A quick post today on a fairly newly opened bar in Shinsen, not far from Hiranoya. I was drawn in by the records and beer concept and although the music wasn’t really my style, (actually not at all my style if I’m being honest), I really enjoyed listening to the music that was being selected from the massive amount of records that were on display. Here’s what you need to know.
– Pretty small place on the second floor of a building on that main road with all the restaurants and bars that goes through Shinsen. The place is dominated by the shelves of records but there is a counter for five and tables for six. The music policy is ‘soul, funk, AOR, fusion, city pop, soft rock’ so is quite different from what I usually listen to, but made for an enjoyable accompaniment to a couple of beers with records being played on the two decks which were behind the counter and (for me) scarily close to the taps.
– 12 taps of mainly Japanese craft with a couple of US ones thrown in. Four of the taps are from the Tap Marche system so you probably know what to expect from them. (If not, it’s a beer on tap system provided by Kirin (usually to restaurants) where the beers are from some of the more mainstream craft breweries in Japan with reasonably safe selections). The others were definitely in more trendy styles, lots of hazy stuff and a surprising amount of CBD beers. Beers were served in two sizes, the usual US pint and half. The Tap Marche stuff was ¥850 for the half and ¥1430 for the pint. The other stuff was ¥840-¥1020 for the half and ¥1410-¥1710 for the pint. As seems to be the case recently, the West Coast brewing beers, made in Shizuoka, a couple of hours drive from Tokyo, were more expensive than the imports. Which is kind of surprising, but not really as they are always the most expensive wherever they are sold it seems. They also had a selection of beers in bottles and cans too. Think they were a mix of imports and domestic.
– There were some snacks available, no cover charge and I forgot to check wifi. It was no smoking, but apparently you can smoke on the roof if you want to, which sounded quite fun, even though I don’t smoke or want to smoke. I guess I just wanted to go to the roof.
I quite enjoyed this place and it was a fun bar to visit. Clearly the master is obsessed with music which is something I can relate to. It’s not really my kind of music but I love to see someone enjoying their hobby. And damn it’s better than Spotify which is Satan in the form of a company (going slightly off track for this blog, but it’s a common thing for me to talk about. FUCK SPOTIFY!). The beer styles are not necessarily my kind of thing either, and the prices are on the high side, but I acknowledge that hazy beers are both expensive and popular so I’m not going to moan too much about them being on tap and pricy everywhere. Although it’s clear that I’m not the intended target audience for this bar, I still had a fun time there, so if you think that the music might do it for you and you like your beers trendy, I’d definitely recommend it.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
West Coast
Craftrock
Kinshachi
Hakuba
DD4D
Hitachino Nest
Ise Kadoya
Opening Hours:
Monday-Saturday, 18:00-01:00
Closed Sunday
Location/map:
円山町5-14 スタービル2F Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
080-2677-8407
If Kirin has a World-Wide Web site for its ‘Tap Marche‘ venues, I alert you to be on the lookout for Bell’s Beers. Larry Bell sold his brewery to Lion (and avoided all mentions of Kirin – comparing his brewery to that of New Belgium which similarly sold out to Lion). Bell’s brews a number of Stouts, at several price points. But I suspect the first brew from it which you may view is Two Hearted Ale, voted the “Best Beer in the U.S.A.” by craft beer drinkers. It is a hoppy IPA.
Not-quite-P.S.: On my regular bookmark page is a link to the Online radio box, which provides access to over 1,000 on-line radio stations, including a number of which are in Russia or Ukraine(!). Check (or Slovak) it out if your desktop broadband connection is sufficiently swift. How swift is it?
If Japan ever decides to let me back in the country (80% want to keep me out!), I would go on a pub crawl with you through northern Kanagawa.
I’m pretty sure that Tap Marche won’t be featuring imports even if they are owned by Kirin. I’ve never seen anything other than Spring Valley (Kirin) and a few other Japanese craft breweries on there. If Bells turns up, I suspect it would be at a premium price point, as anything that is imported regardless of quality seems to be.