Beach Muffin/Tap Room Michi Kusa (Yorocco Beer)

Today, a place a bit out of Tokyo and not open so often. So far, so inconvenient (for me anyway). However, Beach Muffin could be my dream come true in a few ways. I had been meaning to go here for a while but hadn’t quite managed it. Beach Muffin is the tap room for Yorocco beer, and I have enjoyed the beers I have had from them, but it also serves vegetarian friendly food. The offer of veggie tacos and Yorocco beer during a long bank holiday weekend was too much to resist for me, so I finally made it there.
Firstly, I should point out that even if Beach Muffin is open, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the tap room will be. The cafe is open daily (except for Mondays and Tuesdays) but the tap room is only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for limited times (although outside of these times they do have one tap available). These are also only the summer opening times, so if you are going at another time of year, best check their website. The building itself is lovely, the inside looking like an old Japanese house spread over a couple of levels with lots of nooks and crannies with chairs, tables and sofas in. It’s difficult to accurately estimate the capacity, but I reckon there are seats for around 30 at a variety of table sizes. They don’t take reservations, so if you are heading there from a long way away, it might be worth turning up earlier rather than later. The decor is homely and comfortable, the furniture is recycled from a variety of sources by the looks of it. There is plenty of greenery spread around and I can’t emphasize enough how nice it felt.
Onto the beer. On Fridays and weekends they have all five taps going. They are also quickly replaced as they run out. Consequently, as we were there for a few hours, we got to sample six of their beers even though they have only five taps. All beers are ¥800 (now ¥900 as of July 2020), and are served in a Belgian style tulip glass in servings of around 350-400ml (I estimate, possibly badly). There were a variety of styles on offer (a smoked fruit beer, saison, Pale, couple of IPAs) but nothing dark when we visited. However, I believe they sometimes have their porter on, and I have had a stout by them in the past, so they do make these kind of beers if that’s your thing. Along with this they serve a selection of snacks and you can always order from the cafe menu if you need something more substantial.
I really liked this place, although I may have just been lucky to visit on the perfect day for me (vegetarian Mexican food!). I suspect though that it’s always a nice place to drink. I like Yorocco beers and you don’t often get the chance to try them outside of Zushi. It only takes about an hour from Tokyo to get to Zushi and then it’s around a 15 minute walk. There’s no cover charge and it really is a pleasant place to drink. I will be interested to see what they do when it isn’t summer as I am sure that less people go to Zushi when it’s not beach season. When I find out, I’ll update on here. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it down there again before the summer is finished, and if you need to break up the journey back to Tokyo, you could always stop off in Yokohama!

Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Yorocco

Opening Hours:
Summer 2014 (will try to update this as we go, but if not, check the Yorocco website)
Friday, 17.00 – 22:00
Saturday, 12:00 – 22:00
Sunday, 12:00 – 19:00
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 12:00 – 18:00 (one tap only)
Closed Monday and Tuesday
Autumn 2014 (hours cut back a bit)
Friday, 17:00-22:00
Saturday, 17:00-22:00
Sunday, 12:00-18:00

Location/map
桜山 8-3-22, Zushi, Kanagawa

Directions:
Firstly get to Zushi or Shinzushi stations. Then check the map below. The directions are a bit too long and possibly confusing to type. Sorry! As you can see, the route from Zushi station is a little further, but goes right past Shinzushi station, hence, just the one map.

View Tokyo Beer Drinker Map in a larger map

Telephone:
0468-72-5204

Links:
Beach Muffin website
Yorocco Beer website 
Beach Muffin Facebook
Yorocco Facebook
Ratebeer listing