A museum in Japan's western prefecture of Nagasaki has recreated what is believed to be the country's first domestically brewed beer.
The Hirado Dutch Trading Post museum recreated the beer based on entries in accounting books of the namesake trading house, which existed some 400 years ago in what is now Hirado City.
The accounting books show brown sugar was imported in 1636 for brewing beer. City officials say this is Japan's oldest record about the production of the beverage.
The museum launched a project to revive the beer last year by teaming up with a brewery in Tokushima Prefecture.
The recreated version was based on a recipe for beer the Netherlands exported to the Orient with brown sugar as a main ingredient. Given the wort is believed to have been stored in oak barrels in those days, oak chips are used to enhance the aroma of the current product.
The head of the museum, Okayama Yoshiharu, says the original beer must have been utilized as a tool for international interactions. He says he hopes the recreation will also serve as a tool for exchanges among locals and tourists.
The beer is available at the museum and local stores as well as via the internet.