Japan Craft Breweries

[Swinging Beef]

There seems to be heaps in Tokyo and surrounds alone!
There was me worried I'd only be drinking Sapporo out of vending machine cans.

Has anyone been to Tokyo on a beer mission?
I'm headed there in September.
Any advice?

I found this link already

 

[Snow]

Take loooooots of money if you plan to drink in pubs in Tokyo. Bottles from supermarkets are pretty cheap.

Cheers - Snow

 

[Adamt]

Search for AHB posts by "Steve Lacey" and "just-cj", they reside in Japan and are pretty cluey on the good places to visit, I've seen them recommend places a few times so the posts should be on here somewhere.

 

[Mitchell]

I was over there for 6 days about a month ago. I picked up a flu unfortunately so didn't get as much beer in as I'd like. Top spot all the same. For what it's worth my beer experience amounted to:

Most restaurants I went to (even tiny mom and pop places) have beer on tap served from kegs with little cold boxes. This seemed to be fairly run of the mill stuff but was largely unoffensive. My Japanese is pretty non-existent but I think I number of pints of Sapporo Highland Premium... or something like that. Don't seem to be able to find the beer on the net.

I had a Tokyo Ale on tap at Super-Deluxe in Roppongi. Pretty good drop but didn't run into much of it elsewhere.

I checked out the TY Harbour Brewery as it was listed online as a good micro brew spot. I had a tasting board and wasn't that impressed. Something very odd going on with the APA hops when I was there. The fact that the bar was empty and the restaurant was full should have been my first clue.

I meant to check out the Baird Beer tap house near the fish markets as I had heard good things, but never made it. Let me know if you check it out.

The good news is that the Japanese love to drink and there are apparently plenty of micro brews around if you know where to look. You're on the right track doing some research before you go. Hopefully other folks here will have more useful pointers.

 

[Jez]

you'll find a lot of the American stuff over there too - most of the Stone Brewing range and Russian River's Pliny the Elder just to name a few.

I wish a few bottles would find their way from there down to Oz

Jez

 

[Curry]

I've not been to this one yet, but it did look interesting

www.40beersontap.com

 

[Swinging Beef]

Hmm.. sounds pretttty nice, already.
American beers and cheap stuff in supermarkets.

 

[Aaron]

I've not been to this one yet, but it did look interesting

www.40beersontap.com

I was in Tokyo in late 2007. That bar is fantastic. Great beer and great people running it. I think they have 60 beers on tap now. When I was there they had tons of Japanese micros and some Rouge beers available too.

Don't miss this place, it truly is fantastic. Take some beer merchandise from Australia and you can probably trade for some of theirs. The locals are great too. I had many beers bought for me.

I can't speak for any other venues but you should not miss Popeye.

 

[flattop]

I drank mostly Kirrin and Asahi from vending machines when i was there, the beers were good but... STAY AWAY FROM RED WINE FROM VENDING MACHINES

 

[caleb]

I never saw any craft breweries in Japan, but I will say that beer is literally EVERYWHERE and nothing beats being able to buy a beer from a stand on the train station and drink it LEGALLY on the train on the way home.

Also, as mentioned, almost every restaurant or cafe has draft beer on tap.

However, most are basic lagers- well made mind you and the fresh beer on tap in Japan is MUCH better than the same brand available in bottles/cans over here.

Some to look out for are things like Yebusi Malts and Suntory Malts which are all-malt premium beers. Yebusi also had something out called "The Hop" which was pretty good.

A lot of breweries put out seasonal specials, like autumn and winter specials which are worth sampling. Keep an eye out for them.

One warning is that there are three "types" of beers in Japan, brought about by tax laws... Type 1 will be the standard beer, either all malt or small amount of ajuncts. Type 2 and 3 are progressively more adjuncts (I believe) which somehow avoids tax and results in much cheaper (but somewhat watery) beers. A typical 375 ml can for around 120-140 yen will be a type 3, around 160-180 is probably type 2, while around 200 yen is normal type 1 beer, which premium all malt beers being around 220 yen. (from memory)

 

[Adamt]

Yep, those high-adjunct beers are called "Happoshu", made because beer is taxed more than other alcohols... and the taxing is higher based on malt content, I think common happoshu is around 10-20% malt.

