Yebisu Brewery Tokyo

I normally wouldn't bother to go to Ebisu Garden Place, not even to see the Christmas lights; unless there's an event there. This afternoon, I went to the area to visit the newly reopened Yebisu Brewery. The brewery at this venue was previously known as the Museum of Yebisu Beer that closed in October 2022 to be renovated and rebranded and reopened in April 2024 as Yebisu Brewery Tokyo. 

We ran smack into  an Aloha Tokyo Festival happening this weekend just at the huge atrium outside the Yebisu Brewery. Lots of booths selling odd Hawaiian-themed things, with straw bags and beach wraps and such. I guess it's a prep for summer holidays in Hawaii! So I saw hula performances, and many dogs. Hahahaha. 

The timing is wonderful for us. Yebisu has a smaller market reach in Singapore. It's hard to find Yebisu beer at the restaurants. The expression(s) found at Donki or Meidi-ya is usually just ONE. Damn sad. It would be awesome to taste the beers at their taproom. There're other bars/taprooms in the Ebisu area, but why not visit the brewery since we're in town.

We didn't buy any tickets or make a reservation since I read somewhere that it's an 'open' weekend. This information is in Japanese articles though. I don't know when they require you to pre-book tickets for the brewery since there's a beer fest usually held in September. Anyway, we walked in and nobody said we needed tickets and easily secured seats. LOL 

This is a most impressive space! Gorgeously built, planned and set up. The brewing vats are here too, not just for display. These are working vats. There's a little gallery area where tours are conducted. We didn't need a tour. We simply walked through the display detailing the history of Yebisu and how the bottles and cans and their designs have evolved through the years. There's also a little shop selling Yebisu souvenirs, like socks. Hahahah.

The beer hall is done up so nicely. The lighting. Smart use of it. Bright but subtle — it's perfect for a beer at any time of the day. There's no food served at this taproom except for snacks and finger food. I wasn't hungry but the potato salad was delicious. So I had seconds. HAHAHAH.

The tasting plate of four types of beers included, Infinity (a wheat beer of sorts), Foggy Ale 2024 (a light IPA), Black (self-explanatory), and Elite Hop (something with light hops), There wasn't Black today. So they replaced it with a regular version, which literally read 'Yebisu Beer'. Not exactly helpful. It tasted like a typical lager.

We stayed for a bit and ended up chatting with the couple from Saitama who were seated next to us, and kinda marveled at how much beer we were drinking. Oops. There're many domestic tourists this afternoon. After I was done with my samplers, I ordered a full pint of Foggy Ale. I really liked it! *burrrrrrp