TDM 1874 Aoyama (closed now and moving to Shimokitazawa)

THIS PLACE IS NOW CLOSED AS IT IS APPARENTLY MOVING TO SHIMOKITAZAWA. WILL PUT UP A NEW POST ON THAT PLACE WHEN IT HAS OPENED

A quick post today to write this place up properly. I’d heard a lot about it and could probably have done a post without visiting from what people have told me, but that’s not really the point, is it? With a plethora of beer in Toyko websites around now, offering the same information in a far classier and slick way than this blog does, I have to try a little harder.  After reading this, you can decide whether me trying harder is to any purpose. Probably not, but then again, I’m not exactly trying to do this for a living, so sometimes you have to put up with some sloppiness. By the way, paypal link on the right for donations, so send me a fortune and I’ll try really really hard. I promise I’ll spend it all on alcohol. Apologies to TDM 1874 Aoyama for this massive diversion in what is supposed to be a post about their bottle shop and bar in Aoyama. As you probably know, TDM 1874 is a brewery in Yokohama, and this is their Tokyo location, so you can still get your TDM fix, even if you can’t make the trip to Yokohama. Here’s what you need to know:

– Slightly fancy looking place in Aoyama, so I guess it fits right in. Ground floor is basically a wine shop with a small bar counter. Upstairs has seating for around 16 people, but this was closed on Saturday when we visited. You can still drink on site on Saturday though, standing at the counter. There’s maybe room for five or six if you’re friendly. As suggested by this description, this place is probably foremost a booze shop, but with a drink on site option. 
– Four taps of TDM beers. When we visited these were BBB, Pale Ale, a gose and a DIPA. Beer is served in two sizes, US pint and UK half. The prices ranged from ¥860-¥1110 and ¥540-¥660 respectively. They also do take out beers which are 400ml and are about ¥100 less than the pint price. Haven’t been to the brewery for a while, but I think the prices there are cheaper, which is completely understandable given the location of this branch. There is also a fridge of beers (maybe about 25 types including some US imports along with some TDM cans), for take away only, along with the massive amount of wine, sake and cider which you can drink on site or takeaway. If you want to drink on site the corkage for the wine and sake is ¥500 per bottle and ¥300 for the cider. But, as I said, the canned beers are for takeaway only.
– No smoking, a ton of daytime opening, no cover charge, but tax is added to the prices mentioned above.

All in all a nice place to stop in for a quick beer and pick up some stuff to take home. Given that the downstairs is a standing bar and I am a grumpy aging man, it’s probably somewhere I would pop in to, rather than spend a long time at. But this would all change if the upstairs is open. This place is kind of close to where the Brimmer Beer Box used to be and although both were/are Tokyo taprooms for Kanagawa breweries, it’s probably there where the comparisons end as this place feels a lot fancier than the box did (not exactly surprising given that the Beer Box was a shipping container). To be honest, I don’t really find myself in Aoyama very often given that my interests do not include expensive cars, restaurants, home furnishings and wedding venues. But this place has given me a good reason to make a diversion and stray into uncomfortably fancy territory for me.

Japanese breweries seen on tap: 
TDM 1874

Opening Hours:
Monday-Friday, 12:00-22:00
Saturday, 11:00-21:00
Closed Sunday

Location/Map:
北青山1-4-4, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Telephone:    
03-6804-2323
 
Links:
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Website