It's at times surreal/absurb yet so very real that we have been through the period of social distancing/ no travelling....
My last visit to Tokyo was end of 2019--after the long wait, finally made a trip last month end, basically to see beer friends, check out old and new beer places, and of course eat some Ramen( and more...).
在有时感觉虽然真实但也有点荒谬好像没发生过似的新冠疫情打乱所有旅游计划之前，最後一次去東京是2019年，距今已四年。
等待多时後终于在十月底去了趟久违的東京，除了跟几年不见啤迷朋友们见面聊天分享一些私藏，自然也要去不同专卖吧瓶子店走走喝喝看看東京craft beer新旧面貌。这次去的时间稍长，和不同啤迷朋友有几次瓶子分享会，旧地重游同时也去了疫情前没去过的一些新店探看。
以外地人角度看，四年後的東京 Craft Beer市场并没有因为疫情影响而停滞或后退，相反的作为站在亚洲最前端的Craft Beer城市，東京市场选择一定程度上有明显提高，除了出现更多美国欧洲高手酿坊进口作品，不同地区也有些新酿坊出现，其中不乏具备一定水准的人气酿坊。
序篇就以过去接近两周以来浅接触的几家日本在地酿坊有特点作品开始，之后再逐篇聊聊在東京期间去了什么地方的专卖吧或瓶子店，这当然不是什么東京啤酒图鉴（因为专门写東京和周边地区以致全国其他地区Craft Beer图鉴的另有其人，至少我的東京啤迷朋友中就有一位是写了多年的网站Tokyo Beer Drinker负责人），所以再怎么看也只是很浅显的个人東京啤酒行程小记。
This is the first of few articles for the newspaper column--basically as a sort of personal record of which beer places i went but by no means a beer guide or whatever because that's far from what i plan to do--in fact if you are interested do check out my Tokyo beer friend's long standing blog turned into a proper website https://tokyobeerdrinker.com/
For the articles to follow--will try to gather the closer to each other( location wise) beer places basing on JR Yamanote Line--but that's only a rough idea so let's see how it goes.
So after 4 years of not visiting Tokyo--and with very much lesser drinking while in KL(good beers are hard to come by is 1 very real reason--come live in Malaysia and you will very soon know why)--was rather surprised to find myself actually went to roughly 15 beer places at different parts of Tokyo--as well had no less than 3 bottle sharing sessions with old & new beer friends in town.
The 1 obvious thing i did this time around was relatively speaking sampled more different Japanese breweries beer than i ever did. And it's fair to say that some were good or average but of course there were a few which stood out or at least very interesting to drink, here's some which i like:-
Amakusa Sonar Beer
Never heard of this brewery from Kumamoto before( as compared to the others mentioned below)--had cans & on tap version of basically fruited sour & hazy ipa/pale ale---honestly the hazy or pale were just average--but the Banana sour as well as Orange/Tangerine sour were absolutely interesting and nice to sip---there's another variant of Mango waiting to be sampled.
来自日本西端熊本县天草市的酿坊，東京期间在不同酒吧喝了几次这家作品，有啤酒泵版本也有罐子，出色有趣的是果泥奶昔类型啤酒，水果选择有香蕉，柑橘，芒果等等，作品水准跟同时间喝到的进口美国酿坊作品比较的话感觉有过之无不及之处。
Songbird
A few of my Tokyo beer buddies actually been to this tiny brewery located in Kisarazu, Chiba. One of my friend's description was " in the middle of nowhere--run by a couple--and there were kids running around when visited."
Had the opportunity to sample around 3-4 of their beer--all bottled condition--styles sampled includes brown ale-biere de garde & saison--yes you can more or less see where this brewery is heading beer style wise.
As someone who like Saison--i do have a certain parameter palate wise--this bottle was shared with a fellow Saison lover and we both were in agreement that this is quite a beer--the ume/oak/woody smell & taste was tasty with some depth. ( oh yeah--the current untappd pont given is rather low for wthat this beer is)
住東京的几位啤迷朋友都有去过这家位于千叶县木更津市的小酿坊，其中一位说法是“位于不懂哪里的郊区，由一对夫妇打理，到访时有小孩跑来跑去。”
第一天到東京时就喝到三款不同作品，其中桶陈农场风格作品最有亮点，介于橡木桶和梅子的气息味道相当特出，易喝有层次有余韵，是远比现有Untappd 评分高的佳作。
Totopia
Seems like the new in trend brewery or so im told--eye catching bright bold designs on the cans--but of course craft beer is not just about label designs--what's inside the can/s will decide.
It's sour IPA with fruits & vanilla thrown in--did not taste like IPA nor those thick/bold fruited ones--fairly easy drinking though slightly on the sweet side rather than sour--interesting one.
爱知县長久手市的新兴人气酿坊，罐子设计走鲜明用色处理，第一天跟老朋友见面时喝到是一款相对有趣的作品，类型标明是酸味印度单啤（sour ipa)，除了啤酒花投放也加入血橙樱桃椰子香草等不同食材提味，喝起来口感味道既不是典型酸啤更不是印度淡啤，反而有点接近清爽果泥啤酒类型。
Uchu
Was actually considering traveling out of Tokyo to Hokuto, Yamanashi to visit this brewery--not that im a big fan of Hazy but because the taproom was such a cool set up it looks like "a flagship handphone or computer store"( in my beer friend's words).
In the end did not make that trip out but sampled a few of Uchu's beer--including this collab brew with GreenCheek--had this on tap--and it was good--just the nice balance of hops & sweetness--nothing cloying or overly bitter-sweet.
上Untappd搜寻排名最前或者最热门日本在地啤酒的话，宇宙酿造和另一家（West Coast Brewing）作品基本包办了“排行榜”中超过一半位置。酿坊位于山梨县北杜市，附属的品饮室造型简约有型（啤迷朋友说看起来很像高端手机电脑专卖旗舰店），启程前有考虑列入東京郊外行不过最後还是没去。
这次刚好能喝到这家以类果汁印度淡啤(hazy ipa)为人知的酿坊推出和美国高手酿坊GreenCheek合酿的啤酒泵版本，果香甘涩新鲜度均衡度都有做到，是好喝的。
Vertere
A small brewery from Okutama, Nishitama area with very minimalist style of can designs.
Had their hazy ipa which i must say was quite good, but the one which attarcted most attention was this Raspberry sour--on first sip was already drawing attention--nothing thick or bold but rather the opposite way of being clean-light-yet with some layering, easy to drink but not in a boring way.
高人气的多摩川酿坊，简约风格酒标设计具有很高辨识度，当然craft
beer讲究的是酿造水平，以喝到的几款作品来说，干净不花俏是直接感觉，其中一款覆盆子果酸农场风格作品就简单平实中见功力，水果酸香适中，整体易喝但不单调，是水准作。
