After School has been intriguing me for a while. The concept, a brewery in a former school building, is a unique one as far as I know. But I guess there is some history in Japan for former schools being adapted for different kinds of uses. Along with the brewery in the school building there are quite a few boutique kind of shops, and some other eating and drinking places. It was a very pleasant place to visit on a public holiday and it coincided with their first anniversary, so we got free popcorn! Here’s what you need to know:
- The taproom is inside what apparently used to be the head teacher’s office. Having had no experience of the Japanese school system, I can’t say I would have really noticed if I hadn’t been told. Although there is a massive blackboard for their taplist and other information so perhaps that was a hint. Aside from that there’s the usual bare concrete, so if you asked me what the place had been before it became the After School Brewery taproom I probably would have guessed it was previously a craft beer bar. 😼 There are seats for maybe twelve at a few tables and then more space for about the same again at semi-standing tables, one side of which are served by a high bench. There is also a big patio area out front for when the weather complies.
- Twelve taps, two of which were for wine. I first saw this at Ushiku Brewing and was surprised. And now the very next place I’ve added has the same thing. Perhaps this means it’s everywhere and I’m very unobservant. So that leaves ten taps for beer and eight of the ten were for their own beers. The two guests were somewhat surprisingly Futako and Brewstars Yacht Club. All the beers including the guests were similarly priced with only a small range of ¥900-¥930 for the medium (280ml) and ¥1440-¥1480 for the large (450ml). They also had a Kölsch which was served in a Stange class (200ml) for ¥700. They also offered a flight of three beers of your choice for ¥1800. I’d say the sizes for these were probably just a bit under 200ml.
- There was WiFi, (but it’s a public network, I guess shared by the whole facility), they are open during the day every day and there was no cover charge. I think they had some food available as well as I saw cutlery, but I didn’t see any menu. I should have asked.
This place was quite fun to visit. As I said, I think the school nostalgia thing was slightly lost on me, but I imagine it would be pretty amazing to visit now if you actually used to attend this school. Perhaps the location isn’t the most convenient but it’s not too far to walk from Ikejiri-ohashi station and only a little further from Sangenjaya. Definitely it will be an experience that’s a bit different from the usual one you’d get at a regular taproom. The beers were in a decent variety of styles, and (naturally) I liked some of them more than others, so I’d be interested to come back again some time in the future and see how they are progressing.
Japanese breweries on tap:
After School
Brewstars Yacht Club
Futako
Opening Hours:
Monday, Wednesday-Friday, 14:00-22:00
Saturday, 12:00-22:00
Sunday, 12:00-21:00
Closed Tuesday
Location/Map:
池尻 2-4-5 Home/Work Village 110, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
None