Bakushu Shouten The Bottom Line
Bakushu Shouten is a peculiar place and as I write this, I’m still in two minds whether I liked it or not as it ticked off both positives and negatives. It has craft beer on tap, with plenty of taps to choose from with a decent atmosphere going on, but the service was a bit slack on the day I went there with Dan, and found ourselves wanting something a bit more, especially in terms of serving sizes. The beers came up with too much head, and the food portions were a bit on the small side for how much things cost. The whole place is non-smoking and but doesn’t have WiFi, though with barely no English on the menus, you may struggle if you can’t read katakana. Prices don’t include tax, there is a ¥300 table charge, and there was no happy hour either.
Bakushu Shouten The Full Review
This wasn’t the first bar I went to in Okayama with Dan – aka OneMoreGuyjin. We ended up going to bar that promised craft beer, and that it did. In bottles. At double the prices I’m used to paying. With a tiny space. So we upped and left for this place – imaginatively titled Bakushu Shouten or “Beer Shop” in English. Without realising, Bakushu Shouten is the sister shop to the other shop we quickly walked out of. But at least this place had craft beer on tap and at something resembling prices I’m used to paying.
Bakushu Shouten is located about 10 minutes from JR Okayama station and it opened in November 2019. Bakushu Shouten has space for about 45 people inside, all seated at various booths and tables around the place, which seems to have been decked out in plywood and wood paint. Due to the changes in smoking laws, when I went to Bakushu Shouten it had segregated smoking, but since April 2020, there has been no change in their details so your guess is as good as mine it seems. The dreaded table charge also rears its ugly head, at ¥300 per person, but I really don’t remember what we got for that. After spending so much time in Kyushu, and having gotten used to the free WiFi down there, I was a little disappointed to find out that Bakushu Shouten didn’t have any going.
In terms of taps, Bakushu Shouten has, at the time of writing, the most taps of craft beer in Okayama, with a maximum of 20 taps. However, whether they are all on is another story altogether as during our time at Bakushu Shouten, most of them were either locked up with padlocks on, or the kegs were kicking as we ordered. Sometimes just bad luck I guess. The beers come in three sizes: small (285ml) from ¥580, medium (385ml) from ¥880, and then large (545ml) from ¥980, but then not all sizes of glasses are available for all the beers on tap. Confusing I know! The serving could also be a lot better as there was quite a lot of head on some of the beers we got. There isn’t a happy hour at Bakushu Shouten, nor any beer flight options either.
In terms of food, Bakushu Shouten is mostly based around fried chicken and fried foods, so vegetarians might not have much luck here. Moreover, the portion sizes are a tad on the small size for the prices. If you can’t read kanji or katakana, then you’re going to find it tough to get some things ordered.
Bakushu Shouten Details
Open: Tuesday to Saturday 18:00 – 23:00 (L.O Food 22:00 Drink 22:30)
Closed: Sundays / Mondays
Happy hour: None
Phone: 086-897-3208
Homepage (in Japanese): https://bakusyusyoten.owst.jp/
Social Media: None
How to Get to Bakushu Shouten
It is located about 10 minutes from JR Okayama station.
