Written by James
The sign above the shop name says all you need to know, “Craft Beer & Italian”. That’s exactly what Brew Lounge Ichigaya offers. The layout is interesting and a bit unusual. There are five seats at a counter by the door, so it’s easy to come here on your own. There are about 30 table seats so it’s good for dates or meeting a friend. There is also a private room that can accommodate 10 people which would be a really good place for a party.
There seem to be 10 taps, all their own beer, but only six were on. Basically, they brew about 10 different beers and rotate the taps. The beers aren’t actually brewed on site. As far as my net research can gather, they are brewed in Ota-ku by Haneda Brewery which they own. The beers on tap when I visited were a Session IPA, an IPA, a Pale Ale, a Red Ale, a Saison and a Weizen. My favorite was the Red Ale. They brew a Porter which wasn’t on when I visited but I’ll definitely try next time. The beers had local place names which is something I kind of like. For example, the Pale Ale was Ichigaya Pale Ale and the Red Ale was Kojimachi Red Ale.
Beers come in two sizes, pint (¥1,200) and regular (¥780). The regular looked to be at least half a pint, I thought it was a little more. All beers are the same price and it’s a good price considering how expensive craft beer is in most bars. In my opinion, the beer was good for the price. I guess they make their money on the food in the evening, so they can afford to be generous with the beer. At lunchtime, which lasts until 14:30, there is a really good deal. If you order lunch, you can get your first regular sized beer for ¥480! They also make their own gin, Bath Lab Gin and there are wines available by the bottle or by the glass.
Being a restaurant, the food is good. Since this is a beer blog, I won’t go into details but everything you would expect an Italian restaurant to have is on the menu. I went at lunchtime on a weekday so almost all the other customers were just there for the food. Despite that, all the tables were taken and the only available space was at the counter.
This isn’t the kind of place that I normally drink at but I really liked it. It’s perfectly possible to come alone and sit at the counter but most people come in groups. Because there is a wide variety of non-beer options, it would be an easy place to come with a group who don’t all drink craft beer. I definitely want to have a party with a group of friends in the private room sometime.
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Haneda
Opening Hours:
Monday-Friday, 11:30-15:00, 17:00-23:00
Saturday, 11:30-14:00, 17:00-22:00
Closed Sunday
Location/map:
九段北 4-3-6, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-6272-3227