Ale You Ready!? : The Bottom Line
Ale You Ready!? doesn’t offer a lot on tap, with just one or two taps of craft beer on offer, though with the canned selection of beers, there’s bound to be something for you to drink. However, it’s the food where this place excels at, and I would happily come here again for some of the fish and chips, and a pint of domestic craft beer. It’s a quaint little place that doesn’t offer up much new in the Kobe area, but the owner is welcoming and friendly so you can come alone and have a chat.
Ale You Ready!? : Background
Ale You Ready!? opened in November 2021, and is located about a 5 minute walk from the Sannomiya station in the middle of Kobe. It’s located in what is fast becoming the craft beer area of Kobe, so you could easily combine this place with others in the area to make a little bar crawl out of it.
Ale You Ready!? is listed as a gastropub – not something you often see in Japan – with an emphasis on good food, alongside good drinks. While the bar does have a strong leaning towards craft beer, there are non-beer drinks on offer, such as wine, sake, and homemade ginger beer – and that is something that you should try when you come here.
Ale You Ready!? : Atmosphere & Interior
Ale You Ready!? is quite a small place, with it being longer than it is wider. There is space for 12 people inside, with a table at the front of the bar that has space for 4 people, another at the end of the bar for 2 people, and then 6 or so at the bar counter. There is no table charge here, and the whole place is non-smoking. The inside is pretty full up with empty kegs alongside one side of the bar, and a big fridge full of craft beer next to it.
There was some light background music playing on the day we went, not loud enough to distract away from the conversations, but enough to be heard. It was kind of a mix of music, without one specific genre sticking out.
Ale You Ready!? : Beer & Tap Information
Ale You Ready!? is a tough one to list on BeerTengoku – purely because the craft beer selection varies greatly from visit to visit. There are three taps of beer on, with one macro lager in the form of Sapporo Sorachi being on draught – less said about that hop the better – and then a couple of other taps. On the day I went, there was Brewdog’s Punk IPA and then Ise Kadoya. The fridge though has a decent selection of imported and domestic cans, at reasonable prices from ¥700, and then the tap of craft beer in either 1/2 pint (270 ml) from ¥800, 2/3 pint (370 ml) from ¥1,000, and the US pint (470 ml) from ¥1,200.
There isn’t an option for a beer flight, nor can the beers from the fridge be taken out – a shame really as Kobe could do with some more places for takeout beers. There isn’t a happy hour option either so coming to Ale You Ready!? is a real crap shoot in terms of what’s on offer.
Ale You Ready!? : Food & Menu Information
Food is where Ale You Ready!? excels at. The menus are all in English so there are no problems in ordering anything on the menu, and there are a number of vegetarian choices for those worried about that. I’d suggest though going for the fish and chips, which are prepared in house. The owner freshly battered the fish, and fried it, and it was simply some of the best I’ve had in Japan. All the prices included tax as well, but that fish and chips will remain in my memory for as long as I shall live.
Ale You Ready!? : Bar Details
- Open : Weekdays 17:00 – 24:00 (L.O 23:30) Weekends & Holidays 13:00 – 23:00 (L.O 22:30)
- Closed : –
- Happy Hour : –
- Phone : 050-5571-9062
- Homepage (in Japanese) : –
- Social Media : Instagram
