DeLi Riverwalk

Store

Kokura-ku Muromachi 1-1-1-50
Fukuoka-ken Kitakyushu-shi, 803-0812
Japan

// CLOSED //
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.3
Reviews:
1
Ratings:
1
pDev:
0%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of soulgrowl
Reviewed by soulgrowl from England

3.3/5  rDev 0%
(Edit, 05/31/07): DeLi seems to have recently streamlined their beer selection down to what basically surmounts to an international convention of fizzy, bland, yellow lagers. There are still a few gems like Duvel, Old Nick, and Rodenbach, but Choco Bear, Sam Smith's, and all the trappists except Chimay are gone. It's still worth a visit, but this is not the beer store it once was.)

DeLi Riverwalk is one of several pleasant beer surprises I have encountered since I moved to Kitakyushu two weeks ago. Situated in the ultra-modern Riverwalk shopping mall and facing the ultra-traditional Kokura Castle, DeLi is chock-full of exotic foodstuffs imported from all over the world, much to the delight of Kitakyushu's community of expats. Products range from the mundane to the somewhat fancy, encompassing Doritos on one end of the spectrum to 99% cacao Lindt chocolate on the other.

As for the beer, I have this to say: Huzzah! The overall quality of the selection reflects DeLi's general inventory, which is to say that it varies widely. We're talking Miller Lite, Corona Light, Corona Extra, Mickey's, Cave Creek Chili Beer, Labatt Blue, and Beck's on one end to all three Chimays, Delirium Tremens, Satan Red, Achel, St. Sebastian, Orval, Anchor, Youngs, Sam Smith's, and Duvel on the other. In between there are things like Newcastle, Kronenbourg, Brooklyn Lager, and Negra Modelo. There's also a good collection of macro lagers from south, southeast, and east Asia, like Oriental Brewery, Tsingtao, Kingfisher, Maharaja, Tiger, and San Miguel. There's also a few odd Japanese craft beer offerings, like Ezo's Chocolate Bear, some sort of "Tea Beer," and a series of beers I have yet to investigate featuring Japanese historical figures on their labels.

So the selection, for this part of Japan, is quite good. Storage is good, too, especially now that they've moved their beer shelf away from the giant picture window and into the middle of the store, where it is much less susceptible to light and heat damage. And some of the beers occupy a small cooler, but more than half of them are basically global swill - Heineken, Corona, OB, Tiger, and the like.

It's no Hiromatsu, but it's still definitely worth a stop by as one of the few places to find good beer in Kitakyushu. The location is quite convenient, too, about a ten minute walk from Kokura station.
Aug 12, 2006
DeLi Riverwalk in Fukuoka-ken Kitakyushu-shi, Japan
Place rating: 3.3 out of 5 with 1 ratings