Beer Stand Molto The Bottom Line
Beer Stand Molto is a standing bar in the center of Umeda with a great selection of drinks. I recommend it if you’re passing by and notice that it’s not too crowded, but because of its great location and small size, it’s often quite full of salarymen. The best time to visit is during the lunch hours when it tends to be far less packed. If you can stand (pun intended) the crowded space then it’s a great place to go to find some new beer, although for some it can definitely be hard to justify that kind of environment when Umeda has countless other craft beer bars for you to enjoy.
Beer Stand Molto The Full Review
Beer Stand Molto is the little sibling bar of Beer House Molto, and is actually located on the opposite side of the same sprawling station building. While Beer House Molto boasts a phenomenal view of Umeda from the 30th floor, and a larger draft menu with elegant dining options, Beer Stand Molto is far more casual. The standing only bar is located on the ground floor of the Hankyu station building, right by the bus terminals, has room for about 15 people tightly packed together, and is often close to full.
The main appeal of the beer stand is their great selection of bottles. While they do have a few beers on tap, the majority of their selection can be found in their bottle fridge, which customers may select from as suits them. Each bottle is priced differently (some rather expensively) though if you just want to take yours to go a slight discount to the listed price will be applied. The selection changes as they run out of stock, though some like the Hitachino Nest and Fujizakura Beer Project beers seem to be recurring favorites.
In addition to the bottle fridge, Beer Stand Molto keeps four Japanese beers on tap, all at the same prices. A small (240ml) is ¥580, medium (420ml) ¥1000, and large (650ml) ¥1300. If the beers aren’t to your liking they also have highballs, wine, Nihonshu, and a sour made fresh daily in house (prices for this vary depending on the type). On my most recent trip to this bar I went with one of their bottled beers and one draft, both of which were new to me and highly enjoyable.
Food at Beer Stand Molto is pretty limited. While they do have sausages and roast beef on the menu you’d be hard-pressed to enjoy an actual meal here as all the dishes come in very small portions, and the prices are a little steep for what you get. Most of their food menu are the standard things you might get at Japanese bars or izakayas as part of your table charge and typical bar snack food like mixed nuts and edamame.
While the food and space in the bar aren’t great, Beer Stand Molto has no table charge an is non-smoking. The bottled beers have price tags on them, but if you want to take a few bottles out with you they’ll give you a discount for not eating up space in the bar. If you plan on sticking around, however, you should use the bathroom before, as the bar itself has no facilities. You’ll have to leave the bar and go a bit down the hall to the public station bathroom. It’s close enough that you can’t possibly miss it, but you’ll still want to either finish your drink, pay your tab, and take your things with you if you don’t have someone else to hold down the space while you’re gone.
Beer Stand Molto Details
Open: Weekday 11:30-15:00 L.O. 14:30, 17:00-0:30 L.O. 0:00 Weekend & Holidays 12:00 – 0:30 (L.O 0:00)
Closed: N/A
Happy Hour: None
Phone: 06-6374-3067
Homepage (in Japanese): http://www.craftbeer-molto.com
Social Media: Facebook/ Instagram / Untappd
How to Get to Beer Stand Molto
The closest station to Beer Stand Molto is Hankyu-Umeda. The bar is about a minute walk from the station. Alternatively, the bar is a 3-4 minute walk from Hanshin-Umeda, JR-Osaka, or Midosuji-Umeda, and a 5 minute walk from Tanimachi-Higashi Umeda.