Vector Beer & Vector Beer Factory

Post by James

Vector Beer

Vector Beer is close to Shinjuku Gyoenmae and pretty close to Shinjuku Sanchome. It has a system which is very similar to Craft Beer Market, i.e. there is a charge to get in (¥350) but the beer is cheap (¥450 for a glass and ¥750 for a US pint). Tax is added on at the end. There are however some differences. The first thing I noticed is that this place is pretty easy to come to on your own as there is a bar counter that seats about eight. There are plenty of tables and a kind of terrace for groups. Vector Beer allows smoking. That said there were no smokers when I was in and they have a good ventilation system. I found this place to be a bit more like a bar that the likes of Craft Beer Market and I was surprised how much I enjoyed going. As well as eight taps of Japanese craft, they had one tap of their own beer (Shinjuku Beer Brewing) which is brewed at their sister shop next door. This beer was a pretty good effort for a Tokyo brewpub and the fact that they are starting to brew their own beers is maybe the reason that I found the staff to be more knowledgeable and more enthusiastic about beer. As well as the sizes mentioned above there was also an “Amazon” size, which comes in a pretty cool glass. ¥2000 gets you a whopping 1.5 litres of anything on tap. The days when I would have gladly have downed a few of these are over, but it did rather add a little something to the bar credentials of the place. They also do a taster sets of three beers (I guessed the sizes to be at least 150ml for each beer) for ¥1000. The food is also a bit different. Ox tongue is their speciality but there is a fairly big food menu. The food seemed a bit more expensive than the beer, but it was pretty good. I really enjoyed this bar and felt compelled to go to their sister shop a mere ten seconds away.

Japanese breweries recently seen on tap:
Baeren
Preston
Hansharo
Iwatekura
Baird
Shinjuku Beer (their own beer)
Hitachino Nest
Minoh
Rokko

Opening Hours:
Saturday-Thursday, Holidays, 17:00-00:00
Friday, 17:00-02:00

Location/Map:
新宿 1-36-5, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Telephone:
03-6380-0742

Links:
Facebook
Website
Twitter
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Vector Beer Factory

Only ten seconds away from Vector Beer, but a bit of a different feel. There is a big L-shaped counter so this place is even easier to go to on your own. There are tables too though, so fine for groups. The system, pricing and even the Amazon size and taster set are all the same as the original shop (see above). I felt this place had a slightly younger feel to it and there were 16 taps here, so quite a bit more choice. The focus is very much on IPAs here so that is a bit of a difference. All the beers were Japanese when I was in but the very friendly manager told me that they sometimes have an American tap on. I could see the two tanks where they brew their own beer from my counter seat. Only the IPA was on, but the other will be a wheat beer which they aim to have ready by summer. The food menu was completely different too.

I had a very good time at these two bars, but there was one more good surprise waiting for me. When I got the bill there was no charge. I asked why and was told that if you go to both shops (how do they know?) you only pay once. With that in mind I really recommend you try both bars instead of one.

Japanese breweries recently seen on tap:
Kankiku
Gotemba Kogen
Doppo
Noboribetsu
Baird
Outsider
Coedo
Kobushi
Minoh
Tokorozawa
Shiga Kogen
Shinjuku Beer (their own beer)
Tainai Kogen
Ise Kadoya

Opening Hours:
Monday-Saturday, 17:00-00:00
Closed Sunday & Holidays

Location/Map:
新宿 1-36-7, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Telephone:
03-5315-4744

Links:
Facebook
Website
Twitter
Ratebeer entry

Vector Beer & Vector Beer Factory

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