[johnf]

Headed to Tokyo for a month this weekend. I did a little research before posting and found that there are a couple of brew pubs in town that I can get to on the weekends and then this place is a little under a mile from my hotel:

http://www.lares.dti.ne.jp/~ppy/english/index.html

So, yeah, winning.

Anyway, looks like I could could spend the whole trip getting through the beer I can get there.

Any other suggestions for beer? Sake? Anything else?

I will be getting sushi at the fish market. Been wanting to do that for years.

[tumarkin]

if you like scotch single malts, there are some truly phenomenal japanese whiskeys.

[punatic]

No offense intended, but would you go to a steakhouse and order chicken?

Sake!

Look for this:

[brewmasternpb]

Did you see this article?
http://www.cnngo.com/tokyo/drink/tangled-brew-tokyos-top-craft-beer-bars-808295

[tumarkin]

No offense intended, but would you go to a steakhouse and order chicken?

Sake!

no offense taken, but if I was in a Japanese steakhouse, I'd have a whisky with that kobe (if I could afford it... but then what the hell, I'd be on vacation). each to his own. I'd certainly explore the local sake shops as well. but before I went, I'd be checking here, for bottles to look for -
http://nonjatta.blogspot.com/

[phillamb168]

if you like scotch single malts, there are some truly phenomenal japanese whiskeys.

http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-12867.aspx

^^^ = !!!

[johnf]

No offense intended, but would you go to a steakhouse and order chicken?

Sake!

Look for this:

The problem is there are more sake and whiskey from Japan available to me in the US than I will ever drink, but I have exhausted the availability of Japanese craft beer.

Not saying I will only drink beer, but then I expect to be tripping over sake and whiskey, beer is reputedly a little less ubiquitous so that is also where I could use the most advice.

So to answer your question, if I had dry aged steak hanging around my house all the time but had never seen a chicken, probably yes.

[SpanishCastleAle]

Are they brewing again or are they still just making/bottling water?  I thought I had read all the breweries were just making/bottling water since the tsunami but that may have been more 'local' than I thought, and might be over by now anyway.  Only Japanese craft brew I've had is Hitachino Nest White and Red Rice Ale but those have been in the US for a while.  Red Rice Ale is different/interesting imo.

[blatz]

there is a member of the NB and green boards named Chris Poel (just-cj aka cj-in-j) who brews for Baird Brewing in Numazu.  Pretty far away from Tojkyo I take it, but I think he has some decent distribution - I've never had his beers nor made his recipes, but a lot of board members rave about them both.

[johnf]

there is a member of the NB and green boards named Chris Poel (just-cj aka cj-in-j) who brews for Baird Brewing in Numazu.  Pretty far away from Tojkyo I take it, but I think he has some decent distribution - I've never had his beers nor made his recipes, but a lot of board members rave about them both.

Thanks, I doubt I can get there but I will look for his beer in Tokyo.

[johnf]

Are they brewing again or are they still just making/bottling water?  I thought I had read all the breweries were just making/bottling water since the tsunami but that may have been more 'local' than I thought, and might be over by now anyway.  Only Japanese craft brew I've had is Hitachino Nest White and Red Rice Ale but those have been in the US for a while.  Red Rice Ale is different/interesting imo.

I had thought of that but I figure their should be beer to drink, even if some of it was brewed a few months ago (they seem very fond of big smoked beers and barleywines). The news I can find on breweries is all from early March and the only craft breweries I can find mentioned are Baird which is apparently fine and Hitachino Nest which was damaged. Most of the big breweries were affected and the news stories seem to concentrate on them. While I'll probably have one or two for the sake of comparison to what we get here, I'm not really after Sapporo and Kirin, obviously.

Worst case scenario I can drink Sake and Whiskey.

[pudgym29]

There are lots of solid beers available in Tokyo (& Yokohama).
I link to some beerworthy English-language World-Wide Web sites on my regular bookmark page.
But I'll break out these two:
1) Boozelist (Chris Chuwy tries to annotate what beers are on tap at scores of beer bars in Tokyo [including the Tama region] and Yokohama.)
2) Japanese Craftbeer events ("Beerkat" [Rei-chan] denotes upcoming beer events, at beer bars, and detached venues.)
Baird has two brewpubs in Tokyo: In Naka-Meguro and in Harajuku; and a third brewpub in central Yokohama.
If you want more venue suggestions, please request them here.

[johnf]

There are lots of solid beers available in Tokyo (& Yokohama).
I link to some beerworthy English-language World-Wide Web sites on my regular bookmark page.
But I'll break out these two:
1) Boozelist (Chris Chuwy tries to annotate what beers are on tap at scores of beer bars in Tokyo [including the Tama region] and Yokohama.)
2) Japanese Craftbeer events ("Beerkat" [Rei-chan] denotes upcoming beer events, at beer bars, and detached venues.)
Baird has two brewpubs in Tokyo: In Naka-Meguro and in Harajuku; and a third brewpub in central Yokohama.
If you want more venue suggestions, please request them here.

Thanks!

I got to Popeye last night (second night in town). Pretty awesome. Had four 30 cL beers. The Yo-Ho TokyoBlack Porter (hand pump) and Divine Vamp III India Black Ale were both awesome. I only saw one other American there. He said not many Americans go (surprising, it has a very "American beer bar" feel). I thought the prices were quite high compared to Manhattan/Chicago/San Francisco/London but the American guy said they were one of the cheapest places in town.

I noticed one of the places in your first link has Maui Coconut Porter for 1,300 Yen a glass. Probably quite a novelty for people who don't get to the US, but I'll pass (not just on the price, I have no intention of drinking non-Japanese or at least non-Asian beer here).

I'd heard that craft beer was few and far between in Japan. From what I have seen that definitely does not apply to Tokyo. An American client (who lives in Tokyo) said there are tons of places around the office so I will probably have a beer or two with the clients a few nights.

Now I just have to map all of those places based on my understanding of the geography, which is entirely based on the Metro map.

[johnf]

I did venture out last night and have some whiskey (and a Manhattan, which was like $15 for what in the US is a glass of historic novelty size and too sweet).

Didn't know what to get and the waiter's English was, while much better than my Japanese, not great so I guessed and went with this:

http://scotchblog.ca/scotch_blog/2010/10/kirin-18-year-old-whisky.html

It was the most distinctly malty Whiskey I have ever head. Very fruity. It was a little much for me so I added a little water. Everyone else in the bar drinking Whiskey had it on the rocks. I am wondering if that is extremely common in Japan and they make the whiskey a bit more intense to stand up to the dilution. Definitely interesting. I'd much rather have another of that Divine Vamp III though.

No Sake yet (well I had what I am sure was a modest priced example on the plane).

I'm sick and it is raining out so I'm holed up in my room. I cracked open the mini-fridge for an Asahi Premium. It actually had an interesting floral hop nose. I'll get back on the town tomorrow night.

[SpanishCastleAle]

Sounds like fun except for being sick.

What is the most unusual vending machine item you've seen?  I hear they put almost anything/everything in vending machines there.