Yona Yona Beer Works One Paragraph Review
If you’re a fan of Yo-Ho Brewing and it’s beers, then Yona Yona Beer Works is worth a visit if you’re in the area since the Brimmer Beer Box closed down and has a left a hole in the craft beer bar scene in Omotesando. With the inclusion of tax in the prices on the menu and a non-smoking environment, it’s a chilled out bar; however, paying ~¥950 for beers that you can get for cheaper is the big problem here.
It really is this dark inside.
Yona Yona Beer Works Review
If you’re a fan of Yo-Ho Brewing, or been keeping up with the craft beer news in Japan, then you would have seen Kirin’s 40% purchase of the Nagano brewery in 2015. With that influx of cash and new market avenues, it was only going to be a matter of “when” and not “if” a new Yona Yona bar was going to open and with Yona Yona Beer Works, that first one has come true. Located in Omotesando, about one minute from the station, Yona Yona Beer Works opened in October 2015 with the hope of spreading the word about Yo-Ho Brewing and its beers.
Like every new bar that opens up, the first night is always a rush for seats and places with Yona Yona Beer Works being no exception. I had a reservation for 6pm but thought perhaps if I turned up 30 minutes earlier, I could push the booking forward. Popping my head around the corner, the massive crowd crammed inside meant that there was no possibility except to wait. This crowd may calm down after a month or show, but with a prime location next to the station (on the same road the old Brimmer Beer Box was) means it’s going to be busy at Yona Yona Beer Works for the foreseeable future.
Don’t piss of these two. Not with those knives behind.
Without wanting to rehash the Yona Yona Beer Kitchen review word for word, Yona Yona Beer Works follows the tried and tested formula of that bar and grill, but on a smaller scale. Gone are the open bay windows and airy atmosphere and in comes a dark and downstairs bar though with the same style tables and chairs along with the very similar menus and the same the beers on tap. The beer handles though are in the form of knives and cleavers so no getting rouder in this bar. If you’re a fan of Yo-Ho Brewing’s beers, then you know what to expect, along with some of their Karuizawa Kogen beer range as well.
Beers come in three different sizes: small (¥450 ~ ¥530), medium (¥680 ~ ¥780) and pint (¥900 ~ ¥980) along with a three-beer tasting set of three small beers for ¥1,280 though you can’t choose the limited edition beers or the barley wine in that. One thing that is great about Yona Yona Beer Works compared to its older sibling is that taxes are included in the price of food and beer, so what you see on the menu is what you pay for.
The food at Yona Yona Beer Works is nigh on identical to Yona Yona Beer Kitchen, which is based on oven baked foods and some grilled foods too. The sausages were delicious as always and come in portions of one, three or fives sausages with five costing ¥2,500. Choices include yuzu pepper, pork, smoked pork, curry, and venison, among others. Alongside that, the pork rib doused in ale was tasty but nothing spectacular as it could easily be done at home. The gyoza deep fried but sat among a pool of rayu and had a mountain of fresh coriander on top. Finally, no BeerTengoku trip is complete without a portion of fries though like the Yona Yona Beer Kitchen, they were too hot and salt.
Yona Yona Beer Works Details
Open: Monday to Friday 16:00 ~ 23:30 (L.O 22:30) Saturday, Sunday, and National holidays 11:30〜23:00 (L.O.22:00)
Phone: 03-5413-5447
Homepage (in Japanese though with machine translation options): http://yonayonabeerworks.com/aoyama/
Social media: Facebook / Twitter
How to Get to Yona Yona Beer Works
The closest station to Yona Yona Beer Works is Omotesandō station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda, Ginza, and Hanzomon line. The best exit is exit A4, where you turn right, and then turn right again at Aoyama-dori. Yona Yona Beer Works is about a two-minute walk.
