Sapporo interlude (now with some other Hokkaido places too!)

I’m not sure if starting these new kind of posts is a good idea to be honest, but I’m going to try one anyway. My normal remit for places on this blog is that they need to be at least reasonably easy to get to from Tokyo on a train. Of course Hokkaido doesn’t fit into this category. The reason I initially put this limitation in place was that a bit over two hours away from Tokyo by Shinkansen there is the huge Kyoto/Osaka area which is so full of bars that I’d never be able to do the area justice or even cover it even half adequately. However, it does seem stupid to not at least put some places I’ve been to and enjoyed on the map, just in case you might be in the same city and are curious. These posts are by no means intended to be comprehensive guides to the cities they mention. I’ve been to more places in each city, but I’m not going to mention everywhere as I can’t be bothered and some aren’t really worth recommending to be honest. Perhaps Kansai Beer Drinker or Kyushu beer drinker, or Tohoku Beer Drinker can cover them (or you could check Kansai Beer Lovers who is kind of doing that kind of thing for Kansai I guess). I’m also not going to guarantee that the places I have been to and are featuring are the ‘best’ places, as perhaps my taste is different to yours. These are just some places I’ve visited that were quite nice with a couple of sentences to give you an idea and a Facebook or website link for you to check the details if your interest is piqued. If I return to a city at a later date and find somewhere new, I’ll add it to the appropriate city post rather than writing a new one. So, here we go with some Sapporo places (and further down some other Hokkaido places too). After adding the other Hokkaido places to this post I’ve realised it is very low on pictures so I’ll try to take some next time I visit.

Sapporo

Beer Bar North Island
The recently moved taproom for perhaps the most famous of the Hokkaido craft breweries. The new location is closer to the city centre, on the 10th floor with nice city views and a bit more up market than the previous place. Good place to drink North Island (obviously), and they have some guest beers too.
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Beer Cellar Sapporo
Two branches in the city as far as I know, both of which function as a bar and bottle shop. The one in the department store next to the station is unsurprisingly smaller and the one which isn’t is by this logic bigger. I believe they are both run by an importer who imports mainly Oregon beers, so you know what to expect.
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Facebook (Daimaru department store branch)

Hininituka
New place just a little north of Sapporo station which specialises in Hokkaido breweries. Relaxed atmosphere and interesting selection. Had never heard of some of the breweries and there were some pleasant surprises in there. Friendly and helpful staff. Can’t remember the prices I’m afraid, but I’ll definitely be going back as they offer something unique.
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Moya Moya Base
Bar that has opened in the same spot where the old North Island Bar was, perhaps 10 minutes walk East of the city centre. Around six taps (I think), and a decent selection of breweries. Quite enjoyed the pub snacks too.
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Tap Room Beer Kotan
The newish Sapporo taproom of the Hokkaido brewery Hop Kotan in a slightly strange shopping centre. Around 10 taps of their beers at good prices. Very nice food and a patio too that is sometimes open. Quite a popular place so I’d recommend booking or arriving early. We liked this place so much that we went on two consecutive days.
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The Craft
Sapporo’s Craft Beer Market/iBrew type place, I guess. Similar amount of taps and pricing anyway. There is a small cover charge and the place is smoking (as quite a few locations seemed to be), but it was infinitely superior to the place we tried before we came here, which we sat down in, checked the menu and then decided to walk out. It shall remain nameless… Not the most exciting selection of beers perhaps, but there are a lot of local breweries represented. The food was nice too and the smoking was surprisingly unobtrusive.
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Tsuki To Taiyo / Moon Sun Brewing
Fairly new brewpub (a few years new if that makes any sense), with a nice wooden cosy interior, some of their own beers and some guests, which if I remember rightly were split between Japanese and import stuff. Pretty popular place. I think we’ve been turned away twice when we’ve tried to go without booking so bear that in mind.
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Tsuki To Taiyo Miredo
Another Tsuki To Taiyo place that is in a shopping centre not far south of Sapporo JR station. Big counter and a few tables. Food was nice and they had 10 taps of their own beer on with a beer flight available. Open all day so a great option if your thirsty in the daytime.
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And some new places!

