Editor Note: Brimmer Beer Box has closed down. This review has been kept for posterity’s sake
It is indeed a shipping container.
Brimmer Beer Box is located about five minutes away from Omotesando station, an upmarket part of Tokyo that scares me because I simply do not fit in there. Swathes of high-end fashion and jewellery stores mean me in my usual clothes of jeans and t-shirt either stick out like a sore thumb or end up with sneering looks. On the day BeerTengoku went to Brimmer Beer Box, I was dressed in a suit and tie, and ended up looking out of place in the bar instead. I can’t seem to win.
He got busier once we turned up just after opening. There was about 10 people when we left and not much space.
Brimmer Beer Box is found in part of a shipping container and is, in essence, a tasting bar for their beers. When I say part of shipping container, I mean one-third of shipping container. This place is small. There is perhaps room for about ten people inside; there is some seating both inside and outside; however, don’t get too comfy. Open from 4pm Monday to Friday, and midday at the weekend, it’s located just close enough to the main area that you can sneak off for a quick beer or few, escaping the crowds meandering around Omotesando.
The menu at Brimmer Beer Box is beer with some snacks. There are usually three of regular beers on tap at any one time; when BeerTengoku went, there was Pale Ale, Golden Ale, and Porter, with a speciality on tap as well, this time being California Common. All draught beer cost ¥500 for about a 250ml glass or so. and you can also buy Brimmer Beer in a bottle to take home, at ¥700. There is also a special VIP card that costs ¥5,000 getting you 12 glasses of beer for the price of 10, and also reducing the price of the bottles to ¥500 instead. If you are feeling adventurous, there is also a yard of beer on sale for ¥1,300 and if you can beat the current record of 11 or so seconds, then you get the new record. On top of this, there are also pitchers available for ¥3,000 that hold about 1.6L or so too.
If you’re feeling hungry, then Brimmer Beer Box is not the place to go for food. The only food available were some basic snacks: mixed nuts, popcorn, and a variety of crisps. Although there are some tasty looking food shacks next day and upstairs from Brimmer Beer Box.
Brimmer Beer Box One Paragraph Review
If you haven’t tried any Brimmer Beer, then Brimmer Beer Box is a great place to try some out at a reasonable price. It’s unusual to see this kind of pop-up in Tokyo, but it’s been here now for over two years so Brimmer is doing something right.
Brimmer Beer Box Details
Open: Weekday 16:00〜23:00 / Weekends 12:00〜23:00
Website (in English): http://www.brimmerbeerbox.com/
How to Get to Brimmer Beer Box
Take the A4 exit out of Omotesando station go to the Aoyama Dori junction. Turn right, and go straight.
4 comments
On the day I visited here (alluded to in your post on Baird Harajuku), I was adrift. After shopping in the big Daisu store in Harajuku; I just began meandering around, away from the JR and Tokyo Metro train stations. I found the fashionable hamburger stand, without meaning to; and took that as a harbinger of good things to follow. When I arrived here, what I opted to notice was the Brooks Brothers habadashery across the avenue from it.
It was pleasant when I arrived, but an hour or so later, a rainstorm hit Tokyo, which short-turned my venture around the neighborhood. I had all of the Brimmer beers on offer. They were solid. I note; I am not a hophead. All my years as a craftbeer drinker; I have been on the malty side of the scale. For somebody who grew up in the employ of Sierra Nevada, S. Brimmer learned how to brew beers that are not ‘hop bombs’. So, despite the ghetto appearance of this box, I encourage everybody in Tokyo to get here and have his beers.
Thanks.
Unfortunately, the Brimmer Beer Box closed down back in June but they have opened a new branch on Kanda (on the opposite side of Tokyo) along with Magic Animal (makers of some great BBQ food!) and I’ll be going there when I get back.
As of Tokyo, Oct. 14, 2015, their website still lists the Omotesando location with no notice of opening a Kanda locale. Maybe the webmaster is having some beers and hasn’t gotten around to telling the rest of the world.
Yep, it’s a shame that they haven’t listed that but I guess they are waiting for the domain to run out.
They’re pretty quick to update the Beer Animal page on Facebook. I’ve been to the new “branch” and it is longer run alongside Brimmer and as such, the beer is no longer 100% Brimmer Beer. The food though is still spectacular.