Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : The Bottom Line
If you like cheap craft beer, and who doesn’t, then Craft Beer iBrew Shinbashi doesn’t stray from the successful formula that has worked so well for the other two places. In fact, with this branch opening at 13:00 and with Shinshu Osake Mura a stone’s throw, you’ve got the makings of a potential bar crawl. Craft Beer iBrew Shinbashi is completely non-smoking, has no table charge, and all prices include tax. While the tap list may be all over the place at times, the menu does include some English for the beer titles. The food has also gotten a lot better since our first visit here, though its still meat and fried food heavy.
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : Background
After two successful bars – the original Craft Beer Bar iBrew and the second Craft Beer Bar iBrew Wired, Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi opened up in October 2017 on the east side of Shinbashi station – in the same building as one of our favourite places – Shinshu Osake Mura. A new location had been on the cards for a while now with the two original locations proving to be so popular that they have to turn away people – perhaps due to the bars being two of the cheapest places to get craft beer in Tokyo.
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : Atmosphere & Interior
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi doesn’t stray at all from the formula either. It’s located less than two minutes walk from the JR station as well as the Yurikamome line, and is styled like the original places – cramped with no room to really stretch out. Thankfully the whole place is non-smoking – well the whole building the bar is located in is non-smoking – and there is no table charge either. There’s space for about 20 people at tables, another 10 at the counter, and some standing room as well – but you are going to be packed in there so if you have to stand, make sure you stand in the alleyway.
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : Beer & Tap Information
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi has anywhere between 25 – 35 beers on tap at any one time, though it no longer has the most taps, with the Craft Beer iBrew Yokohama and Craft Beer Bar iBrew Akihabara branches laying claim to that. The majority, it not all, the beers are domestic and they regularly post on their homepage page the tap lists – that’s right, no more paper taplists here. The beers come in two sizes : half pint (270 ml) and pint (473 ml) with five price points: special select at ¥1,749 / ¥2,079; ultimate select at ¥1,419 / ¥1,749, extreme select at ¥1,089 / ¥1,419, limited select at ¥759 / ¥1,089, and basic select at ¥429 / ¥759.
There is also a beer flight on offer, though that pricing is equally as confusing; with three beer options from ¥1,089, five beer options from ¥1,749, and ten beer options from ¥3,289. However, depending on what price point from above your beer is from, it incurs and extra charge of hyper at ¥500 per beer, special at ¥400 per beer, ultimate at ¥300 per beer, and extreme at ¥200 per beer.
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : Food & Menu Information
The food meny at Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi has seen plenty of variation over the years, with the current menu leans heavily toward Japanese izakaya food adapted for craft beer, with some Western/pub influences. The standout is the signature Shinbashi Hormone Mix, featuring five types of fresh offal cooked in a sweet-and-spicy sauce, while the menu also includes kushikatsu, chicken-skin skewers, karaage, Japanese-style fish and chips, spicy lamb, motsu stew and a selection of homemade obanzai such as smoked potato salad and wasabi-marinated yam. The food is generally hearty, savoury and generously seasoned, with plenty of fried and spicy options that work particularly well alongside the wide range of craft beers.
The food menus are printed in Japanese, though they do have some basic English menus available if you ask. Finally, the prices do include tax on them, as well prices without tax, which I’ve never really understood why bars do that? Just print the price on with tax on the menu, not make it some kind of hide and seek on the menus to work out how much you’re supposed to be paying.
Craft Beer Bar iBrew Shinbashi : Bar Details
- Open : Daily 13:00 – 23:00 (L.O Food 22:00 Drinks 22:30)
- Closed : –
- Happy Hour : –
- Phone : 03-3573-2777
- Homepage (in Japanese) : https://craftbeerbar-ibrew.com/blogs/shinbashi
- Social Media : Instagram
