Craft Beer by Female Students from Sugiyama Jogakuen University, Nagoya

“We want to create a beer that we want to drink!”

A rare craft beer (local beer) created by female university students has been born. The original craft beer from Sugiyama Jogakuen University (Nagoya City) was completed with the help of Ryosuke Shibakaki, a professor from the Department of Foreign Languages, and a group of enthusiastic students. The project began from the desire of students to create a beer that women would want to drink.

According to Mei Mizukami (21) and Misaki Ikedo (22), fourth-year students in the Department of Foreign Languages who proposed the idea:

“Young people tend to drink less beer, and many women especially dislike the bitterness. We thought it would be interesting to tackle this as a women’s university.”

Using unconventional peaches to reduce food waste.

The first product was “Sugiyama Peach Craft Beer,” which used peaches harvested from Toyota City, with the collaboration of the beer workshop “Butterfly Brewery” in Kasugai City.

By using peaches that could not be shipped due to irregular shapes or other reasons, the project aimed to contribute to reducing food waste and promoting local consumption.

The project began in September, and after about two months, the first beer was finally completed. Fifteen students were involved in the entire process, from crushing the malt to removing unnecessary components from the boiled wort through the whirlpool method. When asked about the most challenging part, one student said:

“Getting the peach flavor was difficult. At first, we couldn’t taste it, and it wasn’t until we added all 40 kg of peaches that the peach flavor finally came through.”

The completed beer was showcased at the “Ichinomiya Craft Beer Party” on November 2-3. It received great praise, and plans are underway for a second batch after further market research and analysis.

The female university students work together to slice the peaches. Afterward, they carefully disinfect them by boiling before adding them to the wort.