Shareholder

Did a search that revealed nothing, so thought I would start a thread and see who can contribute what.

I know beer was introduced to the country in the 1800s when limited trade was opened at the port of Yokohama. Since then, beer has overtaken sake as the largest consumption alcoholic beverage and as we know, worldwide brands have emerged: Asahi, Sapphoro, Kirin...

I've visited the Sapphoro beer museum in Tokyo (near the Westin) but I believe there are a couple of actual microbreweries in the city, and country, that offer more interesting local interpretations of beers, both lagers and ales. Can anyone with first hand experience post some details about some of these are where one might be able to buy a bottle or two, or actually visit?

My research on something completely different last night stumbled on the TY Brewpub, located between the IC Strings hotel and the waterfront, a short walk from Shinagawa RR Station. By happy happenstance, I will be staying at that property for my two nights in Tokyo, so will be able to give it a try, though I must say at Y800 to Y1100 a pint, they'd better be brewing some good stuff. (Last time I paid that much was at a then-new brewpub just across from the Conrad in Singapore where I happened to be staying, and that set me back S$12 a pint!)

Has anyone given this place a try?

Also discovered that Asahi has a Beer Village in Yokohama, though my expectations are rather low of anything but a chance to sample the full range of its offerings that we don't get on this side of the Pacific. (Interestingly, we in Canada generally get the real stuff, but our breweries are under contract to brew "imported" Japanese beers for the US market. So much so that Sapphoro bought the small big brewer Sleemans last year to service its growing US market with such "imports"!)

Any visitors to it?

Appreciate any comments that get posted here. My trip's not until the very end of October....

Traveling Consultant

Would definately recommend this place in Tokyo. Great food and beer. We used to go there for a late weekend brunch. As for getting there, you can walk from Shinagawa station, but I would not recommend this for a first time visitor. Odds are that you would get lost, as the side streets can be tricky. It would be easier to find from the Tennozu Isle station.

I am sure you already have the link to the restaurant but if not:

http://www.tyharborbrewing.co.jp/restaurants/tyh_e.html

Have fun.

LapLap

Can I ask how long ago your last visit was?

I came here a couple of times on my first visits to Japan and enjoyed the atmosphere, but then brought MrLapLap along the Christmas before last only to find they'd (temporarily) closed the bar so that they could concentrate on serving romantic menus at inflated prices. Even with all the pretty lights, everyone looked really miserable.

I got the impression that the bar has just become a 'waiting' room for the restaurant, which is very different to my impression of this place from my first visit. I wonder if those of us who just want a decent beer and a bite to eat have become victims of the restaurant's success as a date venue for affluent couples.

Has anyone else been recently? I'd love to have this notion squashed and rubbished.

Pickles

I was there a few weeks back. Nothing stopping you (or at least me) from just sitting down at an outdoor table and ordering nothing but beer, and maybe something to munch on. Quite nice, if the weather cooperates.

As for brewpubs, Metropolis runs regular features on microbreweries in Japan. You can look them up in their website, www.metropolis.co.jp

LapLap

Thanks! I tend to visit during colder months, so this has probably warped my view.

Traveling Consultant

Last time I was there was last fall. You are correct that the bar is more of a waiting room and you also bring up an additional good point. If the OP is looking for more of a bar atmosphere than they will be disappointed. However, especially in the Spring/Fall/Summer months, it is a nice place to sit outside with friends and drink with some good food to boot.

SJUAMMF

Shirayuki the sake company converted an old sake brewery next to their corporate HQ to a beer brew/pub in Itami near Osaka. This is a fairly large hall in the Octoberfest style with both beer sampler and sake sampler.

Location is directly west of the JR Itami station down the walking street just across the main intersection on the right side.

JKD

offers free tours (and my colleagues told me a free sample at the end). There is a cafe as well as a selection of IIRC ~8 different beers, plus tasting sampler sets.

some pretty good info here:
http://www.kirin.co.jp/about/brewery...oko/index.html

according to JNTO website:
Keihin Kyuko Line Namamugi Station - 8 minutes' walk.
JR Keihin Tohoku Line Tsurumi Station - 10 minutes by Taxi.
JR Yokohama Station - 20 minutes by Taxi.

there will also be an Oktoberfest at Aka Renga in Yokohama September 28 -
October 10 with German beers, food and music.

enjoy !

Shareholder

Thank you. The Kirin Village looks interesting...too bad I can't read a thing on the web site but I should be able to figure out how to get there.

