Shucking an oyster is harder than it sounds. A fair amount of dexterity is required to pry open the mollusk's tight-lipped shell and liberate the flesh. The one time I tried to open an oyster with a shucking knife, I ended up smashing it with a hammer instead.

Pairing raw oysters with drinks, however, is considerably easier. I usually recommend junmai-style sake, Champagne or Chablis. But a recent encounter with an aromatic oyster stout called Kakinohoshi, brewed by Kiuchi Brewery in Ibaraki Prefecture, has shown me that beer can also be a surprisingly good match.

The tradition of drinking beer — in particular, dark stouts — with oysters dates back to Victorian times, when the bivalves were a common snack at British pubs. But the oyster-stout style, made by adding oyster meat to the wort, has remained rare until recently. Part of a project to support the oyster industry in northeastern Japan, Kakinohoshi beer uses oysters from Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture. The flavor is complex and toasty but not too heavy on the palate.