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The Dane's East Side location, its fifth, opened in 2010.

Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. has five locations, three in Madison, one in Fitchburg and one in Wausau. It’s about to get a sixth: This one in Japan.

A Great Dane production brewery and tasting room is planned for Akiu Onsen, a tourist town in Sendai, about two hours north of Tokyo. Rob LoBreglio, brewmaster for Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co., which he co-founded in 1994, said he has deep ties to Japan and has been planning the brewery there for about eight years.

LoBreglio will be CEO and brewmaster for Great Dane Brewing in Japan. “It’s been such a long time coming that part of me still doesn’t even really believe that it’s happening,” he said.

He said the Japanese brewery will feature current Great Dane beers and new ones.

In Wisconsin, the Great Dane is a brewpub, meaning a restaurant and bar that has a brewery on site. With the Japanese operation, LoBreglio said, his focus will be much more on packaging the beer.

“If you want to draw a comparison, we hope to be more like Wisconsin Brewing Company or Ale Asylum, Karben4, New Glarus, those types of breweries. That’s what we’re going to try and do. We’re going to be focusing less on restaurant operations,” he said. “Definitely a distinctly different model.”

Construction is set to begin in August or September in a former rice field with LoBreglio hoping to have beer on shelves throughout Japan by next April.

Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. is about to expand its reach to Japan.

LoBreglio’s longtime friend, Shinji Muramoto, who’s from Sapporo, Japan, and owns Muramoto Hilldale, will serve as president, overseeing the brewery’s tasting room, which will serve food. Where in Madison, Muramoto does Japanese food with an American twist, there, he’ll do American food with a Japanese twist.

“He definitely wants to have a good chunk of the menu be a homage to Wisconsin,” LoBreglio said, adding that Muramoto has been trying hard to find someone to import cheese curds.

In the mid-90s, LoBreglio met Tetsuya Kiyosawa, through his brother, who’s a professor of Japanese studies at Oxford Brookes University in England.

Kiyosawa was passionate about becoming part of the industry and trained under LoBreglio for two years at the Great Dane Downtown. When he returned to Japan, he worked in the beverage industry, including at Yo-Ho Brewing Co., one of Japan’s largest craft breweries. At Great Dane Japan, Kiyosawa will oversee distributor relations, brewery productions and community involvement.

“He and I always remained friends and discussed the idea of doing a project together. This is the culmination of that,” LoBreglio said. “In theory, you could say it was first talked about in 1995.”

Dawson, who has lots of connections to the Japanese craft beer scene, will be an assistant brewer.

Great Dane’s co-founder and president, Eliot Butler, is also an investor in the Japanese project.

The Great Dane produces about 7,000 barrels of beer a year, the majority of it sold in the brewpubs, LoBreglio said.

For the past five years, it has also been packaging its beer in cans and selling it throughout the state through Frank Beer Distributors. Four of its flagship beers and seasonal specialties are sold in grocery and liquor stores.

The tasting room at the Japanese brewery will offer 12 to 14 beers on tap, including Great Dane regular and specialty beers, similar to what’s offered locally.

LoBreglio plans to live in Japan almost full time for the first few years. He said a lot of his friends and family have been expats, and it has always been on his bucket list to spend a good chunk of time in another country.

“Professionally, I am really excited as a brewer to have this challenge to go and create a new brand and a new flagship beer in Japan.”

He said he sees it as an opportunity to help the craft beer movement in Japan solidify and grow.

“Personally, I feel like Bilbo Baggins at the end of the ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I’m quite ready for another adventure.”

Don Woods opened Stadium Takeout in early October, next to his barber shop, Faded Club, on Monroe Street, where Lorraine's, and before that, New Orleans Take-Out, were.

Joe Papach and Shaina Robbins Papach opened this modern-day supper club in July, tucked into the Madison Train Depot, behind Motorless Motion Bicycles on West Washington Avenue. 

Ting Cai Zhou opened this State Street counter-service restaurant where Lotsa Stone Fired Pizza was.

Brian and Alicia Hamilton opened this intimate, full-service 30-seat restaurant on Monroe Street in August across from Trader Joe's where Joon, Burgrito and Double S BBQ were.

Patricia Sánchez and Adrian Serrato opened this restaurant and store in the former Farm Tavern, south of the Beltline. In November, they opened a second one in Lakewood Plaza Shopping Center at Sherman and Commercial avenues.

Henry Aschauer opened a fourth of his healthy fast-food restaurants in November on Old Sauk Road in a former Cousins Subs shop.

Madison's second Portillo's hot dog restaurant with a three-lane drive-thru opened at West Towne Mall where a Sears Auto Center was.

