Beer House Moriu The Bottom Line
If you’re just changing trains at Tokyo station, or are in the area, then Beer House Moriu is worth checking out – just make sure you pick the right beers to drink so you’re not supporting the behemoth that is Asahi. It’s perfectly set up for travellers with its free wifi and charging points for both computers and mobile phones. The whole place is non-smoking though there is only a limited amount of English available, some staff do speak enough English to get your order sorted. Make sure you factor in tax though as it isn’t included in the menu and also the ¥280 table charge that somehow sneaked us by during the dinner session. Why can’t places announce that?!
Beer House Moriu The Full Review
Sumidagawa Brewery does sound like a fancy craft beer brewery – pick a name of a local place, tack on brewing or brewery onto the end and boom! There’s your craft brewery name. However, it is owned by Asahi Beer and is used as their access point into craft beer. The brewery has been around since 1994 – the year the government relaxed the licensing law – but it has taken Asahi over 20 years to become anywhere close to being proficient in the beer. So it’s hard to call Sumidagawa Brewery craft – how much autonomy do they have? How independent are their recipes and systems from the ever flexing beer company? One good thing though to come out of this is Beer House Moriu, which opened in June 2018, a taproom for Sumidagawa Brewery, and they also have plenty of guest beers on tap. More about that later.
Situated in the Gourmet Dining Area of Tokyo station’s First Avenue set-up but up on the 2nd floor, Beer House Moriu is a busy lunchtime spot for travellers & business people alike. There is also plenty of seating, with 100+ seats available, situated at various tables around the bar. The whole place is non-smoking; however, there is a sneaky ¥280 table charge to factor in – I guess if you’re going to take up their seats for work – like so many of the other guests were doing – then they need to get some money for it. For those wanting to catch up with BeerTengoku then there is also some free wifi and charging points at various around the bar .
The beers. It’s hard to avoid this point but there is some silver lining to it. There are eight taps on at Beer House Moriu, with three of them being dedicated to Sumidagawa Brewery, while the other four are dedicated to domestic breweries, and one tap of macro beer – Edelpils. So it’s an Asahi-owned bar that sells mostly non-Asahi beer. Weird eh? On the day we went, there were some offerings from Vector Beer / Craft Beer Company, a Tokyo based brewery. The beers come in one size of 350ml for ¥630 to ¥1000. There are also two beer flight options available – three 150ml beers from Beer House Moriu for ¥1,000 or three 150ml from guest breweries for ¥1,200 with both sets being chosen for you already.
The food at Beer House Moriu is based around the selection of hamburgers, or hamburg steaks, along with pasta during the lunch time opening hours. In the evenings, the meat theme continues with various cuts from chicken, pork, and beef available. Vegetarians don’t get much look-in, with just some salads on offer. The majority of the menus are in Japanese, though the staff do understand some English and may try to help you out.
Beer House Moriu Details
Open: Monday to Saturday 11:00 – 23:00 with lunch time 11:00 – 15:00 Sundays and National Holidays 11:00 – 22:00 with lunch time 11:00 – 15:00
Happy Hour: None
Phone: 03-3211-1967
Homepage (in Japanese): http://www.newtokyo.co.jp/tempo/moriu/moriu_yasueguchi/moriu_yasueguchi.htm
SNS: N/A
How to Get to Beer House Moriu
The closest station to Beer House Moriu is Tokyo.