Streetlight Brewing
New brewery that’s a little bit out of the centre of the city but only one stop on the train and a little walk, or about 15 minutes on the bus. The building looks like it used to be some kind of warehouse but it’s now a nice taproom with a big window through into the brewery. They had 10 taps on, six of their own and some guests. Good pricing and a really nice feel to it. Think they’ve only just started brewing so I want to check their beers again in the future and see how they’re doing. Daytime opening so a good place to start a crawl I guess.
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TRANS Brewing Beer Stand
Standing bar and brewery tap located in a little food court on the main arcade that runs east west through the city centre. Daytime opening and nine taps of their own beers. Not the cheapest, but a fun place to have a couple. And they also do beer flights so you can work your way through the taplist quite easily. Had no idea about this place but it turned to be their second anniversary when we visited which was a bit of a surprise. Not sure where the brewery is.
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Susukino Brewing
A short walk south of Susukino station. Not sure if this is a brewery tap or an actual brew pub. They had a little room that could have been a brewery but there only seemed to be a canning machine in there. Four taps of their own beers on and a beer flight was available. They do food too, but we were there at opening after a massive lunch so stuck to the beers. I don’t know if they are connected to the old brewery that had the same name. Their branding is significantly different and said that they started in 2020, which suggests they aren’t.
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Liquors Kalahana

New place opened up next door to Kalahana which always seemed like it could be a nice place but was way too smoky. This place is a bottle shop and bar with plenty of daytime opening. Six taps of craft beer, five of which were domestic and one was an import. Serving sizes are a little smaller than normal, so although the prices look cheap, they probably are about normal. Few fridges of bottles and cans which also included domestic and imported stuff. A really nice laidback atmosphere and is the perfect place to start your drinking day when in Sapporo.
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Neighbour Roast and Brew

Coffee and beer place on the ground floor of the ANA Plaza hotel in Sapporo. A hotel bar might set off alarm bells but it was actually a pretty nice place to have some beers. Their blue hazy IPA might also set off alarm bells but it was surprisingly drinkable! There is a brewery set up on site but i have the feeling that it’s not functional at the moment. Neighbour seems to be an offshoot of Abashiri Beer which will set off the alarm bells again, but this time they are making beers in a bit more of a modern style. Guess they couldn’t help but make a blue one again. I was impressed how different the brand is to the normal Abashiri stuff. 12 taps, four of which were their own beers and the rest were Japanese guests including some from Abashiri, which I guess weren’t strictly speaking guests. Definitely worth popping in for a flight of their beers. And the staff were really nice and helpful.
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Otaru

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Otaru but if I’m adding Hakodate places I should probably add these Otaru ones too. Be careful, the names are all pretty similar.

Otaru Beer Otaru Warehouse No.1
Big German style beer hall that you used to find in a lot more places in Japan. Run by the Otaru Beer brewery that used to have a taproom in Akasaka. Lots of people really like the German style beers this brewery makes and with the changing of tastes I’d guess their beers are becoming fashionable again too. This was definitely my favourite place in Otaru. Great prices and hearty pub food in nice surroundings. Looking forward to going back some time.
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Otaru Bine
I think the name might be a hint at the fact that the Otaru Winery also makes beer. Beer + Wine = Bine… maybe. This was a nice place too. An Italian restaurant style place that serves the Otaru Winery beers. A different kind of experience to the Warehouse. Can’t remember a great deal about it though if I’m being honest. There doesn’t seem to be much sign of beer on their website so I’d check the menu before you sit down. They do still seem to be making beer though. Otherwise I wouldn’t have put it on here. But be careful!
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Otaru Taproom
Reasonably new taproom based in a hostel which focuses on the more modern side of Japanese Craft Beer rather than the breweries that are more based on European styles. Their Instagram shows their taplist. Four or five taps with a couple of fridges of cans too. Fun place and a relaxed atmosphere. Good food too!
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Hakodate

There were surprisingly quite a few places to drink in Hakodate but beware lots of them close early and at inconvenient times and some aren’t the most accessible. It was a fun place to spend a day and night drinking though.

