Today we visit Akita on my mission to cover loads of places all over Japan in a slapdash manner. To be fair though, I’ve been to Akita a couple of time so I at least have the experience of a repeat visit. If you think of Akita city, Aqula is probably the first beer thing that comes to mind. However, there are quite a few other breweries in the prefecture and it’s a fun place to drink beer. (But then again, most places serving beer are fun places to drink beer I suppose). It might be a surprise that Tazawako beer is not on here, but at the moment the taproom/restaurant isn’t open, so it seemed like it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to add it. Will add it if it reopens.
Akita-shi
Aqula
The big name of the city and maybe even the prefecture. I don’t think you see Aqula around as much recently in Tokyo (maybe that’s just me being out of touch…), but I always enjoy drinking their beers. They have two places to drink in Akita city which are conveniently right next to each other. There is a big beer hall and restaurant and a small low key bar. Have only been to the bar. It’s quite cosy and they had about 6 beers on tap and pub food if I remember rightly. Very nice place to work your way through the tap
list. Know nothing about the beer hall but I believe it is more like a restaurant.
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Beer Flight
Kind of classic modern craft beer bar. Think they have around 8 taps which if I recall correctly were split about half and half between Japanese and imports. They also have a lot of cans and bottles too and do food. They operate as a bottle shop too apparently. Seemed popular both times we’ve been there. People love those imports!
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Brewccoly Beer Pub
I’m pleased to say that the Brewccoly tap room is open again! If you went there when it was To-mart you will know what to expect as not much has changed. It’s a fairly small place with a counter for maybe eight and a small table for two. There were a couple of seats outside too. Nine taps including one Czech style side pour one. Sadly on my visit only four were on and the Czech one wasn’t one of them, but it totally makes sense to keep the beers turning over rather than getting old. Prices and glassware (picture below) are nice, they sell some cans for takeaway and there’s a nice selection of food available too. Their opening hours seem a lot more predictable than they were in the previous incarnation and they post them on their Instagram. Has a real friendly local feel and I really enjoyed popping back here. It’s a must visit for me when I’m in Akita.
Update: The taproom is still in the same building but has moved to what I guess was previously the office, (use the door in the picture above). There are now more side pour taps. The space is a bit smaller, but there are a couple of small tables and the counter area for standing drinking. As always I had a great time here. What was previously the taproom is now a fancy bistro, so if you end up somewhere that looks like it is a restaurant, look through the glass doors in the middle of the building and you will see where you were meant to be.
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Summit
This place has been on our list both times but we still haven’t made it there as it’s a little away from the
other places which are more central. ‘Belgian Frites, Craft Beer and Wine’ is the slogan. The beer is mainly Japanese it seems. Looks pretty good I think.
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Omagari
Akita Brewing Co.
Located not far from Omagari station, which is the part of the Akita Shinkansen where the train changes direction. Fairly new brewery and taproom with limited opening hours but lots of promise. Omagari is about 30 minutes from Akita on the Shinkansen but local trains don’t take that much longer. Beware though as neither are particularly frequent, so time your visit carefully. The taproom is really nice with plenty of seating and a nice counter. But at the moment they are serving the beers via the doorway into the brewery itself. They had six taps on and when I visited they were selling beer flights of up to all six so I went for the whole lot. Beers were in more modern styles than other local breweries offer, ie. there were a few hazies on tap. I can imagine that I’ll come here every time I go to Akita as if you have the JR East Rail Pass it’s really easy to stop off here for a few beers if you’re heading in either direction. I strongly suggest you check their Instagram for their opening hours though, as they don’t open particularly often and when they do, it’s not for very long at the moment.
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Tazawako
Beer Restaurant ORAE
This is the taproom and brewery for Kohan No Mori. You have to get a bus from Tazawako Shinkansen station so it’s not exactly the most accessible but you do get nice views out across the lake, about 5 taps and some more bottles, some decent beer pub food and a little souvenir/local produce shop. The place is surprisingly big but I guess it’s a popular place to stop when tourism is properly up and running. This Tazawako brewery might not have the honour of being people’s favourite Tazakwako brewery (out of the two that there are), but if you’re in the area, it’s a nice place to stop and have some food and drink with the nice views.
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