Nagahama Roman Beer : The Bottom Line
Nagahama Roman Beer is in a great place – the town pretty much has nothing else in the area in terms of craft beer so if you want some, then you have to go to Nagahama Roman Beer. Just get there early, or book some seats, because it seems like everyone else who is in the town has the same idea and you could end up waiting for an hour or so for a seat to become available. The beers are much better on tap than in bottles and while the range may not excite people, the all-you-can-drink plan is great value for money.
Nagahama Roman Beer : The Full Review
After a long day of cycling, almost 140 km and about 1000 metres of elevation, it was time to get some calories back in. Nagahama is very much a backwater town / city in Japan that is geared towards more of a tourist experience; however, there is a distinct lack of places selling craft beer. Enter Nagahama Roman Beer, a massive sprawling brewery / taproom that is the only craft beer place, at the time of writing, in the city.
Nagahama Roman Beer is a brewery owned by Liquor Mountain, one of Japan’s largest distributors of alcoholic products, that opened in March 1996. It also has a whisky distillery on site that opened in November 2016. The closest station to the building is Nagahama station, and it’s about a 5 minute walk.
Nagahama Roman Beer : Atmosphere & Interior
As you enter Nagahama Roman Beer, you’re greeted by what is the workings of the brewery and also distillery – and let me tell you this, when they are brewing a beer, or just finished up, the smell across the place is fantastic. And it’s also a ginormous tease as you sit there, waiting for a seat to open up as you didn’t think you needed to book a space as who in their right mind would also be here on a Friday night at 5pm? Pretty much the whole town it seems as it took an hour for me to get a seat. The worst thing about that was I became impelled to drink everything that I could in such a short amount of time because, like most other places in Nagahama, it seems that this place also closes early too.
Nagahama Roman Beer has space for about 150 people inside, all seated at various combinations of tables, and inside reminds me of a German beer hall. The whole place is non-smoking but unfortunately, there is a table charge of ¥300 per customer. Annoying but at least you do get a big bowl of dried salami to eat while you’re waiting for your food and drinks. The bar had a gentle hubbub of conversation across it, with some light music in the background, not enough to muffle conversations, but enough that it could be heard.
Nagahama Roman Beer : Beer & Tap Information
Nagahama Roman Beer tends to have four taps of craft beer on, though there are occasions where they do have some specials on – but not on the day I went as their DDH IPA had sold out minutes before me ordering one. The beers come in four sizes but rather annoyingly, it’s not the glass size, but the portion size: tasting glass (150 ml) for ¥418, slim glass (290 ml) for ¥715, pint glass (380 ml) for ¥858, and then a pitcher (1,600 ml) for ¥2860. The portion sizes do vary, as you can see in the pictures above, so sometimes you get more beer than the amount stated, while other times you don’t. However, I would suggest the two hour all-you-can-drink plan for ¥2728, which gets you anything on the drink menu – all you need to do is drink three pints and you’re sorted. The beers from Nagahama Roman Beer are much better on tap than in bottles, and all were to style, with my favourite being the weizen.
Nagahama Roman Beer : Food Information
The food at Nagahama Roman Beer is mostly based around a Japanese style izakaya menu with lots of meats, pizzas, pastas, and salads on the menu. The portion sizes vary greatly but the food was tasty – I had the fish and chips, which for 1 person, wasn’t that much but the fish was plump and had skin on, while the Bismarck pizza was pretty damn good but that could have been due to the hot sauce – Marie Sharp’s Smoked Habanero which was brilliant. The menus didn’t have any English on them, but there are English menus available if you ask. Moreover, all of the prices include tax. Vegetarians are also in luck as there are some items on the menu – not much but enough that you can actually get enough food here to call it a meal.
Nagahama Roman Beer : Details
- Open : Weekdays 11:30 – 15:00 (L.O Food 14:00 Drinks 14:30) 17:00 – 21:00 (L.O Food 20:00 Drinks 20:30) Weekends 11:30 – 21:00 (L.O Food 20:00 Drinks 20:30)
- Closed : Tuesdays
- Happy Hour : N/A
- Phone : 0749-63-4300
- Homepage (in Japanese) : https://www.romanbeer.com/restaurant/
- Social Media : Facebook
