Best Beer Japan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Asaka City, Saitama Prefecture, Representative Director: Peter Rothenberg) announces a collaborative release with SETOUCHI BEER, a craft beer brewery in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture (Setouchi Co., Ltd., Representative: Shingo Tajima). Two limited-edition collaborative beers for Valentine's Day and White Day will be available exclusively through the wholesale online platform "Craft Beer Platform" starting January 15, 2026.
SETOUCHI BEER and Best Beer Japan team members
This marks Best Beer Japan's first collaborative beer project through their "Craft Beer Platform" service.
The beers feature coffee (in collaboration with Takamatsu's specialty coffee shop "BLUE SPOON COFFEE ROASTERS") to complement Valentine's Day chocolates, and royal milk tea to pair with White Day cookies. Both seasonal offerings are expressed through craft beer, with each brew designed to enhance these special occasions.
Both beers are based on the Hazy IPA style, crafted to complement gift-giving and moments of togetherness.
Project Features and Highlights
- Best Beer Japan's inaugural collaborative beer project
- Seasonal beers inspired by familiar beverages: coffee for Valentine's chocolate pairings and royal milk tea for White Day cookie pairings
- Product development leveraging the proximity and rapid decision-making between Best Beer Japan and SETOUCHI BEER, with close collaboration from planning to execution
- Exclusive availability through the wholesale online platform "Craft Beer Platform"
Project Background: Focus on Valentine's and White Day
This collaboration originated from a casual conversation during a meeting between Best Beer Japan and SETOUCHI BEER team members.
A simple comment, "We should create a beer for the Valentine's season," sparked the project. Through exchanging ideas, they focused on coffee and tea, beverages traditionally enjoyed alongside Valentine's chocolates and White Day cookies.
This led to the concept of creating craft beers that could be enjoyed together with chocolates and cookies during Valentine's and White Day moments, bringing the project to fruition.
During brewing, Best Beer Japan members visited the SETOUCHI BEER brewery in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture.
The teams collaborated closely from planning through flavor design, brewing, and promotional design including labels, enabling rapid product development through their strong partnership.
Brewery Comment
SETOUCHI BEER Head Brewer Atsuyoshi Okamoto
"These collaborative beers are Hazy IPAs designed with Valentine's Day and White Day occasions in mind. Both share a pronounced haze and smooth mouthfeel as their common foundation.
The Valentine's Day beer features cold-brewed light-roast coffee as its distinctive element. Rather than strong roasted notes, we designed it to highlight coffee's fruity character. For sweetness adjustment, we used allulose instead of lactose, creating a sweetness that arrives quickly and fades cleanly, balancing drinkability.
The White Day version aims for a pronounced tea flavor experience. With the royal milk tea concept, we used slightly more allulose to create a more noticeable sweetness.
This collaboration with Best Beer Japan presented unique challenges, such as working with ingredients like coffee and tea that we don't typically use, but this made it a highly creative endeavor."
Product Overview
COFFEE SMOKY HAZY IPA
Release date: January 15, 2026 (Thursday)
Recommended pairing: Chocolate
- Alcohol content: 6.5%
- Hazy appearance with a soft mouthfeel. Silky with substantial body, yet maintains an approachable drinking experience.
- Hop characteristics suggesting tropical and passion fruit notes blend with bright, fruity coffee nuances. Roast-derived bitterness is minimal, delivering light coffee flavors.
The coffee beans were sourced through collaboration with Kagawa Prefecture's specialty coffee shop "BLUE SPOON COFFEE ROASTERS," using cold-brew and light-roast methods to extract coffee's fruity aspects.
- Fruity notes, coffee flavors, and gentle smoke aromas harmonize beautifully.
ROYAL MILK TEA HAZY IPA
Shipping starts: January 23, 2026 (Friday)
Recommended pairing: Cookies
- Alcohol content: 6.5%
- Smooth, hazy mouthfeel derived from oats and wheat malt.
- Silky with substantial body, yet maintains an approachable drinking experience.
- Hop characteristics of tropical fruit, berries, and citrus blend with tea-derived aromas and smooth sweetness.
- While evoking royal milk tea's sweetness, the finish avoids heaviness, presenting a gently balanced flavor profile.
Best Beer Japan's Approach: Collaboration Built with Breweries
Best Beer Japan supports breweries and restaurants through operating the wholesale online platform "Craft Beer Platform," an inventory management system that streamlines brewery administrative tasks, and "Ren-taru," a keg rental service. Through regular close communication with breweries, the company prioritizes understanding operational challenges and burdens beyond brewing.
For this collaboration, Best Beer Japan went beyond distribution and sales roles, deeply involving themselves in the product creation process from planning through flavor design and attending brewing sessions. By visiting the brewery and sharing the actual brewing process, the teams deepened mutual understanding throughout the collaboration.
Label design discussion
Incorporating insights gained from the brewing floor into future business operations represents a key objective of this initiative.
Best Beer Japan will continue valuing partnerships with breweries and restaurants, approaching planning, production, and distribution through diverse forms of collaboration built on shared thinking, creation, and delivery.
Learning at the brewing site
For Restaurants and Liquor Retailers
Best Beer Japan operates "Craft Beer Platform," a wholesale online platform enabling consolidated ordering from over 300 breweries nationwide.
"Managing multiple points of contact for orders is complicated."
"Invoicing and payment processing multiplies with each supplier."
"Scattered information makes finding craft beers difficult."
This system was born from addressing these concerns.
Easily order diverse craft beers from across Japan, including SETOUCHI BEER, through the online platform.
Register for Craft Beer Platform (Free)
Collaborative Beer Purchase Campaign Now Running
Lucky Roulette Campaign
Period: January 15, 2026 (Thursday) to March 14, 2026 (Saturday)
*Ends when target products sell out
"COFFEE SMOKY HAZY IPA" and "ROYAL MILK TEA HAZY IPA" are exclusive wholesale products available only through "Craft Beer Platform."
When ordering these collaborative beers, customers can spin the "Lucky Roulette" after completing their order!
Depending on the roulette results, customers can instantly win prizes including:
- Next order completely free (up to 200,000 yen including tax)
- Free shipping
- SETOUCHI BEER original sample set
For campaign details, please visit the special campaign page.
