father, who has always been interested in the brewing business. She studied food engineering and architecture, which led to home brewing projects.
Ueno handles the production of beers in Brazil and the United States.
After graduating in Food Engineering at UFSC – Federal University of Santa Catarina, she started her brewing career as a trainee. She finished her master brewer program at UC Davis in 2015 and is also a certified beer sommelière.
Shimada
After ten years with Cervejaria Colorado, where she was the head brewer, she worked on quality and innovation improvement projects for international breweries such as Bogatá Beer Company, Birra del Borga, and Brouwerij Bosteels.
In addition, Fernanda worked for Nestlé Waters with P&D France, where she studied process engineering at UTC (Université de Technologie de Compiègne).
After watching the craft beer boom explode, Yumi Shimada took a beer sommelier course in 2012. She traveled to festivals and trade shows and started creating artwork for breweries through her experiences.
Shimada, co-founder, and creative director graduated in digital design from Universidade Anhembi Morumbi. She also worked with Collage as a visual artist, where she applied brewery labels.
She has been involved in advertising for 15 years, working as an art director for major brands such as Netflix, Huggies, Amazon, Asics, Tanqueray, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Delta, Adidas, Bank of America, Beefeater, Guaraná Antarctifa, and for agencies such as Crispin Porter + Bogusky, CuboCC, Soko, DPZ, Neogama, FCB Brasil, Campbell Ewald (U.S.), the Monkeys (A.U.), and many others.
While working in advertising, she started her beer career by taking a course on beer Sommelière at Associação Brasileira de Sommeliers-SP. Soon after, she worked creating labels for other beer brands and artwork for magazines in the beer market.
The trio joined forces in 2014 to brew a beer with a home brewing system. The beer was made in a 40-liter batch system and was an American Pale ale paired with Japanese ingredients. The crowd’s favorite blend featured Wasabi.
The American Pale Ale Wasabi was so popular that a brewpub invited the trio to make an 800-liter batch.
Story Behind the Beers
Every Japas beer has a story, from the American Pale Ale with wasabi to a sour beer with yuzu. Tangerine also prominently features an IPA that honors the ship’s arrival and the fruit on board the boat.
Combining Japanese ingredients and concepts in recipes is part of the trio’s passion. The group has roots in gastronomy and enjoys visiting restaurants and markets in their daily lives and through travel.
Many of the beers feature tea. One of the most delicate and flavorful teas is made using the Jasmine petals called Matsurika. The petals in the Pilsen with Jasmine recipe of Matsurika are available in Brazil, and the U.S. has an aromatic note for the tastebuds.
Ginger is used in the Oishii, a 4.7% Witbier with orange peel and ginger. “As an ingredient of unmistakable flavor, ginger is used in Japanese dishes and teas, according to the beer description.
“And that’s the element that gives a special touch to our Witbier, a soft, refreshing, and super tasty style with wheat and orange peels in this recipe. The name of this beer means “yummy” in Japanese, and we made it especially to combine with light dishes, causing the drinker to exclaim an “Oishii” at the end of each sip.”
The Black Matsurika is a roasted malt Czech Dark Lager with a floral aroma at 5% ABV.
The Ultra Sorachi, in production in the United States, is a 6.5% ABV NE IPA inspired by the famous Kyodai Hero genre in old Japanese television shows.
The Ultra Sorachi features ultra hop with a lemony flavor for a juicy IPA.
Cocktails
They also currently offer two Haiboru (highball) cans in Brazil. Haiboru Classic and Haiboru Yuzu are cocktails with two ingredients to create a high-alcohol-content carbonated beverage.
In 2019, Japas Cervejaria began brewing in the United States through Beerternational. The program allows breweries to create fresh batches of beer in the U.S.
Beerternational is also a woman-owned company and platform that helps brew, distribute, and sell beers in the U.S.
And today, Japa’s is in 10 U.S. markets: California, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Japas will also be available in South Carolina and Texas soon.
Collaborations
Japas released a variety of new beers across the U.S., from California, New York, and Rhode Island, on their tour.
They held a collaboration release party in August at Lamplighter Brewing Co. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And a food and beer pairing at Fortnight Wine Bar in Providence, Rhode Island, featured nine different Japa’s beers.
They also took over the taps at The Jeffrey NYC Craft Beer & Bites and a ‘Meet the Brewers’ event at Kimura.
The brewers then participated in a “Chasing Japas Brunch” at Izakaya Juraku and a ‘Meet the Brewer’ event at Flatiron Restaurant in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Simultaneously, they released Omontenashi with TETRA, featuring a fireside chat at TETRA Hotel in Sunnyvale, Calif. They also had a ‘Japas Cervejaria & Friends Summer Celebration’ at TETRA Hotel and a ‘Brewers Dinner’ at Adrestia in Sunnyvale, Calif.
When we reached out for more information, the women were scattered worldwide. Two were back home in Brazil. One was in Brussels.
Female brewers are making a name for themselves in the craft brewing industry. These three females define their place with solid beer flavors, unique branding, a culturally blended story, family tradition, and diversity.
“Our role is to raise awareness not only for our empowerment within feminism and Asian causes but also to embrace all kinds of diversity that are often excluded,” Shimada said in her statement. “Because we are women and Japanese descendants in a world of white and male dominance, it is more important than ever to show that representation matters.”
The women joined others to support their cause, including Beers Without Beards and RIDEAFest. They’ve managed through a pandemic, supply chain issues, and the usual challenges of being business owners.
They continue to learn about the craft of brewing beer and trends in the industry. They hope to make a difference around the world with their way of doing business.
New Beers on the Horizon?
They are working on a new beer line called ICHI/UM, a New England IPA with Yuzu and cacao. They created a Russian Imperial Stout with Brazilian vanilla and ponkan (honey tangerine).
And they hope to collaborate with different breweries, particularly in the U.S.
Japa’s beers are rich in aromas, flavors, and culture, representing Brazil and Japan in a contemporary way.
The beer can label design is also frame-worthy and should be collected and displayed. It features cheery, pastel colors with dark tones for dramatic effect.
Don’t forget to check out their online merchandise storefront, Arigatou by Japas.
For more information about Japas Cervejaria, click Japas Cerevejaria.
Help us feature more interesting people and breweries by emailing Editor@BrewsTravelingWomen.com.
Cheers!