Portland’s Shimai-Toshi Brewing makes Yuzu beers for Ramen and Sushi
One of the wildest concepts coming out of the new year is an all yuzu fruit beer brand called Shimai-Toshi Brewing developed by Oregon cycling, merchandising and design pros, one of whom happens to be a citrus farmer. It was one of our most anticipated upcoming new Oregon breweries of 2021.
Shimai-Toshi means “Sister City” in Japanese, and Portland is the sister city of Sapporo in Japan. The new brewing company will take that influence to heart in their food friendly beers that showcase Asian citrus fruit and emphasize drinkability and pairing compatability.
“Yuzu will be an ingredient in some capacity in all releases for the foreseeable future,” says Shimai-Toshi co-founder Sean McMahon. “We’ll definitely experiment with variants and blends for limited releases. e.g. Sudachi, daidai, calamansi, etc.”
Yuzu (Citrus junos, from Japanese 柚子 or ユズ) is a citrus fruit and plant in the family Rutaceae of East Asian origin. Yuzu has been cultivated mainly in East Asia, recently also in Australia, Spain, Italy and France.[1]
It is believed to have originated in central China as a hybrid of mandarin orange and the ichang papeda. The yuzu is called yuja (from Korean 유자) in Korean cuisine. Both Japanese yuzu and Korean yuja are borrowings of the Chinese yòuzi (柚子), though this Chinese word now refers to the pomelo.
- source: wikipedia
Shimai-Toshi’s founders McMahon, Nichole Lemaire, Greg Johnson and Ian Marshall have been off road cycling, and gabbing about design and branding over beers for years. With backgrounds doing work for Nike, Patagonia and Airwalk, the four were experienced in creative endeavours of the visual arts but not so much the brewing portion of the biz. The group leaned on McMahon for knowledge of the craft beer industry as his experience as the owner/operator of boutique design and merchandising company Brewery Outfitters came into play. McMahon had already been a fixture of brewpubs and doing custom design, wearables and beer gear for everyone from Firestone Walker to Ninkasi.
Ian Marshall is a longtime friend of McMahon’s from the mountain biking community, and his small 5 acre fig and citrus farm in Boring, Oregon was part of the impetus to start Shimai-Toshi Brewing.
“I’ve been growing weird stuff, and stuff that shouldn’t grow here for maybe 10 years at home,” says Marshall, who got his first lemon and yuzu tree from Nursery One Green World in southeast Portland only about 5 years ago. “In 2017 I started thinking about how growing citrus up here could be done, and how the cost of citrus is expensive here mostly because it goes through multiple distributors and the shipping costs.
Japanese sour citrus fruits are all hardy enough to survive Oregon winters with a little protection, and because Japanese restaurants would usually spend even more exorbitant prices to have them imported, Oregon Citrus yuzu is in high demand. Out of three 100’ x 30’ greenhouses Marshall sells about 15,000 trees between figs, citrus and pomegranate. The sour fruit grows best in Oregon and Marshall is excited about growing more obscure Japanese varieties like Kabosu, Yuko, and Nansho Daidai.
In the Fall of 2019 Marshall was selling most of his Japanese citrus to Oregon restaurants like Afuri and got connected with Zoiglhaus Brewery brewmaster and owner Alan Taylor. ”We froze about 50 pounds and worked on the Lager through Spring,” selling the early batches of Yuzu Lager to Afuri but as other restaurants started requesting the beer and wanting to buy more fruit for their kitchens, Shimai-Toshi realized they would need a lot more fruit.
“We obviously had to pump the brakes and rethink how to scale with such a seasonal ingredient,” adds McMahon. “Through Ian’s network of the citrus underworld, and a ton of hours zesting thousands of pounds of fruit in the Zoiglhaus basement, we now have enough yuzu zest from current season crop in the freezer to last us through the year. We’re 100% ready on that front. *whew* !
Japanese culture is alive and well in Portland in community organizations like JASO, events like Fuji to Hood and the Ramen & Whiskey Festival, and restaurants and bars like Afuri, Bamboo Sushi and Ping. Japanese Izakaya’s are pubs where people from all walks of likes congregate over drinks and small bites as an essential social melting pot that provides casual pairing revelations. When conceptualizing Shimai-Toshi Brewing the founders kept these things in mind
“We’re looking at Japanese and other Asian eating establishments as our primary point of purchase,” says McMahon. “That gap between the typical Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo etc and a ‘local IPA’ is huge. We’re right there in the middle with flavor from a cherished Japanese ingredient that plays well with food while not overpowering it.”
Shimai Toshi’s initial offering Yuzu Lager is out now in 16oz cans around Portland, and Afuri Ramen has an exclusive version with it’s own unique packaging. Cans are available at Johns Marketplace, The Beermongers, and delivery via Road Beers, plus restaurants like Kayo’s Ramen Bar, Baka Umai, and Ping for takeout and delivery. Shimai-Toshi plans to take it out of state into California and Washington soon, and is currently in the research and development phase on their next release which could be a Yuzu Hard Seltzer. The plan going forward is to target all of their beer releases to Japanese restaurants and bars, as the beers intrinsically pair well with that culinary experience
Follow co-founder Ian Marshall’s Japanese citrus farm at @oregoncitrus on instagram.
Follow Shimai-Toshi’s production and distribution at @drink_yuzu on instagram.
and started researching other citrus that would be considered cold hardy.
In 2017 I started thinking about how growing citrus up here could be done, and how the cost of citrus is expensive here mostly because it goes through multiple distributors and the shipping costs.
rewery without a head brewer. Conceptualized by branding and design pros with a long history in craft beer,
Shimai Toshi means Sister City in Japanese, and Sapporo, Japan is Sister City to Portland, OR. Two cities with a long history for making great beers.