Sour Swamp is a relatively new bar and bottle shop in Chitose Funabashi. Chitofuna was an area that until recently had absolutely no craft beer places. That seems to be changing though with the arrival of Sour Swamp and then the very recent opening of a new Caliquors branch. I was going to try both…
Written by James Beer Glass Hopper is a one man bar located about seven minutes from Mizuhodai station on the Tobu line. I have a soft spot for one man (person) bars and I have met the owner several times at different bars on Thursdays, which is their day off, so I decided to check…
Written by James After climbing Mount Tsukuba (for work as it happens) I decided to check out Tsukuba Brewery. The first thing to note is that it’s quite hard to get to. Even if you are at Tsukuba station, it’s still a 3km walk or taxi ride away. That said, if you are in Tsukuba…
Southbound is the new taproom/bottle shop for the beer importer Cardinal Trading. So that probably gives you a good idea of what to expect from it. It’s situated by the river near Hinodecho station in Yokohama, not far from plenty of other bars and well within walking distance. I popped in briefly during their pre-opening…
Written by James A relatively new craft beer bar just two minutes walk from Kagurazaka station. I found Beer Olyn on Instagram and decided to check it out. The first thing you notice is the cool homemade window sign (see photo). It’s not on the first floor and the sign helps people find the place….
My recent attempt to drink a Japanese craft beer in every ward of Tokyo over the course of 2022 (#beerineveryku) left me at a bit of a loss when it came to Nakano. Despite being next to Shinjuku and therefore pretty central, Nakano has a bit of a dearth of craft beer places. There are…
Libushi Bashamichi is the relatively new brewpub and taproom for the Nagano based brewery AJB in central Yokohama. Although you can get AJB beer in quite a few places around the Kanto area, this new place gives you the opportunity to try plenty of taps of their beer in one place without having to go…
Danchi kitchen is a new place opened up in Nishi Urawa and is a community project with, I believe, some funding from the local government behind it. The place is a cafe, shared kitchen and brewery. For those who don’t know, danchi is the name for the blocks of public housing in Japan, normally dating…
Written by James 21 Brew Cave is bar restaurant and future brew pub that opened fairly recently in Hibarigaoka. An area that, to the best of my knowledge, has little or no craft beer options. The first thing you notice as you go in is a couple of large silver tanks for brewing beer. In…
Today a place that has just been opened by a regular drinker at Gremlin. Biruya Koizumi is a bit further west of Hatagaya though. It’s about a 10 min walk from Chofu station on the Keio line. Considering Chofu is a area with quite a lot of shops and restaurants, there is a dearth of…