Beer Works Chitose

These "Beer Works" seem to be the brewpub for the Chitose Beer Works Brewery, which, although it bottles, doesn't seem to sell very widely, not even making it to Sapporo liquor stores. They should have something in the Chitose International Airport!

This brewpub is one of 4 or so restaurants in the complex, the others being Chinese food, a ramen shop, and some others I can't remember. The Beer Works has 2 floors with very high ceilings and a HUGE neon sign, which only added more confusion to their confused combination of Bavarian beerhall and contemporary hospital cafeteria. And the faux greek statues in the yard didn't help.

Atmosphere's not so hot, but the beer's pretty good--especially the seasonal Belgian pale ale I had. They have all 4 of their regular German-style beers on tap and serve them in different, proper glassware.

Food was standard Japanese food, with some Western barfood options available as well. Like most drinking places in Japan, it'd probably be better with tons of people where everybody does the all-you-can eat and drink deal. I think.

The first place I hit upon arrival in Hokkaido. That was the meeting place with donnebaby. A bit hard to find when you can't read kanji and can't speak Japanese. There's a Beer Works Chitose sign close to the Chitose's train station, but then it's a 15 or 20 minutes walk. The brewpub is located in a commercial area, sharing a building with several other restaurants and bars. Service was excellent, which seems to be the rule in Japan. The staff was fast, smiling, willing to help and had a very pronounced sense of respect for customers. I ordered a sampler of their 4 beers for a price that I can't remember cuz donnebaby treated me. All their beers were interesting, not amazing but interesting. They had a seasonal strong Belgian ale that was tasty and quite unusual for Japanese brewpubs, usually more in the German style. I also got a plate of sausages that were good. The atmosphere is the aspect that would need the most improvements. The ceiling was too high to build a really warming atmosphere. The huge and extremely cheesy and flashy sign on the wall was clearly not adequate for the place, and didn't match with the cozy furnitures and the small stage with a piano. There are some tables on the first floor, and a few outside in a nice garden with games for kids. Decoration seems to lack a unity, which makes it hard for the place to create a distinctive atmosphere. Still a stop I didn't regret, and the closest brewpub to the Chitose airport.