Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve added anywhere to this site. Will hopefully improve on that front soon and add a whole load of new places that are currently on my ‘to visit’ list. But in the meantime, here’s a post on a place that you might not be travelling specifically to visit, (although I did…), but which definitely is worth stopping at when you’re in the area, perhaps for some kind of hiking or mountain activity. Although this still counts as Tokyo, the surroundings are far from what most people would imagine when they think of Tokyo. Craftrock’s Takao taproom lies in the bottom of a valley (I think…), not far from Takaosanguchi station on the Keio line, at the bottom of the trail up Mount Takao. It’s a really nice place to have a drink, the views more than making up for any inconvenience you might have experienced getting there. Here’s what you need to know:
- Ground floor taproom in a building that also houses a sauna and Craftrock’s Takao brewery. I’m not sure how often they brew. In the past I’ve seen them talking about Takao brewed beer being available, but I didn’t see any of them when I visited. Long bench seat at the window, (so you can look at those views), with seating for maybe 25. They have a sign asking you to be considerate about how much space you take up when it’s busy, so I guess it can get crowded at times. When I was there though I was the only customer, but it was raining and perhaps also a bit early for people finishing their hikes. Bare concrete decor and US punk pop type music on the stereo.
- Eight taps of their own beer, served in two sizes, R (280ml) and L (500ml). Pricing ranged from ¥800-¥1000 for the R and ¥1300-¥1800 for the L. It’s a little confusing for me as the lowest price for the L seems pretty good, but the highest seems quite expensive. Guess it is a little bit larger than a US pint though. Fridge of cans but they’re for takeaway only and seemed to be basically the same beers as were on tap. Order at the counter and pay as you go. Oh, and they only accept cashless payments, so keep that in mind.
- No cover charge, lots of daytime opening, but does close quite early, which is maybe what you’d expect for somewhere where the customers most likely need to get on a train to go home. There was a WiFi network for the sauna so I presume that it’s also for use by customers at the bar. Maybe I should have mentioned the food in the first section, but they had a selection of snacks available. They also were cooking something that smelled quite like it was chilli or tacos but I don’t recall seeing what it was. I’ve noticed that they have food events at the weekend sometimes, so perhaps normal service is snacks and then sometimes there is something more substantial available.
This was a fun place to pay a visit too. Like I said above, it’s probably not somewhere you’ll be going especially, as their central Tokyo branch has more taps and has longer opening hours, but definitely this place provides a very welcome stop for people on day trips. It was a shame that they didn’t seem to have any exclusive Takao made beers on as far as I could tell. It’s easy to combine a visit here with the Takao Beer taproom one station along the line back towards central Tokyo. Both of them are daytime kind of places though, so don’t think of them as somewhere to finish your pub crawl. I’d definitely recommend a visit, but I would probably make sure you combine it with something else if you’re coming from further afield. I imagine when it starts to get really hot, it would be a lovely spot to cool down a bit and have some beers in very picturesque surroundings.
Japanese breweries seen on tap:
Craftrock
Opening Hours:
Daily – 11:00-19:30
Location/Map:
高尾町, 2292番地3, Hachioji, Tokyo
Telephone:
042-673-6773