Edit: Beer Animal closed at the end of November 2015. This review has been left up for archive purposes.
It was a sad day among craft beer fans when the Brimmer Beer Box closed down in 2015. Thanks to the rapid development of car parks across Tokyo, the land that the Brimmer Beer Box was situated on was sold off to some developers to build a car park. This meant that Brimmer Beer Box, and also Magical Animal were forced to find a new location. Finally, a few months later, Brimmer Beer Box and Magical Animal joined forces to form the Beer Animal in Kanda, situated less than minute from Tokyo Metro Kanda station.
Excuse the plastic bag but I had paid a quick visit to Liquors Hasegawa beforehand.
If you hadn’t guessed by now, the name Beer Animal is a portmanteau of Beer Box and Magical Animal. What has been lost? The connection to Brimmer Beer. One of the things that kept customers coming back to Brimmer Beer Box was the selection of Brimmer Beers but now that’s gone, a range of Japanese craft beers have taken their place. Beer Animal has six taps of rotating Japanese craft beers from across Japan at the very reasonable price of ¥500 a glass, which is the only size available. A shame as sometimes you want something much large to quench the thirst, perhaps a pint size at ¥800 would go down a treat.
Beer Animal is also one of the rare craft beer places in east Tokyo that is open for lunch; however, with that comes a problem as Beer Animal has only one tap on. It makes sense that if you’re not too busy then it saves tap cleaning and maintenance but it didn’t really entice me to stay much longer than a couple of beers. The choice was a good one with Brimmer Beer’s California Common on tap throughout the time I was there which paired well with the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. Other beers on tap, though in the evening session, came from Sankt Gallen, Minoh, and Shiga Kogen. The latest beer list can be found on their Facebook page.
The lunch menu usually consists of two different options: a lunch box with rice and some topping, such as pulled pork, or a sandwich option, which in our case was the aforementioned Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. The dinner option is far more varied and menus adorn the area above the bar from hot dogs to pulled pork sandwiches and burgers to fries. The food is cooked fresh in front of you and is delicious, there is simply no other way to describe. I’d love to go back and try the Nick Burger which happens to be the most expensive item on the menu. For the vegetarians among you, there isn’t much option besides some fries and sides.
For those who go to Beer Animal for a quick lunch time beer but don’t have time to work, never fear, there is also free wi-fi to connect to and also it’s non-smoking, so while you may go back smelling of chicken wings and hamburgers, the smoke won’t be a giveaway. Moreover, it’s cash on order at Beer Animal and the dreaded table charge doesn’t rear its ugly head.
Beer Animal One Paragraph Review
I was initially disappointed that the removal of the link between Brimmer Beers would be a downer but the expansion to other breweries across Japan is welcome at the price of ¥500. The food though is the major draw to Beer Animal and is simply delicious. If you’re in the Kanda area, and looking for some BBQ food and cheap beer, you could do a lot worse than at Beer Animal. We’ll definitely be going back for the dinner session and trying more of the range of beers now.
Beer Animal Details
Open: Monday to Friday 12:00 ~ 14:00 16:00 ~ 23:00, Saturday 12:00 ~ 23:00
Close: Sundays
Phone: 08020290558
Website: Beer Animal on Facebook
How to Get to Beer Animal
The closest station to Beer Animal is the Tokyo Metro Kanda station on the Tokyo Metro Ginza line. Take exit A4, and Beer Animal is less than a minute away. It can also be reached from JR Kanda station too.
