Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka: The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a quick beer, or even several, near Sapporo Station, then you can’t go wrong at Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka, and I recommend getting the beer flights – who thought I’d ever say that? There is a decent selection of beers on tap, and the food is good too. The whole place is non-smoking, has no table charge, and also free wifi.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka: The Full Story
I had spent the afternoon at the Shiroi Koibito Park in Sapporo – I’m not a big chocolate fan but it seemed like a nice way to spend an afternoon – but I was in the mood for a beer. I randomly stumbled across Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka- it wasn’t on any map and noone had told me about it; however, they seemed to have craft beer on their menus so I was drawn in for a couple of beers after another long walk.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka, as mentioned, is located less than a couple of minutes walk from JR Sapporo on the North exit, and actually opened in December 2021 – guess that explains why so few people know about it.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka : Atmosphere & Interior
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka is located on the first floor of what appears to be a small office block, on the back alley between a couple of buildings. It’s quite an open bar, with just four tables for 8 seats, and the rest of the bar being standing space – guess most of their customers come in for a beer or two after work. The whole place is non-smoking, and with it being mostly a standing bar, has no table charge. There is also some free wifi, with the details dotted around the bar.
Within 15 minutes of me turning up, the bar filled up pretty quickly, with office workers popping in from the surrounding businesses. Some of the customers literally came in for a single beer, drank, and then darted off to the station, and that seemed to be the main business base.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka : Approach to Covid-19
Like other bars in Sapporo it seemed, Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka had a pretty strict approach: temperature checks when you come in, alcohol spray, staff wearing masks, and social distancing. Of course, there was the obligatory poster for people to report any problems to the local government as well.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka : Beer & Tap Information
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka has 10 taps of craft beer on, with the taplist being dominated by local breweries from Hokkaido though on the day I went, only 8 taps were only due to the bar recently coming of the state of emergency. The beers come in three sizes: small (250 ml) from 750 yen, medium (350 ml) from 1,000 yen, and large (480 ml) from 1,250 yen – so it’s not the cheapest place in Hokkaido, but kind of expected with its location to the station. However, if you do end up going to Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka, then go the beer flight that gets you any three beers on the menu in 140 ml glass for 1,000 yen. There isn’t a happy hour nor is there an option for takeaway beers.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka : Food Information
There is just a spartan menu of snack food on at Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka, but I did end up deviating away from the normal and ended up getting some of their fried gnocchi. Delicious! Crunchy little balls of potato that were soft and fluffy on the inside and perfect for drinking with due to the parmesan and herb dusting they had on top. They were so good, I ended up getting two portions – I had spend about an hour or so walking so I deserved this! Vegetarians are in luck as there were plenty of options on the menu, though make sure you can read some katakana as the menus only had the basic amount of English on them.
Craft Beer Bar Hininitsuka : Information
- Open : Daily 17:00 – 22:00 (L.O Food 21:00 Drink 21:30)
- Closed : Irregular. Check social media.
- Happy Hour : N/A
- Phone : 011-700-0012
- Homepage (in Japanese) : N/A
- Social Media : Facebook / Instagram