Hokkaido Brewery turns broken baseball bats into craft beer

A brewery in Hokkaido is again partnering with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters baseball team to upcycle players’ broken bats into a unique craft beer, following the overwhelming success of last year’s project. Yo-Ho Brewing Company will expand its “Bat Beer Project” for a second year. The project takes shattered bats from players and transforms them into a limited-edition beer and commemorative keyrings with the help of fans.

The inaugural project in 2023 was met with high demand, attracting approximately 400 applications for just 20 available spots in a bat-processing workshop, an application rate 20 times the event’s capacity. In response to the positive reception, this year’s workshop in September will be expanded to accommodate 2.5 times more participants.

Japanese baseball produces a significant amount of waste, with over 100,000 wooden bats are used and often broken annually in professional and university leagues. Instead of being discarded, the broken bats are processed and their essence is captured using steam distillation to create an aromatic water. This fragrant liquid is then added to the beer, infusing it with the character of the wood.

Furthermore, the remaining wood and offcuts from the process are not wasted. These wood are remade into keyrings, which will be given to participants at a private tasting event scheduled for November.