Craft Beer Base, which happens to be the first in the chain of bottle shops and bars in Osaka, could easily be mistaken for being a workshop or simply someone’s house when you’re in the area. Situated on the backstreets of Ōyodominami, Craft Beer Base is perhaps Osaka’s most popular, though not the biggest, bottle shop in the area, offering a wide range of beers from not just Japan, but also imports, as well with American imports being the most popular ones.
There are two parts to Craft Beer Base – the small bar area where you can drink what they have on tap, as well as the bottles you want to drink in store, which are located behind the bar in a small walk in room. The bad thing about drinking bottles in Craft Beer Base is the corkage charge, which frustratingly varies with the price of the beer and not the size. Can’t wait to drink that ¥500 330ml bottle – that’s ok, it will cost you ¥350 to drink it in store. Oh that ¥5,000 330ml bottle – that will cost you ¥1,000 on top. I guess if you’re spending that much on a beer, then that minor niggle of money won’t matter too much to you. Thankfully, the prices have gone done as it used to be double price (i.e that ¥5,000 beer now becomes a ¥10,000 beer).
If you do decide to stay in and drink, then the whole place is non-smoking, with some English and a few bits and pieces available to eat but I didn’t stay long enough to do either really as I had more places to visit and trains to catch for the (long) journey home.
All this beer!
In terms of breweries, you can expect all the major Japanese craft beer breweries in stock – so there is your Shiga Kogen, Baird Beer, Minoh and so on, as well as a couple of smaller ones. However, I preferred to Asahiya Liquor Store over Craft Beer Base in terms of selection; however, the walk-in room is pretty cool and I’ll never get bored of seeing them.
Craft Beer Base also has an online store where you can buy your beers, though it’s kind of a mess to be honest – but that is subjective as I guess it depends on how you view Rakuten *shudder* sites in comparison. I’m yet to work out how much delivery will set you back as I haven’t ordered from them yet as most of the beers I want are either sold out or not in stock.
Craft Beer Base Details
Open: Monday to Saturday (Excl. Thursday) 11:00 to 23:00 Thursday 17:00 to 23:00
Phone: 06-6131-7015
Homepage (in Japanese): http://www.craftbeerbase.com/
Online Store: http://online.craftbeerbase.com/
How to Get to Craft Beer Base
The closest station to Craft Beer Base is Osaka station. The shop is about a ten minute walk from the north exit.
