ABOUT・要旨
Mission
The mission of Bushido Brewery is to
- brew irrefutably delicious beer and saké,
- create relaxed and sophisticated drinking environments and experiences,
- grow community through affordability, collaboration, feedback, and inclusion
People
The brewery was founded by Josh Beeler in 2010. Josh is responsible for brewery operations, online presence, and the on-going development of the Bushido Brewery vision.
Equipment
Our brewery is a custom-built, 3-tier, gravity-fed, 1/2 BBL brewhouse, which was purchased from our friends at Pipe Dream Brewery in 2013. The equipment is located in Los Angeles.
This is our "home brewery" where Josh brews beer when not traveling.
Collaborations
When traveling abroad Josh partners with local craft breweries to create unique collaboration beers. You can learn more about Bushido's history of partnerships on the collaboration page.
HISTORY・歴史
Beginnings
Bushido Brewery began with the simple desire to learn more about beer. "What better way to learn about beer than to make it?" was our thinking in October of 2010. We began brewing in January 2011 and once we started we couldn't stop.
2011: First Year
In 2011 we brewed 14 unique batches of beer. Our total yield was 70 gallons. Among our favorites were the Mexican Breakfast Beer, Honey Blonde Ale, Thai Ale, Xmas Ale, and the Coffee Stout Vertical.
We also joined our local brew club, Pacific Gravity, and participated in several events.
2012: Second Year
In 2012 we brewed less aggressively but grew in other ways.
We brewed five batches of beer, and noteably, our first batch of saké! We also introduced temperature-controlled fermentation into our brewing process.
We hosted more events than the previous year, including brew day parties and our first public tasting, and launched our website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed as we continued to share our craft with more people.
2013: Awards and Growth
2013 was a huge year for Bushido Brewery!
Our Belgian Quadrupel won a gold medal in the American's Finest City competition and a silver medal in the Mayfaire competition. We also entered the California State Fair.
The brewery was upgraded to support 10-gallon batches, we transitioned from extract to all grain brewing, and relocated the brewery to Echo Park.
The brand evolved as we launched our new website, wrote blog articles, posted some cool pictures to our Instagram feed, and redesigned our business cards.
What about actual brewing, you say? We brewed 15 times with a final yield of 20 unique batch codes. Our experiments included a lot of coffee beers. We iterated on our recipes and began giving our beers proper names, such as 武士 ("Bushi" or "Warrior's Ale") and 狸 ("Tanuki" or "Legendary Shapeshifting Ale"). We also invented the JPA (Japanese Pale Ale) - an effervescent pale brewed with saké yeast.
The year ended by packing up all of the brewing equipment as Josh left Los Angeles to travel as a digital nomad - living in a different city every month - exploring craft beer and saké all over the world.
2014: Asia and Gypsy Brewing
Josh lived in Asia for the first half of 2014. During that time he explored the local craft beer scenes in Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, and Bangalore, visiting bars and breweries and documenting his experiences on the Bushido Brewery blog.
Upon his return to the United States in the second half of 2014 he began persuing gypsy brewing as a way of continuing to develop the Bushido Brewery brand even while being nomadic and not having access to his own brewing equipment. By means of gypsy brewing Josh continued to brew Bushido beers in Portland, Seattle, and Victoria, BC. At the end of the year he returned to Los Angeles and brewed a few more times on Bushido's own equipment.
2015: Collaborations in South America
Josh's world travels continued and took him to South America, where he lived and brewed in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Santiago, Chile. Through partnerships with local breweries he produced 10 small batch collaboration beers, which were served on tap in bars and sold in bottle shops. Josh also developed a homebrewing class, Zero Barrier Brewing, which was taught in Buenos Aires.
2016 - Present
We're making history now! Our latest adventures are on the blog.
