Travel Tuesdays #14: Ebisu Illumination & Baird Beer in Nakameguro Japan
Travel Tuesdays
One of the wonderful attractions in Tokyo during the winter are the "Illumination" events. Illumination is a holiday light display on steroids. Most cities have their own small displays, but leave it up to some businesses to take it to the next level.
While I was working in Shibuya last night I thought I should go see an illumination since I was in the city. Luckily there was one at the next stop in Ebisu at the Ebisu Garden Place. So I hopped on the Yamanote-sen and headed down.
I hadn't been to Ebisu since visiting my old company's office there about 6 years ago so I was interested to see what had changed. As I walked toward the Garden Place I realized I didn't remember much at all of the city though.
When I arrived I didn't see much lighting or people. Usually these illuminations attract a lot of people and produce a lot of light.
As I crossed the street into the complex I saw the blue lights in the picture above, but surely this wasn't it. Then I rounded a corner past an eatery and found a large Christmas tree lit up. This was it.
From the tree there is a large walkway that heads down into the center of the complex. This area was also lit up, however only with white lights. I have to be honest, it wasn't anything special. While it looked nice, it definitely isn't worth taking the time to plan a trip to go see it. There are several other illuminations around the city that are worth planning a trip to and I'll visit some of them next week.
I was quite let down, so I decided to walk over to Nakameguro for dinner. Nakameguro is south of Shibuya and west of Ebisu, a nice walk if you're up for it. It's a trendy new area that has had quite the makeover. There are tons of places to eat at, but I had one on my to do list for a while, Baird Beer's Taproom.
Baird Beer is a craft beer brewer that started out in 2000 in Shizuoka. Since then they have opened several taprooms in Tokyo and Yokohama. They've gotten big enough that you can now find their beer in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. So it was long overdue for me to pay them a visit.
Looking back towards Nakameguro station
Getting there wasn't so easy. While it's located next to the station, it's tucked away inside the GT Plaza building, the high rise they built where my friend's club use to be. From the ground floor, outside, there aren't any signs pointing you in the right direction. The entrance to the second floor elevator and stairs were at one end of the building and not very obvious. Finally I got up to the second floor and found the Taproom at the end of the hallway.
The interior is interesting. It's modeled after a traditional German beer hall with long wooden tables and a wooden bar. I could definitely feel the atmosphere they were trying to accomplish.
Each Baird taproom has it's own menu. The Nakameguro taproom serves New Haven style pizzas, flash cooked pizza with a thin crust. I decided to get a small pepperoni pizza, cost $14.00. Not bad for being in Tokyo.
Next I had the difficult task of which beer to order. I've always been a huge IPA fan so when I saw the Suruga Bay Imperial IPA 8.5% that difficult choice became easy.
There are quite a few beers on tap to choose from aside from the IPA. The challenge becomes the cost though. Each beer will set you back $10.00. So a night out drinking can put a dent into your wallet, unless you're a BTC holder!
The IPA was really nice. A smooth blend that wasn't as hoppy as I was expecting it to be. It was easy to drink and if I had been a bit more buzzed I might have ordered another one.
The pizza arrived fairly quickly and tasted great. Just like one you'd have back in the US from a mom and pop shop. Nothing foreign, just right. To top it off they had shakers of red pepper just like back home too.
The beer went well with the pizza and made me forget about the lousy illumination over in Ebisu.
I'd definitely recommend stopping by Baird if you are in the area. It was such a good experience I'm now looking forward to heading over to the Harajuku Taproom to enjoy some beer with yakitori and izakaya dishes!
Baird's website is: http://bairdbeer.com/en/Thanks for reading. I'm back in Tokyo bouncing all over the city, heading up to Niigata to hang out with @boxcarblue and some other steemians so check back for more adventures from Japan!
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Baird is one of the few Japanese Craft beers we get in Australia (along with Hitachino Nest) which is a shame becuase there are some great brewers in Japan, I spent a very enjoyed evening in Baird's Shinjuku taproom one night - oddly there were quite a number of Aussies there.
Is it expensive? A bottle costs about $4 - $5 in California.
What did you think of their beer? I really liked the Suruga bay IPA.
How's the craft beer down in Oz?
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