Another nice night of booze

Was out in Toyko again. Meeting a friend who has been known to knock back a beer or two and can even tell the diference between them (amazing). However, it seems that push ups (press ups) are beyond this particular person.
Started out in Akasaka, Tokyo. I wanted to have a pint of Weston's cider in the Mermaid, as advertised on thier site.
My freind was about 20mins way frmo the station when I got there, so I decided to do a little recce. Interesting place, Akasaka. A lot of rich people walking around and some rather expensive stores. The Mermaid was easy to find. Just leave Akasaka Mitsuke station by the Bellevie (or soemthing like that) building, turning left down the small street. Keep going about 250m or so.
You'll find it on the right side:Ok. looks like a British pub. I was looking forward to a lovely pint of Old Rosie, scrumpy cider (have it at the Warrior Celt). The place looked dead but it was only 4:45. I walked to the entrance and looked at the menu:All my fears came true. Guinness was spelt wrong and Spitfire is one word. So most probably all Japanese staff and possibly not knowing what beers they are serving. Great start. Also, with a choice of Spitfire, Bishops Finger or 1698 (as their website listed), the weakest is by far Spitfire. Though its not a bad drink. Also, it was bloody 1200yen a pint. Screw that. I asked about cider on tap and the Japanese lady told me they didn't have any (it was on their website) and seemed to think I would be more than happy to pay the same price for a small bottle of Magners or Strongbow. I said no thanks and got the f*ck outta Dodge. I have no intention of going back to this place. Nothing any of my friends have said about it so far has led me to chance my mind. ridiculous prices and false advertising on their site p*ssed me off some.

I continued walking down the street, to the 82 Ale House.I knew this place did have their advertised London Pride on tap. The prices were all 1000 or less. They also had the Kirin premium unfiltered beer on tap. First time to see this on tap (you can buy it in bottles in most convenience stores - black label):I decided to come here for a drink with my fwend.

It also appears that they are having a celebration event on Saturday. Because it will be the 2nd of August, this means 8-2 which matches the number of the 82 Ale House. All beers, 500yen? Nice!

I continued walking and found myself near the Biz Tower. I then noticed the PCA bar/cafe/restaurant. I decided to find out what their advertised special beer was. The waiter had no idea what I was talking about and guided me to bottles of heikeken. He said that and a couple of other bottles was the only beer they had. Dissapointment number 2.
Because of this. I took the Mermaid and PCA off the boozelist blog.

I walked back towards the station, but took another street. I wanted to find the Belgian Beer Bar Antwerp Port Cafe.

I did.

It looked quite nice but it wasn't quite open yet. I decided to come back. Especially as they had a happy hour from 5 to 7.

So, I walked back to the station and met my friend and we walked to the 82 Ale House. We both ordered a Kirin Premium. I spoke slowly and I pointed to the poster featuring Kirin premium as I ordered the beers. We were then given two pints of Kirin ichiban shibori. WTF?
I told the nice lady that the beers she gave us were not what we ordered. She soon came back with 2 glasses of Kirin premium. She took the two pints into the kitchen. I hope she didn't pour them down the sink.Not bad but not good either. The head is a bit too false and creamy. The head was fake tasting and got in the way of the beer. The beer is a bit light too but better than standard. 4/10.
Think I prefer this in a bottle. They also have come out with a white version. Had it the previous evening:Again ok but something is missing and tastes a bit 'empty'. 4/10.

After this, we walked to the Belgian place where we were met by a very nice young lady who gave us a brief tour of the place. We realised they had Maredsous 10 on tap - a lucky find.
What's more, there was a happy hour first drink deal where we could get a glass plus a plate of horsedouveres (didi I spell that right? - probably not), all for about 700yen. Not too bad.

It was nice, too:

Easy 7/10 here. Very good beer and very 'Summery'.

Heres another shot, with the bar in focus:

After a nice beer here, we headed off to Shibuya.
Or at least that's what we thought...

...turns out we were travelling in the wrong direction and ended up in Shinbashi. This was a fantastic coincidence, as I really wanted to try this bar in Shinbashi - the Dry dock. They had an interesting guest beer on tap (I just caught the updated website as my last check before leaving the house in updating the boozelist - lucky chance there).
We decided to give this place a go and we were very glad we did. A lovely little bar with an ocean liner kinda feel to it (including nice ocean piped music in the toilet - presumably to mask out the occasional foghhorn blast?).

