Anchor Point The Bottom Line
Anchor Point might not be the brew pub you’re looking for – I certainly felt out of place in jeans and a t-shirt in what appeared to be an upmarket bar, but if you’re in the area, it’s worth popping in. Just. The beers, while young and had some dodgy pours, were tasty for a new brewpub. Thankfully the beers did get topped up. The prices included tax though there was a ¥400 table charge, for which you got some nuts or some bread. The inside of Anchor Point is non-smoking, though there is a small seating area outside that is available for smoking.
Anchor Point The Full Review
There isn’t much in the choice in the Akasaka area, so any new bars are welcome. With Yona Yona Beer Kitchen having the area pretty much to itself for the last few years, some other people have noticed and begun to move into the area. Anchor Point is one of them. It opened in July 2016, in what used to be a coffee shop, and they have been brewing their own beers on an 120L located behind the kitchen. They also have their own brewer too who is planning to eventually have six in-house beers on tap at all time.
Anchor Point is located about two minutes from Nagatacho station, and is also within walking distance from Akasaka-Mitsuke station too. The whole bar and restaurant is perhaps one of the biggest I’ve been to for BeerTengoku – inside, there is space for over 50 people, with some counter seats available, and the outside terrace area has space for about 80 or so. And the outside area is huge. There is a small area for smoking so at least you won’t get covered in smoke if you choose to sit outside on the terraced area. There is unfortunately a table charge of ¥400 that has to be paid, regardless of where you sit, but you do get the choice of either beer or nuts with that charge. If you do have a dog, Anchor Point welcomes dogs in the terrace part of the bar.
There are six taps of craft beer at Anchor Point, with the plan that more are installed as the brewery works up to full capacity. There aren’t any plans to other craft beer from other domestic brewers once the six taps are running, though on the day I went, three of them were lined up for imported craft beer, and the other three were Anchor Point in-house beers. Beers come in two sizes: medium (300ml) for ¥700 and large (500ml) for ¥1000. Those prices include tax though, so no funny surprises at the end. The imported beers were more expensive: medium (300ml) for ¥900 and large (500ml) for ¥1250, so drink Anchor Point if you want to save some cash. And you know what? Besides some dodgy initial pours, they were quite good for a brewpub. At the time of writing, there wasn’t a happy hour nor were there any tasting sets available.
The food at Anchor Point is more lined up towards meals rather than snacking, and the chips at Anchor Point did not pass the stringent BeerTengoku test. While they were tasty, getting eight giant wedges is not as satisfying as a huge bowl of well cooked fries. The food did look good, but some of the prices were a bit out of our range. There were some vegetarian choices though not many.
Anchor Point Details
Open: Daily 11:30 to 23:00 (L.O Food 22:00 Drink 22:30)
Happy Hour: None
Phone: 03-3263-8378
Homepage (in Japanese): http://anchor-point.jp/
How to Get to Anchor Point
The closest station to Anchor Point is Nagatacho on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line (N-07), Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line (Y-16), and Tokyo Metro Hanzomon Line (Z-04). Take exit number four and Anchor Point is less than a couple of minutes walk.
1 comment
I would think its name will change when it gets a cease-and-desist order from a certain San Francisco (U.S.A.) brewery which does export to Japan. (Kirin made a Chicago craft brewery change its name from “Argyle” because it owns a winery with that name! I’ve never seen an Argyle wine anywhere, much less in Chicago.)