Carlos Falcon opened his fifth and sixth coffee shops, one on Park Street in the Peloton Residences apartments, the other in Verona, next to the new high school.

Juan Montiel and his father, Euler Montiel, bought this second-floor, State Street favorite last summer and added some of their native Venezuelan specialties.

This Louisiana-based chain, focused on chicken strips, opened in June next to Colectivo Coffee on State Street.

The cafe opened in February in Maple Bluff where Manna Café was. It joins Tori Gerding's King Street Ancora and her Ancora on University Avenue.

Mallory Orr, who briefly worked at the 20-year-old Cool Beans, near East Towne Mall, opened her new shop in its place in December. 

Evelyn Jian opened her small Middleton counter-service restaurant in early May.

Mike Hottinger opened this counter-service shop in mid-September on State Street in what had been Frutta Bowls. 

Brent Mann and Michelle Duvall opened their indoor golf club, bar and restaurant in June on Fair Oaks Avenue on the ground level of the mixed-use Garver Point Apartments.

Walter Heinrich and Jennie Corey-Heinrich took over the popular bar Marcine's in Mount Vernon and renamed it. They promised to keep almost everything the same.

Tyrone Austin and Ondray Sellers, with help from Mary Bridges, opened the takeout restaurant in February in the back of a Citgo gas station on Northport Drive.

Jeannie Ni opened this sushi spot in April on Cottage Grove Road where Good Food Low Carb Café was.

Jeannie Ni opened her conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in August on Whitney Way where, for 14 years, she co-owned Takara Japanese Restaurant.

James Montgomery opened the cafe mid-May in his three-year-old hotel on South Baldwin Street off Williamson Street.

Madhuri Ranade opened her food cart in June on Library Mall, and sells four items.

Andy Haker, who owns Madison's on King Street, turned the restaurant-bar's party room into an artisan ice cream and coffee shop.

Sam Parker, Ryan Huber and Brian Bartels, who also own neighboring Settle Down Tavern, opened the bar in October on King Street.

Sam Brown opened a combination bookstore, bar and café in July next to the Regent Street Rocky's, where Greenbush Bakery was.

David Rodriguez opened Taco Local in April on Williamson Street where Underground Butcher was.

Ryan Ramig and Josh Wacker opened a bar on Cottage Grove Road where JoBeck's Bar was.

Michael Parks opened this eclectic restaurant in the former Forequarter space on East Johnson Street.

This Ohio-based chain opened its first Wisconsin location in March at the corner of Gammon and Mineral Point roads.

Sinarack "Be" Macvilay opened a third Rising Sons Laotian-Thai restaurant on West Verona Avenue, where Jordandal Cookhouse was.

Patrick Riha, who owns Beef Butter BBQ restaurant on the North Side, opened this seasonal outdoor spot in the town of Westport.

The restaurant, in the former Boston's Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar, had a soft opening in December 2020, but is being counted as a 2021 opening.

Nathan Mergen, who owns the restaurant/bar 107 State at that address, expanded next door last spring into the former Shoo store, for a private dining room and "urban art gallery."

Patrick DePula of Salvatore's Tomato Pies on East Washington Avenue took over the space next door that used to be Star Bar for an art gallery, bar, and performance art and music venue.

Jacknife will be a fast-casual restaurant on East Washington Avenue from the owners of the sushi favorite RED.

Chasers Bar & Grille was chased out of its West Gorham Street home because of redevelopment, but Chasers 2.0 is opening in the old Nomad spot a block away. 

East Johnson Family Restaurant, an upscale diner from the couple behind Johnson Public House.

Driftless Social in Mount Horeb, a supper club in the old Schubert's diner and bakery from Matt and Tim Schmock, two grandsons of the founders of Smoky's Club in Madison.

Mio Fratello, a pizza place on the North Side from Alessandro Monachello and Chris Guglielmo. The partners have tweaked their business model to do catering and pop-up events. They've been selling their wood-fired pizza at the North Side Farmers' Market and at festivals and private events.

Red Rooster in the former Knuckle Down Saloon from Jesse Steinberg, Paul Schwoerer, Tim Payne and Dan Resnick, members of Madtown Mannish Boys, a local blues band.

Read more restaurant news at: go.madison.com/restaurants

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Wisconsin State Journal feature writer Samara Kalk Derby writes about the arts and brings you the latest news on the Madison area's eclectic restaurant scene. She can be reached at skalk@madison.com or 608-252-6439.

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Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. is about to expand its reach to Japan.

The Dane's East Side location, its fifth, opened in 2010.

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