Beer Brain Harajuku

After moving around Tokyo in the way that only a bar in a shed on wheels could, Beer Brain finally has a location that can’t be towed away by an over-zealous and misguided parking official. Also, perhaps since I last added a Beer Brain place on here, they also now have their own brewery out in Chiba near Kashiwa. And I believe the shed is still in the location on the map in the original post which I updated when they moved it. So plenty of Beer Brain options for you now, but let’s get on with what you need to know about the new place.

• If you’ve been to the shed on wheels you won’t be surprised when you come here. In fact from the photos I saw online I couldn’t really be sure that it wasn’t just a new location for the shed. Basically it’s a pretty small standing bar with a similar layout to the shed, but this time located inside a building and with a big concrete counter for about five people to stand at. Probably would be a bit tricky to tow that big old lump of concrete around! There’s maybe a bit more room for people to stand away from the counter too if it’s busy, but the dimensions and feel are definitely similar to the shed. They also sell beers in takeaway cups, so I guess (but don’t quote me on this), that it’s ok to buy one and then sit in the seating area in the middle of the little boutique shopping complex that the bar is in.
• Five taps of their on beer at decent prices and in nice glasses! Beer served in two sizes, ¥1050 for 425ml and ¥750 for 295ml. They also had a price per ml so I guess that means they do growler fills. In addition they had a fridge of their beers in cans, I believe for consumption on site or takeaway. Not sure if there is also corkage fee if you want to drink there, but as they were priced at ¥850, I guess not.
• Open from 15:00 during the week and earlier at the weekend so that ticks the daytime drinking box. No cover charge. I didn’t find WiFi, but to be honest I can’t remember if I checked for it. I would imagine there is at least WiFi in the shopping complex though. But this kind of vagueness isn’t really helpful, is it?

This was a really fun place to visit. I think I’d only had a Beer Brain beer once before, (in Kita-Kyushu!), and I was pleasantly surprised by them on this visit. And one of the beers in the fridge looking very interesting too. I’ll go back to pick it up soon hopefully. The fact that it’s a standing bar means that for old farts like me, it’s probably somewhere that you’d pop in to for a couple and then move on, and I definitely intend to do that in the future. There are quite a few drinking places in this area now, and I think they are all without a cover charge, so there is a real opportunity for a Harajuku pub crawl. Let’s do it!

Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Beer Brain

Opening Hours:
Monday-Friday, 15:00-22:00
Saturday, 13:00-22:00
Sunday, 13:00-21:00

Location/map:
神宮前 2-18-19 the Folks BY IOQ 1F SHOP-4, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

(The Photo at the top of the post is of the entrance to the shopping centre. Bascially go in here and head to the back left on the ground floor)

Telephone:
080-9664-7170

Links:
Instagram