Today we are getting off the train at a previously unvisited station. Well, actually I walked there, so not really. And of course I can’t speak for my readers’ Tokyo station visiting past so maybe it’s wrong on that account too. If you don’t live in, or haven’t visited the area before, Ikejiri Ohashi is on the Den-en-toshi line, one station out of Shibuya. So we’re pretty central really. Visitors to Tokyo might delight in the knot of elevated roads that seem to intersect in the sky above the main road near the station, but I’d imagine the urban novelty would wear off quite quickly if you lived here, given that the roads do a good job of blocking out most of the daylight. If you come here at night though, that’s not going to be a problem. Craft Beer Scissors has a quirky and quite enjoyable name, apparently relating to the profession of the person who started the business. Yes, that’s right, they spay and neuter pets for a living. Only joking! They are/were a hairdresser. The name has very little bearing on the place though, apart from in the branding. Here’s what you need to know.
- Basement bar on a street that is just off the massive main road. The big lit-up sign saying ‘Beer’ will guide you into the basement where you’ll find a central table for maybe eight and a couple of counters for five or six. The main source of light is the wall of fridges containing loads of bottles and cans of mainly imported beer. Not to make it sound dingy, it was a perfectly pleasant experience drinking here!
- Ten taps of mainly Japanese craft with an occasional import thrown in. We went here for the 2nd Story Ale Works tap takeover, so can’t speak for the usual mix of breweries, but there did seem to be some interesting stuff on. Beers are served in two sizes, glass and pint (US as far as I could see). I’d say that the glass is abut 250ml. Prices ranged from ¥750-¥900 for the glass and ¥1150 to ¥1600 for the pint, but aside from a few outliers the pints were predominantly around the ¥1300 level. They also have a flight available with four beers for ¥1400 but I’m not sure of the sizes. Along with the taps there were lots of beers to choose from in the four or five fridges. In contrast to the taps, the fridges were full of mostly imported beers with a focus on those modern styles that lots of people love and I don’t like. So expect plenty of haze here. There were also some Belgian lambics too. I did enjoy mentally picking out some stuff that I would have liked to have tried if I hadn’t been on a 2nd Story mission. Whatever you like, you’ll probably find plenty to choose from here.
- They had WiFi, have some daytime opening at weekends, had no cover charge and were no smoking so a full compliment of those final section things I like to mention. Along with the beers they served some very nice pub food which we also enjoyed.
Scissors is a very welcome addition to the Tokyo beer scene. I say addition, but the truth is it has been around for a while but I have only just made it there. Recently there seem to be quite a lot of Kakuuchis (beer shops with drinking on site) opening and I think it’s a smart move, especially in these COVID times. At the moment they have reduced operating hours due to current restrictions but I’d say that it was probably a pretty even split between customers who took away and those who drank in the shop. I don’t think there is a price difference between the two options. As I have mentioned numerous times, we were there to drink 2nd Story, so weren’t exploring the whole range. But it was a very enjoyable experience on the whole. The prices seemed pretty normal (although I didn’t really check prices of stuff in the fridge, and to be honest, probably wouldn’t really know how to judge them anyway), and it would be nice to visit again and share some cans. Not sure it’s an area I’m likely to be in very often though, but if you’re there or close, it’s definitely worth checking out.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
2nd Story
Vector
Ise Kadoya
Kanpai
Opening Hours:
(take these with a pinch of salt, they change often at the moment so I’d check if I were you. They may be closed on Mondays)
Monday-Friday, 16:00-22:00
Saturday & Sunday, 13:00-22:00
Location/map:
池尻 2-30-12, OSビル B1F, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-6770-8144