11 Years of Daily Toasts! Beer-Loving Mana Amano’s Original Brew Flying Off Shelves
100 pints in three days
For over 11 years, she has continued to post daily videos of herself raising a glass and drinking beer, and early next year she’s set to reach her 4,444th pint. Many call themselves beer girls, but few are as truly hardcore as talent Mana Amano (33).
Friday Digital interviewed her at the milestone 10th anniversary of her cheers video uploads on Instagram, but the professionals had already recognized her skills. The brewery staff who invited Amano to serve as the official ambassador of the “Sendai Craft Beer Festival 2025” quickly spotted her authenticity. Amano herself revealed:
For those who want to know the journey of how Mana Amano became the ultimate beer girl and her picks for the supreme beers:
“After I accepted the offer, I heard from the organizers that the decisive factor in asking me to be ambassador was last year’s talk show at the Sendai Craft Beer Festival. I was only a guest, but apparently, from just those few minutes of interaction, they thought, ‘This girl is the real deal.’”
When asked the classic question, “What’s your favorite beer?” her answer — “Woodmill Brewery’s Hassaku White” — was so niche that it left festival staff buzzing, wondering, “Who on earth is she?”
“Most people assumed I was just one of those sparkly girls trying to leverage a love of beer as a gimmick for work, so when they saw the passion in my talk, they were thrilled, saying, ‘The gap is amazing,’ and ‘She’s the real thing!’ (laughs).
After the talk show, about 10 of my fans at the venue came over to toast with me. Even though I was told my return Shinkansen was about to leave, I downed all 10 pints before heading to the station. The festival organizers apparently witnessed it all, and later told me, ‘That made us fans too. We just had to talk to you.’”
Incidentally, this was the 7th year of the festival, but the role of official ambassador was newly created this time. Amano proudly became the very first to hold the title.
Last year, her stay was only two to three hours, but as ambassador this year she joined for the full three days. Every two hours she made rounds to the various brewery booths for tastings. Including the breweries that supplied beer without running booths, she sampled 24 different craft beers — plus those gifted by fans — and polished off more than 30 pints.
On the second night, there was an after-party with the festival staff, so, as Amano laughed heartily, “I must have had 100 pints in three days. When I woke up in the morning, my face was totally puffy (laughs).”
A full 250 liters of her personal beer was drunk dry.
Alongside appointing an official ambassador, this year’s “Sendai Craft Beer Festival 2025” introduced another new initiative: the launch of a craft beer devised by Amano herself, “Toriaezu Mana.” The idea came when the organizers suggested, “Since you’re serving as the first ambassador, why not try making your own original beer?”
“I thought that by creating it myself, I could get a deeper understanding of the difficulties, the fun, the struggles, and the charm of craft beer — so I took on the challenge! Even if you think, ‘I want to make it taste like this,’ you won’t know how it’ll turn out until you actually taste it.
It takes about a month and a half from brewing to completion, and when I finally tried it, there were parts where I thought, ‘Yes! This is good!’ and other parts where I felt, ‘So this is how it ends up in reality.’ Still, personally, the taste turned out just as I had imagined.”
In between her ambassador duties of making tasting rounds every two hours, she sold it from a booth by the entrance. The draft kegs sold out, and the cans were nearly all gone. In total, 250 liters of her personal beer were drunk dry.
“There were fans who powered through the entire festival for 11 hours a day across all three days, and some who noticed me pouring a draft and said, ‘Huh? Amano-san?!’ One person even remembered seeing me in a stage play back in 2015. That really meant a lot.
Nearly 40 percent of the people who tried ‘Toriaezu Mana’ were women, and they praised it, saying, ‘It’s smooth and delicious!’ That made me so happy. True to its name, my biggest focus in creating this beer was drinkability.”
The brewing was handled by Ishinomaki Hop Works, and moving forward, it is expected to be available for purchase via the website of “Amber Rondo,” a restaurant owned by Takuma Tamura, who also organizes the Sendai Craft Beer Festival.
Having gained confidence from the success at this year’s festival, Amano already has bigger ambitions.
“I’m working on getting a liquor sales license. I want to acquire both the General Retail Liquor License so I can sell directly to fans at events, and the Mail-Order Retail Liquor License so I can sell through my own website!
Also, while I made ‘Toriaezu Mana’ with a recipe designed to be approachable and enjoyable for anyone regardless of gender, next time I want to brew something with real impact — a beer that leaves a strong impression and makes people think, ‘I want to drink that again.’ The title would be ‘Kore o Noma-NA’ (You’ve got to drink this) (laughs).”
No longer satisfied with just drinking, Amano has stepped into the role of creator. To the FRIDAY Digital reporter, it was clear that the day may come when she participates in the craft beer festival not as an ambassador, but as a brewer in her own right.