As for the Tokyo brewpub, I am looking more to sample than for a rollicking night at a bar...though some decent eats would also be appreciated. (And seems to be on offer from the various menus online.) As for finding the place, I've wandered my way through lots of districts where tourists seldom go, so know my way around these back alleys. They're some of the more fascinating parts of Tokyo.

jib71

Just try to sit outside TY Brewery with a beer and nothing to eat! The sales push is quite high pressure.

Earlier in the summer I was with a colleague at 5pm (having just finished a meeting - we wanted just a couple of beers, no food). Despite telling the waiter that we would not order food, the head waitress brought the food menu to our table again when our drinks arrived. I ended up buying a small pizza to satisfy the pushy head waitress. We could tell that the junior waiters were all rather embarrassed by her heavy handed approach. As I lifted the last slice of pizza from the plate she immediately sent a waiter to our table with the menu and instructions to propose a main course to us... I told the junior waiter politely that we only wanted an after-work drink and weren't interested in any more food.... So then the head waitress brought a dessert menu (?!?). I told her that she was being rather pushy and giving me an unpleasant ("fuyukai") feeling. She acted as though she couldn't see my point.

Just as I was finishing up my glass of beer, she sent one of the junior waiters again to clear our glasses and ask if we wanted to place an order (holding both food and drink menus). I was irritated at this stage but decided to call it quits and ask for the bill.

During this entire episode the indoor restaurant was still completely empty and there were several unoccupied tables on the deck. The place was quiet enough that the head waitress could send over one of her minions instantly when she had a whim to do so. She seemed to think that it was her job to force us to order food.

Although I had a great impression of TY before, I have to say that this person has really soured things for me.

..... Now a brew pub that I do want to visit is the one in Numazu, Shizuoka prefecture. I think it's called Baird Brewery. I've been trying their range of humorously labeled and delicious beers in Tokyo. Seriously good stuff.

Applefan

Hi Shareholder,
I have done the Kirin village and it is pretty good. The tour is in Japanese but they give you an English guidebook. There is free beer at the end and they also give you also a small glass of some premium stuff too. I have also been to the Baird brewpub that jib71 mentions. Really good stuff if you are in the area. http://www.bairdbeer.com/html/the-taproom.html If you are going up to Hokkaido, there is the Sapporo Brewery Musuem in town (much like the one in Ebisu) and a real Sapporo brewery that you can tour outside of town. There is also a well know bar in the Ryogoku area of Tokyo that I hear is very good called Popeye. http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~ppy/engl...shTopPage.html

RichardInSF

Unless things have changed drastically, I can guarantee you that there is no free beer at the end of the Sapporo beer museum tour in Ebisu -- and even not knowing Japanese, I'd still feel qualified to say it's a pretty dumb musuem.

LapLap

I have to agree (about no free drinks, I kind of liked the museum)

I do remember a kind of 'tasting tray' in the museum's bar. There's a display cabinet showing mock ups and prices and next to that a ticket machine. The tasting tray had 4 different beers in small glasses (& a snack?) which was perfect for the 4 of us.

The price was modest, certainly very reasonable, but not free.

Shareholder

IIRC it was about Y200 for the tasting tray, and I think there was some sort of sausage and some crackers. (This was the one by the Westin on the grounds of the original Tokyo Sapporo brewery.) I remember a machine from which you bought a token to hand over for the taster tray or a regular glass of the beer of your choice.

Appreciate the info on POPEYE -- gawd what a bizarre name given the English connotation -- and it looks definitely like a spot to drop into and try a couple of IPAs to see how the Japanese are brewing them. Sorry I didn't know about it when I was last in the area visiting the Edo Museum and the Sumo Wrestling Centre.

TY does sound like its the opposite to what a real micro brewpub should be...laid back, welcoming those wanting to try their various brews. I'll still meander over when I get settled into The Strings after my flight, if I'm not too beat from the longhaul from YYZ/ORD.

Can someone who reads Japanese please check out the Asahi Beer Village site for me and post the opening hours including what days it is open and closed. Thanks.

Pickles

Well, if that's their attitude, then they can go fark themselves. I did not see it this overtly, although we did order some food after beer #5 or so, since by then we were both (a) hungry, and (b) needed something to give consistency to the platform pizza.

That is also rather weird. Isn't the margin on beer a multiple of the margin on food? If anything, they should be pushing you to drink more and eat less!