Event Report: Beer Groove

Drinking a nice cold beer while enjoying the evening is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. Starting today, you will be able to do that in Tsukuba. The Tsukuba Craft Beer Festival will be held at Tsukuba Center from today until Sunday. There will be a lot of different craft beer breweries from around Japan selling their cold tasty beer. There will even be a small part of the festival dedicated to Ibaraki craft beer places. This was the only craft beer festival in Ibaraki until Mito decided to hold one last June. This beer festival had a lot of different beers and delicious food. The thing I liked about this festival was that it was for Ibaraki craft beer breweries only. No outside craft beer breweries. Today, I will be talking about my event report on Beer Groove.

Beer Groove

Beer Groove is a craft beer event that was held for the first time last June. It was held on the last weekend of June right in front of the big Mito Castle Ote Gate. The beer festival had craft beer companies from Tsukuba, Ushiku, Oarai, Hitachinaka, Kashima, Mito, and many more.
I went to the festival and met up with some friends at around five in the evening. I was surprised by how many people were attending this first-time festival. So many people attended that by this time, a lot of the beer was running out. I had to hurry and grab the beers I wanted before they were sold out. The food was also selling out as well so I had to be fast.

Twin Peaks Mountain Brewing

I had already decided that Twin Peaks would be my starting beer at this festival. Twin Peaks is a German craft brewery from Tsukuba that makes delicious beer. What surprised me was when I got there the owner told me they had only one beer flavor left. All the others were sold out. The festival must be doing well.
The last beer that was available was the Tsukuba Steam so that is what I got. Not a light or dark beer but something in the middle. I took a sip of that cold beer and automatically felt refreshed after my long walk from Mito station. The Steam was very flavorful and was a great starter beer for this festival. Twin Peaks will be at the Tsukuba Craft Beer Festival tomorrow so make sure to give them a try.

Paradise Beer Factory

After I finished my Twin Peaks beer, I walked around Beer Groove until I saw a black tent with a logo of a lady on it. I walked up to the black tent and saw the name, Paradise Beer Factory.
Paradise Beer is a craft beer place from Kashima. I had never heard of them before. I was very interested in trying their beer. During Beer Groove, Paradise Beer only had two options available. Light or dark beer. I went with the dark. I took a sip of their beer and found it to be a tasty filling beer. It was a dark beer alright. Filled with that strong bitter taste and a bit of creaminess from the foam on top. This was a nice beer, but I was getting hungry. Luckily, Paradise Beer had the perfect snack to go with my beer.

Paradise Beer's Cheese Sausage

Paradise Beer will be at the Tsukuba Craft Beer Festival. Let me tell you, if they have the dark beer and cheese sausage, get it. I don't know how it works so well but that meaty cheesy sausage with the bitter dark beer was heavenly. Biting into that sausage was extremely satisfying and then following that with cold tasty dark beer made my night. If I see Paradise Beer at Tsukuba this Sunday, I am sure I will be getting that beer-sausage combo again.

Cotton Pot's Garlic Maze Soba

"You had Cotton Pot?" my wife said in disbelief after she joined us later that night. Let me explain. Cotton Pot is a ramen restaurant in Mito. It is also the place my wife and I have been trying to go to for a long time. The problem is, they are closed when my wife is off work, and every time I have tried to go, something comes up or I don't make it in time. I was sure I would never be able to have Cotton Pot.
Then I heard Cotton Pot was going to have a tent during Beer Groove and I made it my mission to have their ramen. After having my two beers, I walked to the Cotton Pot tent. A big thank you to my buddy Hiiro for saving me a spot in line. When we finally got to the tent, the staff told us everything was sold out except the garlic maze soba. Oh, food gods! Why must you curse me so with this elusive ramen restaurant!? I decided to give their garlic maze soba a try.
After waiting a few minutes, I received my maze soba. Looking at my maze soba, I was shocked that the noodles were so small and thin. Usually, when I have maze soba, the noodles are huge and thick. I grabbed my chopsticks and got to slurping. After my first slurp, my resolve to go to the actual Cotton Pot ramen restaurant strengthened. This maze soba was delicious. The fresh fancy-looking chashu on top with the thin noodles coated in garlic was amazing. I couldn't stop eating it. I was able to save a little bit for my wife when she joined us. She got some noodles and was impressed as well.
Hear me Cotton Pot! I will go to your restaurant and you will be one of my summer posts for Ibaraki Eats! Mark my words!

Viajero's Keema Curry (No Rice)

Beer Grove ended at 20:00 and it was 19:00. Most of the beer was sold out. Cotton Pot had no more ramen, and many of the food tents were sold out. My poor wife was hungry and wanted beer but no one had anything. Luckily, I was able to count on my old buddy Viajero to deliver some tasty curry. The catch was that he was out of rice.
Viajero is a curry food truck that does curry from many different countries. You can usually find him at big events and the Village Market Tsukuba. The owner is Japanese but speaks Spanish pretty fluently. I am always happy to see him and practice my Spanish. When we got to Viajero, the owner let us know that he was out of rice but still had curry to sell. My wife decided on the keema curry. The keema curry would have been great with rice but the curry itself is fantastic. The curry is full of so many different spices and flavors with a small kick of spiciness for fun. My wife was very happy with her curry and her beer from Ushiku Brewery. Ushiku Brewery had a few beers left and she was able to get one. Ushiku Brewery will be at the festival tomorrow so go check them out.

Thanks for all the beer!

Beer Groove was a fun craft beer festival. The Ibaraki Eats Duo and our friends had a great time. The music the DJ was playing was great, the beer was tasty, and the food was delicious. Even though the event space was small, I did enjoy the area where Beer Groove was held. There is something relaxing about sipping a cold beer while being surrounded by historical architecture. The only criticism I have of Beer Groove is that there wasn't enough beer and food. A lot of the tents were sold out of their products three hours before the event ended. But I am sure that will all be worked out next year.

Thank you for an amazing time Beer Groove, and thank you to all the breweries that attended and made this event a success. I truly hope this event comes back next year. If it does, I will be there with a beer in one hand and a cheese sausage in the other.
Until next year Beer Groove! Tsukuba Craft Beer Festival, see you this Sunday.

For more information on Beer Groove, check out their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/beergroove310/

Soon Cotton Pot...soon.