Coedo Beniaka, Shiro, Kyara and Marihana: Kawagoe's Sweet Potato Brewery

We've written before about Coedo's Sayama Tea Saison. This is about the rest of what we carry from them, and about the beer the whole brewery is built on.

Coedo was established in 1996 in Kawagoe, Saitama. The name comes from koedo, "Little Edo," Kawagoe's nickname, earned from the old townscape it still has.

Beniaka

This is the one that started it.

In 1996 Coedo succeeded in brewing beer with sweet potatoes grown in Kawagoe, and that first product is the ancestor of what's now Beniaka. Kawagoe is sweet potato country, so the founding idea was to make something from what the town actually grows.

It's an amber ale brewed with roasted Kintoki sweet potatoes from Saitama. Aromatic and rich, with the roast character doing more work than sweetness.

If you order one Coedo, order this. It's the reason the brewery exists.

Shiro

An unfiltered hefeweizen.

Fruity, with the apple and banana aromas that come off wheat beer yeast, low bitterness, and a smooth, hazy body. The easiest beer on our Coedo list and the one that suits the widest range of food.

Kyara

An India Pale Lager, lagered rather than ale-fermented, but hopped like an IPA.

That combination gives you hop aroma and bitterness over a clean lager base instead of a fruity ale one. It reads as crisper and more precise than an IPA usually does.

Marihana

A session IPA, built around citrus-forward aroma hops.

Lower strength, bright aroma, made for drinking more than one of. It's the counterpart to Kyara, same hop territory, much lighter frame.

Pair Them With

Beniaka with pork kakuni or yakiniku. The roasted sweet potato and a sweet-savory braise belong together.

Shiro with handrolls, edamame, or agedashi tofu.

Kyara and Marihana with anything fried, karaage, tebasaki, shake shake fries.

Try Them at Juraku

All four are on the beer list at Izakaya Juraku, Lower East Side.