Today a little post on a brewery that I managed to go to on the second time of asking. Cranc is out in Itabashi, not too far away from Tokyo Aleworks. They are quite different places though in most aspects. As I probably said in the Tokyo Aleworks post on here, Itabashi is really not as far as I imagined it to be. Slightly unfortunately for an easy pub crawl, Cranc is the opposite direction from the station to TAW, but it’s only a little over a ten minute walk and it’s good to burn a few calories before and after a beer or two, isn’t it? Anyway, here’s what you need to know.
– Pretty small place. No seats, all standing at a couple of tables and a couple of counters. It’s pretty small, but what did you expect from a Tokyo microbrewery?
– Six taps, half of which were their own beers and the others a mix of Japanese craft and US imports. Beers are served in two sizes and ml were listed (half 250ml, pint 473ml). A half of their own beer was ¥600 and a pint ¥1000. The guests were ¥700 a half and ¥1200-¥1300 for a pint. Pleasingly, tax is included in the price so there are no unpleasant surprises. If it’s busy you are asked to order at the bar.
– No cover charge, no smoking (I think) and wifi. There’s a bit of daytime opening at the weekend. I wouldn’t recommend arriving right at opening time though, as the two times I’ve been there, they haven’t been open right on the dot, so I’d give them a bit of leeway in that respect.
This was a nice place. Pretty relaxed, reasonably priced and it’s always good to support a smaller brewery. The guest beers looked interesting, but we stuck to the Cranc ones. The fact that it was reasonably busy from opening on a Saturday, along with the fact that they had a few items of brewery merchandise available for purchase suggests that it has a decent local following. I’ve never seen their beer in any other bars or even at festivals, so if you’re interested in trying it, you’ve got to come here. My favourite was the hoppy saison in case you were interested. You probably weren’t though…
Japanese breweries on tap when I visited:
Cranc
And Beer
Opening Hours:
Wednesday-Friday, 17:00-23:00
Saturday, 15:00-23:00
Sunday, 15:00-21:00
Closed Monday & Tuesday
板橋 3-40-16, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo
Telephone:
03-6909-6672
Links: