Montana Brewer Embraces Japanese Heritage With its Latest Lager
The mountains of Montana are a long way from the shores of Japan, but Mountains Walking Brewery’s Founder Gustav Dose is bridging the two worlds together via his craft beer, New Hokkaido.
Dose is half Japanese and spent much of his childhood on the island of Hokkaido, where many of Japan’s 200+ microbreweries are based.
“My mother is Japanese, and it’s my first language. My name is Gen, and I grew up as both Gentaro and Gustav,” says Dose. “So, in many ways, New Hokkaido is Gentaro and Mountains Walking is Gustav, to me anyways.”
To pay homage to his heritage, Dose combined Japanese brewing practices with American craft. Every beer from New Hokkaido features the additions of Japan-sourced rice — as traditionally practiced by Japanese breweries — and American hops.
“I think the rice is central to New Hokkaido,” says Dose. While rice isn’t often seen in American craft IPAs, the distinct flavor of the grain creates a unique experience, adding a drier, more crisp finish that compliments the fruity, American-grown hop varieties.
Despite the fact that New Hokkaido’s first beers were made in Montana, it won’t stay that way as Dose plans to do pop-ups with different breweries around the country to create a variety of beers under the label. Each will combine Japanese brewing practices and flavor profiles with the individual personalities of the different breweries making the beer.
“New Hokkaido is a ‘phantom brewery’ that pops up around the world,” he adds. “The first place happens to be here at Mountains Walking in Bozeman.”
So far, New Hokkaido has released just over a dozen beers, running the gamut from new-school Hazy IPAs (that they call “Snowy IPAs”) to classic Japanese-style Lagers (like Yamabiko above), Fruit Beers, and even a couple of hard seltzers.
Craft aficionados looking for a taste of New Hokkaido don’t have to trek to Big Sky Country (unless they have plans to hang out with Ye) because they can purchase some of the beers via the Tavour app.
