This post was originally part of one Iidabashi round up post before I decided to split all of these joint posts. Check out the other part here.
Post by James
This pub is located on a side street a little way up Waseda-dori (you pass Craft Beer Server Land on the way). The Royal Scotsman opened a little before the craft beer boom and it really has a good vibe. It has always been strongly non-smoking and was pretty much the first such bar that I can remember finding in Tokyo. Despite the name, it doesn’t feel particularly Scottish apart from the large selection of whisky. There are five counter seats and table seating for about 20. There are also some Ichiro’s Malt beer barrels which act as tables in the standing space.
There are five taps. Three are permanent beers and two are guest beers. The permanent beers are Brewdog’s Punk IPA, Preston Ale Irish Stout and Hitachino Nest Cask Conditioned Amarillo hand pump. The guest beers when I was in were Hansharo Russian Imperial Stout and Epic Brewing Copper Core Pale Ale. Beer comes in three sizes: Pints are 480ml, a medium is 329ml and a half is 259ml. Prices are a bit steep. Hitachino and Preston are ¥1100 for a pint and Punk is ¥1300 a pint. The guest beers are ¥1400 a pint. However, there is a happy hour on weekdays until 19:00. During this time you get ¥100 off Preston and Hitachino Nest and ¥200 off the Punk IPA. Guest beers aren’t included in the happy hour.
Although the beer is a bit pricey and the variety could be better, The Royal Scotsman has some big pluses in my book. It has a great setting with lots of windows and really feels like a pub. For a non smoking pub this is quite rare. It also has the best pub food I have come across in Tokyo. Well worth a visit for a pint with dinner.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Hitachino Nest
Preston
Hansharo
Opening Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday, 17:00-01:00
Wednesday, 17:00-24:00
Saturday, 15:00-01:00
Sunday and holidays, 15:00-23:00
Location/map:
神楽坂 3-6-28, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-6280-8852
Links:
Facebook
This was the bar originally operated by the male – female couple who went on from it to running BrewDog's Roppongi pub. (Whether they are still doing so I am uncertain.) They really liked BrewDog, so it was on tap here from day 1. I learned about this from Chuwy. I visited it the Monday night before flying back to the U.S.A. in December 2011.
It was superb enough that I included it in my {unpublished} article about Tokyo beer bars. The instruction I gave for finding it was to go out Exit #B3 (closest to the Namboku Line), walk west up the hill until you saw the 7-Eleven store sign, and make a left on that avenue.