I started straight away with the guest beer. It was a Greenflash Imperial IPA.
Wow! Hops, hops and more hops (with a bit of hops thrown in). Very bitter. I'd say the IBUs were up there in the insane heights that only 60yr old Japanese climbers dare to reach. 9% alcohol and about 140,000IBUs. But this brew managed to pull it off. I found it quite nice. It slowed me down so that's a plus to start with. I enjoyed savoring this beer and it took me a good 7 minutes to finish. I was told this glass was 400ml but I'm not so sure about that. 1,100yen is a lot but possibly reasonable by Tokyo standards. 7.5/10

I then tried the super dry challenge. It didn't work. I'm not sure if the two beers were suppposed to taste different (one was poured with a huge head and the other as flat as possible). They just tasted like two asahi super drys, one which was gassy and the other flat. Perhaps I missed the point. I'll never know and quite probably never care.
I'm such a bitch!

My friend then ordered a Greenflash trippel ale. Well, she ordered a tripple but what we got was a glass of imperial. We told the nice owner about this. He looked at the beer, shrugged his shoulders, then threw the 1,100 imperial down the sink. We both screamed as he did that.
What a waste of a fine beer! I'd have drunk it happily or paid half price or at least give it to the homeless or something but don't just throw it away! Well, we got the trippel, but at what cost?
Slightly less hoppy and lower alc than the Imperial, this Belgian style brew was still very very nice but I preferred the Imperial. 5.5-6/10
We both enjoyed the Dry dock very much and will return here. The owner is a very nice, extremely knowledgable young man.


Right. We then wibble wobbled our way to the station and made our way, eventually, to Shibuya. The Aldgate was calling us to its dark, inviting, soothing interior.
I also wanted to try a Sankt Gallen Pineapple ale, just because it was a pineapple ale.
Here is the Sankt Gallen pineapple ale, in all it's 'glory':Not quite as bad as I'd feared. Also, not as good as I'd hoped. Still, not a disaster. I must say, I'm not a big fan of Sankt Gallen. I find all their brews very watery and lacking body. But this one seemed like a golden ale with a few drops of pineapple essence. Not as strongly flavoured as I'd imagined. Not a bad drop, though. Quite drinkable and a little refreshing. 4-5/10.

I was getting peckish and I ordered a home made pasty. Chuck Norris does a good job with his pasties. And baked beans is always a bonus.My friend had the cottage pie:Right. Time was getting on and my freind had to get her train home. This was after her boss walking in (coincidence?) and herattempt to do 10 push ups (press ups). I think she got to about 4, but then it was hard to judge. The backward roll she did after flying off her stool was impressive, though. Points for the backward roll: 7/10. I took a point off for slamming into a barstool. Tsk, tsk. Bad form, girl.

Said my farewells at the station then made it to my own station and decided to have the traditional ramen. There's a place in my station called Rasuta. It apparently has nothing to do with Jamaica, although it's called rasuta (rasta) and plays reggae music continuously. Go figure.
They do make an awesome shouyutonkatsu ramen.
Here is the Rasuta special:
Good thick noodles and lots of nice chashew pork. Good stuff. 8/10.

Then, I got home and went to bed (passed out).

The message of this entry is that I was ok but my companion obviously, being a woman, simply did not know her limits.
Tsk, tsk.

There. Let that be a lesson to all you women.
Leave the drinking to us blokes. We know how to do it properly.
I mean real blokes, not those other kind...

Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean...I must apologise.

After all, I quite liked the pineapple ale.

Thrash Zone 2nd anniversary

I headed out, despite my hangover, to the Thrash Zone's 2nd anniversary event.
The bar was open from 1pm and by the time I got there(after 3), it was completely packed. There must have been 30 people in there. Not a bad effort, considering the place usually has seating for about 10.

When I got there, I paid my 2,000 yen fee and for that I got a bottle of Speakeasy. Hang on...the poster and the internet page said a free pint? What's going on? There's a diffrence between a 330ml bottle and a pint. Not such a good start, there. Also, no choice over the beer. I was given an opened bottle of Speakeasy IPA. Nice beer, but considering I've paid 2,000yen, I would have appreciated being able to at least choose my beer. Oh well, I stood agains tthe wall and drank my beer and chatted with the lovely ladies.
The food was basic fried potatoes, french fries, fried chicken fare with a mixed vegetable dish thrown in. The owner brought out some pickles alter on. I'm pretty sure they were home made and they weren't bad. I think Japanese pickles go well with beer. The food was nothing like the 1,000yen all you can eat all day extraveganza that was on offer at Numazu taproom, last week. Still, this was included in the entrance charge so I ate loads.
The music was slamming and the beer was flowing. All of this did wonders for my hangover, of course.

