Beer Ma Kanda (NOW CLOSED)

Today a post about a fairly new branch for Beer Ma, who up till now have been mainly all about the Kita Senju area of Tokyo, but have now ventured further into the centre. This is great for me, as it feels a lot easier to go to a Kanda bottle shop and bar than a Kita Senju one. I say feels, as in reality, Kita Senju isn’t actually that far away, and it’s actually pretty convenient for me to get to. This branch will certainly be more accessible for tourists though (unless they are staying in Minami Senju as many people seem to be doing recently). There’s not a great deal of difference between this place and Beer Ma to be honest, so I’ll point you in the direction of that post here. But at the risk of boring you all by repeating myself, here’s what you need to know.

– Concrete and wood type new place split over three floors, the ground floor being the main bar area, the second floor being the bottle shop (with some standing tables and a couple of taps on beers on nitro) and the basement being the ‘goods’ area. I guess this means beer glasses, t-shirts, that kind of thing, but it was closed when I visited so can’t be sure. Like the Kita Senju place, this is also standing only, so I’m guessing they don’t expect people to hang around too long.
– Ground floor has eight taps, usually split 5/3 between imported beers and Japanese stuff. The imports usually tend to be from the US but I have spotted Belgian and Danish stuff too, plus the occasional Brewdog. Second floor has the unusual selling point of having two more beers available, but this time on nitro. This is the first time I’ve seen this in Japan I think. Not sure I’ve seen it in the UK either actually. Beers on the ground floor are served in three sizes, priced as follows: L (400ml) – ¥1000-¥1200, M (324ml) – ¥900-¥1100 and S (265ml) – ¥700-¥900. The second floor stuff seems to be only served in the large size. Taplist is posted daily on their facebook.
– There is also a huge bottle selection (800 beers apparently) available to take away or drink on site. To drink in the bar you pay a small corkage fee, which I seem to remember was ¥200 for a normal sized bottle and ¥200 per glass for a large bottle. Selection size is similar to Beer Ma and less than Beer Ma Base as you’d expect.
– No cover charge, no smoking and a tiny little bit of daytime opening.

I only paid a quick visit to pick up some bottles and that was a few weeks ago so may have forgotten some of the details. Beer Ma branches are right up there as some of the best places to buy bottles to take away in Tokyo. The prices are reasonable and the selection is great. The tap prices and selection are less exciting with the unusual sizes disguising what are a bit higher than usual prices. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever actually had anything on tap in their places as there is always more interesting stuff in the fridges. The nitro taps are a unique feature too. As I haven’t actually had a beer here yet, I won’t comment on the atmosphere, but this has to go down as a pretty good place to drink based on selection alone. Next time I’m in the area, I’ll definitely try to check it out and report back here.

Japanese breweries seen on tap:
Johana
Minoh
Far Yeast
Ise Kadoya
Oni Densetsu

Opening Hours:
Monday-Saturday, 16:00-23:00
Sunday, 16:00-21:00

Location/Map:
鍛冶町1-6-4, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Telephone:
03-3527-1900

Links:
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