This probably explains more: Wikipedia:Happoshu

 

[cj in j]

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but I've been busy the past few months -- 1 April I started a new job as lead brewer for Baird Brewing Co here in Japan. I'm down in Numazu, Shizuoka (just had a major 6.5 earthquake today) at our brewery, but we have two pub restaurants in Tokyo that might be worth checking out. One is in Nakameguro (called Nakameguro Taproom) -- it's on the map linked above. There are ~30 taps there plus three handpumps, although there's usually only two handpump beers on at any time. Our other pub is in Harajuku and just opened last weekend (also on the link above). Those two only serve our beer, but we put out nine regular beers and countless seasonals, so you should be able to find something you like.

Besides that, some of my favorite places in Tokyo are Popeye, The Aldgate, Ushitora -- all worth checking out, especially Popeye if you have limited time. There are also a bunch of places in Yokohama that I haven't personally been to, but everybody raves about them -- especially Thrash Zone and Craft Beer Bar. There are more, but those are the places I'm familiar with.

One correction of some information above -- Baird's Fishmarket Taproom isn't in Tokyo, it's in front of the Fishmarket in our home base of Numazu, Shizuoka, about 1.5 hours from Tokyo to the southwest. If any of you do make the trip down here, please let me know -- I'll meet up with you at Fishmarket Taproom, give you a brewery tour if you're into that kind of thing, and maybe even buy you a pint.

Chris, Lead Brewer, Baird Brewing

 

[sinkas]

good to hear of you CJ, I have always enjoyed your input here and the green board.

did the earthquake give you a stuck sparge?

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

green board.

? am I missing out on another brewing forum?

 

[cj in j]

good to hear of you CJ, I have always enjoyed your input here and the green board.

did the earthquake give you a stuck sparge?

No stuck sparge today -- no damage at the brewery either, although our restaurant did suffer from four broken bottles of beer (out of several hundred that are stored there). I'll try to stop by more often now that I'm used to my new job and have a little time to relax most nights.

 

[Doc]

Great to see you online again CJ.
Saw your posts on the green board when you started there.
Sounded like a pretty full on start (long days etc).
I hope it is more rewarding than teaching

Any new hop monsters to share ?

Beers,
Doc

 

[Doc]

? am I missing out on another brewing forum?

Hey Jonny. Brewboard also know as the Green board.

Doc

 

[JonnyAnchovy]

Hey Jonny. Brewboard also know as the Green board.

Doc

thanks Doc - there goes a few more weeks each year to lost productivity.

 

[Steve Lacey]

Nothing much to add that hasn't been covered, but just chipping in to say that I too have been a bit busy and distracted and only just discovered this thread.

If you let us know with some advance notice of your travel plans/schedule we may be able to organize something. But the pubs CJ mentioned are definitely the best: Popeye, Harajuku Taproom (my new local :wub: ), Aldgate, Ushitora and the Yokohama ones. There are also a bunch of Belgian bars if you are into them (and have a big expense account, though make no mistake, all beer in bars here is expensive).

If you really want to chase the American imports, check out Bulldog in Ginza/Yurakucho (Green Flash IPA, Speakeasy Double Daddy :wub: ) or Thrash Zone in Yokohama. -- all these places are on Chuwy's map linked in the post above, and do not forget to check out Chuwy's blog either, and if you ever encounter him, do indeed buy him a beer for all the work he puts into maintaining that blog and web site. His other blog is more entertaining, but also has useful information (e.g. his review of the Harajuku Taproom opening).

And yes, we all hate CJ now for getting his one-in-a-zillion job. But it has also been quite a windfall for the local home brewing community because he has down-sized his brewing equipment and furnished about 15 new brewers with fantastic brew bling in the process :lol:

 

[Swinging Beef]

Awesome recent responses, guys.
I will be flying out in three weeks, and now Im as keen as mustard to hit the places you mentioned.
Will even try to take you up on the brewery tour if we can fit it in to our very short stay.

Chris, is Numazu, Shizuoka, accessible by public transport from Tokyo?
Darren