As part of my ongoing quest to find new and interesting places to drink that are a bit off the beaten track, I discovered the Bierernst brewery. I’d never heard of it before so was quite intrigued and WAS even more so when I checked the kind of beers that they were making. Finding myself with a free Saturday afternoon I decided there would be no better way to spend it than by going to Tama city and checking this place out. It was well worth it and I think I’ll be going back again soon. Sorry the photo isn’t great. It was quite hard to get the right angle without stepping into the reasonably busy road and I thought I’d better not risk it. Anyway, here’s what you need to know.
- Parlor is the name of the coffee shop and taproom space. I’m not sure if the barbers at the back is also part of Parlor or is something separate, but I suppose all of this hints to the fact that this is quite a unique place. The main area was much bigger than I’d expected and beared no resemblance to the photos I’d seen online. So much in fact that I initially thought I might have made a horrible mistake. The decor is pretty great. I don’t usually get excited about these kind of things but the furniture was really nice. There’s a very big marble topped sharing table in the middle of the space and then some bench seating and nice chairs and small tables. I’d guess there’s probably space to seat about 25 in all. The front of the building is taken up by the brewery which I was very pleased to see as it suggested I was in the right place after all. Checking the photos again, I’ve now noticed they also have a nice little patio too.
- Five taps of their own beer. I think they sometimes have guests as there was a section for them on the menu, but when I was there all of the beers were their own Bierernst beers. Beers served in three sizes, small, medium and large. The large looked like a US pint. The medium was bigger than a half. I’d say maybe a bit over 300ml. The small… I can’t remember. Prices, hmmm. Once again I’ve let you down, but on this occasion it’s not completely my fault. They didn’t have the prices listed on the menu but my two mediums were ¥1000 each, which seemed decent for the size of the glass. They also had some bottles to take away.
- As it’s primarily a cafe, there’s obviously lots of daytime opening. In fact, it’s only open in the daytime, so plan your visit carefully. I really expected them to have WiFi but I couldn’t find any. There was no cover charge.
I have to say, I really liked this place and it wasn’t just because of the interesting feel. The two beers I had were both very nice and I enjoyed the atmosphere of the place. It was probably about a ten minute walk from both the Odakyu or Keio line Nagayama stations, (they’re in almost the same place, but aren’t completely connected), so even though it’s a bit of a way out west, it’s not particularly difficult to get to. After I’d finished here I somewhat stupidly walked 30 minutes to a different station to head on towards Hachioji. Normal people might have taken one of the many buses that passed me. I’ll definitely be going back here and have already been recommending it to people. Nice beer and nice surroundings! Can’t get much better than that, can it?
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Bierernst
Opening Hours:
Thursday-Monday, 10:00-18:00
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday
Location/map:
諏訪 1-9-4, Tama-shi, Tokyo
Telephone:
None