Hakodate Beer
Big and slightly old-fashioned Japanese Ji-Biru beer hall. Taproom of the Hakodate Beer brewery. Lots of tables, the kind of food you’d expect and maybe six or seven of their beers on tap. They had a beer flight which was a very welcome option. Sells their more famous and most critically acclaimed Barley Wine in a 1.8l serving size (as well as a smaller one), which seems just amazingly insane. The other beers are mainly German styles but with some fruit ones thrown in too. I enjoyed the experience but probably best you don’t go here if you’re expecting cool decor, trendy music and modern beer styles.
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Hakodate Beer Hall
Think this is run by Sapporo which you might imagine would rule it out of contention immediately for this site. But they have two Hakodate Beer brews which you can’t get at their own place. I think they might have been the nicest ones too. In an old red brick warehouse on the waterfront. It looks like a tourist trap but was actually quite good fun and the pub food and beers were nice and reasonably priced.
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H.M. Works Ozigi
The most modern place we went to from the point of beer, decor and food. Here you will hear words like ‘saison’ and ‘IPA’. Five or six taps of their own beer which I don’t think was brewed on site, but I do believe was actually brewed by them. Situated near the bottom station of the ropeway, it’s a nice place to pop in to after doing the city view thing, which is exactly what we did. Closes at 10 though, as most places seem to in Hakodate, so don’t leave it too late to go there.
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Endeavour Beer / Endeavour To Go
Another new-ish Hakodate brewery but one we didn’t manage to make it to. The brewery and cafe is at the end of one of the tram lines so a bit out of town and closes quite early. Endeavour To Go is, I believe, a growler filling place and bottle shop which is near the bottom station of the ropeway. I think they only sell their own beers but as it was closed when we were in the area I can’t be sure. It is strictly take-away only though it seems.
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Craft Beer Bar Jun
The sole place in the city that seems to stay open past 10pm. But if you’re not staying in the Goryokaku area or don’t like somewhat lengthy walks you might be scuppered, as the trams stop about 22:30. Consequently, we didn’t make it here, but it seems to be a locals kind of bar with a few taps on craft.
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Onuma

There’s only one place and it seems to only be open office hours somewhat bizarrely. But I guess Onuma is a bit of a day-trip destination so maybe they don’t expect people to stay after 5pm.

Onuma Beer / Bräuhaus Onuma
Short hours, currently serving no food and with only their regular beers on, you might have expected this place to be quite underwhelming. But actually I had quite a lot of fun here. Seem to have been hit a bit by COVID (which I guess has temporarily killed the kitchen), but the prices were good and them only having four taps means that it shouldn’t be a problem to drink the lot of them! The lake is nice too. Actually, I guess most people come for the lake… Trains from Hakodate don’t take long but are quite infrequent, so be careful.
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Asahikawa

Nice city which prides itself on being the centre of Hokkaido, about an hour and a half from Sapporo on the train. Recently quite a few places have opened here which is a good, because in the city itself there is not that much to do. (Sorry Asahikawa residents). Have to say though, I really enjoyed visiting and will definitely go back.

Taisetsu Beer House

Classic first-wave-of-Japanese-craft-beer place not too far from Asahikawa station. Expect the usual mix of German stylings in both the decor and the beer and sprinkle it with a bit of Japanese influence. Six taps of their beers including some seasonals at good prices. Their food selling point is Genghis Khan barbecue, but the food menu has plenty of other options too including both Japanese stuff and general pub food. Their beer tasted considerably better here than it does in bottles and it was a fun place to visit. Open at lunchtime unlike some of the other bars in town so a good place to start. They also have a place called ‘Craft Beer and Sake Bar’ in an outdoor kind of food court in the centre of town, but I would imagine that is open in the summer only.
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Beer House Tonoto

Kind of familiar feel to it. Modern place but on the edge of an old looking complex of shops bars and restaurants. Mix of local and domestic craft beer with some interesting choices. Food available and that included some interesting stuff too. A few seats at counters but mainly standing. Considerably more modern than Taisetsu so expect more contemporary styles here. It was a fun place.
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Freehouse The Yeast

Bottle shop and city centre taproom of the somewhat mysterious Yeasters brewery which is currently a gypsy brewer whose beers are brewed ‘somewhere in Hokkaido’. 12 taps and also serves some nice fancy beers by the glass. Only three of their beers were on when we went with the rest being mainly Japanese craft. Quite a lively atmosphere and was pretty popular not long after opening time. Seating area upstairs but the downstairs is standing. I liked this place!
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Hug

Perhaps the fanciest feeling of all the places we went in Asahikawa. Downstairs is a bottle shop and standing bar. Upstairs they have a bit of seating and it has quite a relaxed but classy feel to it. Mix of local stuff and US imports, (with a big Beer Cellar Sapporo (see above) feel to them), as far as I can remember. We were in a bit of a rush so only stayed for one drink. Seems like they have events here so maybe we were there on a sedate day.
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