JAEN
daily#craft-beer#sankt-gallen#hon-atsugi#cat-day#taproom#food

Cat Day at Sankt Gallen: All 20 Taps

Published 👁 —
Cat Day at Sankt Gallen: All 20 Taps

In Japan, February 22 is Cat Day because 2/22 can be read as “nyan, nyan, nyan,” the sound a cat makes.

The Sankt Gallen Taproom in Hon-Atsugi is one of my favorite places, and it was serving a special Cat Day pizza for the occasion. That was reason enough to head over.

I usually drink there with the all-you-can-drink party plan, but it wasn’t available that day. Instead, I decided to work through all 20 taps on the menu in four-beer tasting flights.

Table of Contents

Starting with the Cat Day pizza

The first thing I ordered was the Cat Day special pizza.

The crust was shaped like a cat’s face, with different toppings on each side. Even the ears looked properly cat-like.

It was a fun way to start the meal before getting into the beer flights.

Cat Day special pizza shaped like a cat's face with different toppings on each side
The cat-shaped pizza served for Cat Day on February 22

First flight: Weizen and grape beers

My first tasting flight had these four beers:

I tend to like Sankt Gallen’s grape beers each year, so I built this flight around Weizen and grapes.

Un angel 2025 is a high-ABV beer at 10%. It isn’t the kind of beer I order very often, but a tasting flight makes it easier to try a small pour.

Tasting cards for Un angel 2025, Weizen, Weizen with Three White Grapes, and Amber Ale
My first four picks, centered on Weizen and grape beers
Four Sankt Gallen beers lined up in a tasting flight stand
Small pours made it easy to compare the colors and aromas

Second flight: some of my favorites

For the second flight, I chose these four:

Sakura was the seasonal spring pick, while Brut IPA is my favorite beer on the regular menu. Sweet Vanilla Stout is also one of my favorite dark beers, so this flight leaned heavily toward beers I already knew I liked.

Adding the 10% ABV el Diablo 2025 kept the lineup from being all easy-drinking choices.

Tasting cards for Sankt Gallen Sakura, Brut IPA, el Diablo 2025, and Sweet Vanilla Stout
Seasonal beer and old favorites in the second flight

An oden break before the third flight

After two flights, I wanted a little more to eat, so I ordered some oden.

The plate included daikon, egg, tomato, meat, and vegetables. It was just right between rounds of beer. The tomato is especially good here—steeped in the broth, its acidity cuts through nicely after a heavier beer.

Oden with daikon, egg, tomato, meat, and vegetables
Oden between flights, with an especially good tomato

The third flight had these four:

Shonan Gold was my first Sankt Gallen beer. Its citrus aroma always takes me back to when I first tried it.

I paired it with Golden Ale, Black Sugar Sweet Stout, and the previous year’s Un angel 2024. Being able to drink the 2024 and 2025 editions of the same series in one visit is one of the fun parts of coming to the taproom.

Tasting cards for Golden Ale, Shonan Gold, Black Sugar Sweet Stout, and Un angel 2024
The third flight, including Shonan Gold, my first Sankt Gallen beer

A heavier fourth flight and a galette

For the fourth flight, I picked these four:

With Imperial Chocolate Stout and el Diablo 2024 in the mix, this was a fairly heavy lineup. By this point, the high-ABV beers were adding up, so even the small tasting pours had plenty of weight.

Tasting cards for Winter Fruit Tart Ale, Imperial Chocolate Stout, Pale Ale, and el Diablo 2024
A heavier fourth flight with two high-ABV beers

At this point, I went ahead and added a galette too.

The galette had a toasty, crispy crust topped with an egg and other ingredients. After the oden, I kept eating as I worked through the later flights.

Galette topped with an egg and other ingredients
The galette I ordered to pair with the heavier beers in the later flights

Finishing all 20 taps with the fifth flight

The fifth and final flight had these four:

The last lineup covered a lot of ground, from the bitterness of YOKOHAMA XPA and the gentle character of Brown Porter to the sweetness and aroma of Orange Chocolate Stout and Apple Cinnamon Ale.

With that flight, I had finished all 20 taps.

Tasting cards for YOKOHAMA XPA, Brown Porter, Orange Chocolate Stout, and Apple Cinnamon Ale
The final four beers in my fifth flight

Wrap-up

I had come for the Cat Day pizza, but somehow ended up ordering five tasting flights and drinking all 20 beers on tap that day.

It was great to revisit favorites and try high-ABV beers I don’t usually order. I also got to drink both the 2024 and 2025 editions in the same visit. With oden and a galette along the way, I made the most of the food too.

At the end, I lined up the cards for all 20 beers and looked back over the day’s lineup. From regular releases to seasonal and high-ABV beers, I really did try a bit of everything.

Twenty Sankt Gallen beer tasting cards lined up together
Looking back at all 20 taps from the day

I seriously went through a ton of beer.

  • Kawazu Cherry Blossoms and a White Tiger

    A restless night and a 5 a.m. wake-up led to an impromptu drive to Izu. Cherry blossoms, a white tiger, giraffes, and plenty of good food filled the day.

  • A Trip to South Izu for Kawazu-zakura and Nanohana

    A day in South Izu spent looking at Kawazu-zakura and nanohana along the Aono River, eating local seafood, and hopping between two hot springs. This post looks back on that early taste of spring through photos.

  • Diving in Okinawa as a Beginner: Five Dives, Trip Costs, and Naha Food

    Newly certified and thinking about diving in Okinawa? Here's my four-day, three-night trip: five dives around Kerama and Kamiyama Island, equalization and buoyancy struggles, about 55,000 yen including full gear rental, sea turtles, Oceanic+ logs, Naha food, and Churaumi Aquarium, with photos.