I was showing signs of the booze affecting me.
Plus, I felt like I was being watched...I left after about an hour or two, as I really needed some air. It wasn't the bar, it was my stomach. A week of constant abuse finally catches up on a man. An old, tired, lonely, alcoholic, sad, sad man.

I popped out to Seijuishi again and picked up another interesting brew. Moretti Doppio Malto:I'd had this baby in Rome, also with some premium Italian ham and cheese and bread and it was very nice. I decided to give it another try. Not bad but the 7% alc was perhaps a little too much for my weakened state. The ham was nice, too (I later foolishly put it in the rubbish of a convenience store garbage box, by mistake, wasting 70% of the stuff - boohoo!). I walked from Yokohama to the Pivovar Yokohama bar, where I enjoyed the company of and drank a Nihonkai Bohemian pilsner and a yokohama Hefeweiss.I grabbed myself a Gambrinus for the journey back to Thrash zone.The gambrinus wasnt bad. But I felt like nothing could 'hit the spot', as my condition wouldn't allow it.
Back at the Thrash Zone, the party was going full swing. some Americans and an Australian had joined the throng. I seem to remember one of the guys did a pretty good job (or bad, depending on if you were one of the boyfriends) of securing most of the ladies' phone numbers.
The party ended not so long after I arrived and the guys and I moved on to have a pint at the Green Sheep. This was where Josh bought Chuwy a pint!Thanks, dude! That makes it THREE people so far who have bought Chuwy a pint. Makes that blog all worth it, knowing somebody cares.

Well, stumbled home around 1am. Now it's 9am and I'm still not feeling so hot but somehow I have to battle through this oppressive heat and try to get through the day.
Who am I kidding? I don't have it so bad
I've decided. Today, I'm on the wagon.
At least for this morning...

Pivovar Yokohama - Czech beer pub.

A new bar opened up in Yokohama yesterday.

Pivovar Yokohama.

(Here is a Japanese blog entry giving some good information about the bar - I'm in one of the photos, too!)

I headed down to Sakuragicho to check it out.

I picked up a new beer on the way. Sejuishii store in the basement level of the Yokohama station comlpex has a good selection of booze. I foolishly picked up an Anhcor Summer ale, instead of an Ozenoyukidoke IPA (lovely), I wanted to try a new beer.

I think it's an American wheat style beer and I thought it was bloody horrible.
I like German weisse beers. This is not one of those. But it was tart and bitter and not at all siuted to my tastebuds. If you like Baird's Wheat King ale or American wheat beers, you may like this one.

I managed to finish it and carried on walking on through Sakuragicho.

Here is a pic looking back towards the Minato Mirai skyline and the many boats/floating bars that go out on the water. Possible choice for another evenings drinking?

This is where I was headed:
As you can see, it's quite close to Sakuragicho station.

This new bar is the inspiration of the new young brewer at Yokohama beer. He spent 3 weeks or so at a brewery in the Czech Republic and he brought that knowledge and love of beer back to Yokohama - lucky for us!
The bar makes use of what was a small counter/cafe, in the ground floor of Yokohama beer brewery restaurant, Sul Ponte Umaya no Syokutaku (phew!).

There is seating for around 15 with the possibility of more outside.
A small place with a friendly feel. Just ask these lovely ladies:

I enjoyed the pleasure of their company for a while. They'd already downed 4 or 5 before I got there, so they were in a happy mood.

I quite liked this little set up, with the beer pictures:

Here is the menu:They offered 4 Yokohama beers (IPA, Bohemian pilsner &Tama no Megumi) as well as one guest beer on tap. At the moment, this is Pilsner Urquell. A gorgeous Czech pislner and reputedly the first of it's kind. He had one 30 litre barrel on tap. as sson as that's gone, then he will change to another Czech beer, probably Gambrinus premium. They also have Gambrinus, Urquell, Kozel, Kozel dark and Radegast in bottles.
As you can see, they offered a small discount for the opening day. I took full advantage of that.

Right, the beer!

My first pint was the guest beer: Pilsner Urquell.
World famous as the original Czech pilsner, this baby is nice. Dry, hoppy and easy to drink in large quantities!
It was perhaps served a little cold. The air in the brewery area (we sit down in front of the brewery) was already cool/cold. The eber was served in a chilled glass and was very, very cold. I'm not so sure this style of beer fully benefits from such a cold serving temperature. But then I'm from the UK. We drink our ale at cellar temperatures. I let my beer warm up slightly and the aroma and flavors really did develop more. Very nice. 7/10.

