Surrounded by houses a 5-minute walk from the north exit of Koenji Station, Koenji Bakushu Kobo is a brewery pub with reasonably priced craft beer. ‘Bakushu Kobo’ basically means ‘beer workshop’. On the day I visited, they were serving a Strong Ale (a high alcohol slightly Belgian style pale ale), a white beer, a blonde ale and a “bitter cream” beer. Prices ranged from 410 yen for a jockey of the blonde up to 690 for the strong ale. I could complain about the size of the head, but that’s just the way in Japan. The strong ale was excellent, but the blonde was weak and the white smelled of yoghurt and was undrinkable, so definitely hit and miss. Definitely worth a look if you are in Koenji but not worth a trip from central Tokyo.

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