It was half way through my pint when I noticed the view from between my legs:

She's a temptress!

I took her suggestion and ordered another beer, while my urquell was warming up.

Next, I had the Yokohama IPA. English style and dry hopped with fuggles hops. Okay but again served too cold. When it warmed up, it got a bit better.Still, a little bland. I'm starting to get used to the American west coast IPAs that are hopped throuugh the roof but it was a nice suprise to find this brew. I think I will go back another time and give it another chance.

The food menu is very basic but they do take an effort with the presentation. I decided to try the pickles and saurkraut. They were discounted to 100yen so I was interested to see what I would get.This was the pickles.
I think it was served in an espresso saucer? It loooks nice but it was very difficult to eat from this 'plate'. I dropped a pickle on more than one occasion. Not very functional, really.

I needed another beer or five, to steady my hand.

I then had a Gambrinus premium.

This stuf was my favourite when I was in the Czech Republic. Nice and malty. A good beer. 1200 here is cheaper than the 1500yen that bars in Shibuya charge.

Next was the Yokohama beer Bohemian pilsner.

Not a bad attempt. Quite nice but just tasted a little too 'soft'. Maybe the water is soft? I'm not sure. However, it is a nice beer.

Say hello to the Kozels.

I like the premium. The dark (cerny) isnt bad but the light colored one is best. I like the Kozel.

Bruddy marverrous!

The last one I tried turned out to be the least delicious. Radegast.
It was okay but a bit weak tasting, after the others.

I was joined by my friend, Tim and we continued to drink.
I had another draught Urquell then headed off with Tim to hit the Thrash Zone.

Here's a Nagahama ale:

Very unique taste. p.s. Thrash have their 2nd anniversary party tomorrow afternoon.
I'll be there.

Pivovar Yokohama 6/10

Not a great choice here but it's about the Czech beer and you get that so I like it. Interestng to try the other guest beers when they are on tap and great to have another good bar to drink at in Yokohama. Not everything needs to be in Tokyo! Nice effort from the young brewer. Děkuji ti!

Apologies: This is a very quick write up, as I'm off out to try and catch the rugby game.
Possibly at the Aldgate.



P.S. since then this place has just gotten better.
I'd say 7-7.5/10 now. Bottle selection is mainly their offerings but their draft line up has improved and expanded to include other beer styles.
Worth stopping by!

Feeling rough but going back for more

Woke up at 5am. Had a nice quick shower in the internet cafe and left, still feeling absolutley sleepy and shattered. Cycled round Numazu, looking at the beach and the occasional female jogger (one, actually). Saw some old guys '(I think they were guys) pull in their fishing nets with the help of a small group of people. That killed some time. Cycled quite a bit on a small folding bikle that is geared really low and the seat digs into my a- well, it's not very comfortable.Had a nice sushi breakfast, in a small place in the harbour. Very nice. a mixture of all kinds of seafood.It's now about 11am. I'm back in another internet cafe (there are loads here and their night plans are far cheaper than a hotel. Still, hooking up with someone over alcohol and going back to their place for some aftert hours fornication and hopefully no regrets in the morning, followed by a nice shower (with the resumption of more fornication, this time of a salubrious and slippery kind) and a good breakfast would possibly be preferable - if they had internet in the house.

But then I never seem to take that option.

Never get the chance to answer that age old question:

"How would you like your eggs, in the morning, darling?"

- unfertilized, please.

Hmm...

Just read my previous post.

Man, I was drunk last night.

It was an effort, jsut to try and type anything.

We'll see how I am tonight.

The beer at the Taproom is good and there's lots of it.

The food they are putting on for this 8th anniversary is wonderful. 1,000yen all day, all you can eat.

I ate so much last night. I get my money's worth.

Looking forward to resuming my gluttonous excesses this afternoon.

Survived first night at Numazu

Alright, I'm drunk so I'll keep ity brief.
Good times were had at Numazu, from apporx 5pm.

Here's the list:Started wiht an 8 year ale (,many peopel's favorite)

quite nice and not to fruity.

a god deal while later (after about 5 pints or so) i decide dot go the way of samplers

cant remember what these were

but wrent bad

food, for 1,000yen allday was awewrsome

bveer enver stopper flwong. bloody marvbellousVIP section

view fo harbour befor ei went back in and had more booze

internet cafe, 1500 yen, 5 hours, double sofa, internetm, Tv, soft ice ream, drinks, etc,

goot aslelep soon, very druink and triored,

goodnight!!!