This post is a part of the 2015 New Beer Every Day Beer Diary Challenge, #ottbeerdiary. Over the course of 2015, I will be trying a new beer every day. Please read the background in the link above, and enjoy reading about the most recently tasted beers below. If you’d like to join the challenge as well, let me know in the comments below, and be sure to check out Grown-up Travel Guide and his #grownupbeerdiary, where Andy Higgs came up with the diary format in use below. You can catch up on all of our posts as part of the challenge under the tag ottbeerdiary.
Day 315: November 11, 2015
Diary entry:
What to do with an unexpected day in Tokyo?
Today, we’re “stranded” in Tokyo, as we lost our passports, and can’t have an appointment at the US Embassy for emergency replacement passports until tomorrow since today is Veterans’ Day and the Embassy is closed.
May as well enjoy our lemonade!
One issue we have: Where to sleep tonight! We would have gone the AirBnB route again, but wanted a hotel for this night so we’d have somewhere to leave our bags while we’re at the embassy, and hopefully somewhere we can print out all of the documents we need to bring with us for our appointment tomorrow.
I had a few free nights stored up on Hotels.com through their rewards program, so cashed in one of those for our lodging tonight. We chose a new hotel in the Akasaka region of Tokyo, in part because of its proximity to the US Embassy, in part because we’ve never really spent any time there before, and in part, because it was one of the few hotels we could find that seemed big enough and nice enough and affordable enough for us on such short notice! Tokyo is not the easiest city to find last minute lodging in.
Our hotel is the Centurion Hotel Grand Akasaka, which I will admit, I wish I could afford to stay at under normal circumstances, but it looks like normal rates start at $291/night, a bit above our normal cash-out budget. But in a pinch, it came through!
And I will admit, I loved Akasaka!
First, it had a very conveniently located Koban (police box) where we were able to officially report our passports as lost. An important step for getting an emergency replacement passport!
But after that was done, wandering through the streets, with so many restaurants to choose from for lunch, it was an enjoyable afternoon!
We wound up having a delicious tempura lunch at Tenshige, where we tried both the tendon and the kakiage tempura bowls. Delicious!
We also found a number of beer locations, including a Delirium Cafe (where they surprisingly had some great deals on Belgian beer bottles for take away) and another craft beer bar that was opening a few days after our visit. Bummer!
One downside of the food in Akasaka is that while the lunch offerings are plentiful and cheap, at dinner time, the restaurants go higher-end. While our tempura lunch was only ¥1,300 each, dinner at the same restaurant would have run ¥10,000 each!
So, we decided to head off for another Izakaya dinner at one of our favorite restaurants from our prior visits, the original Gonpachi in Roppongi, the restaurant that inspired the location for the famous Yakuza fight scene from Kill Bill, Volume 1.
And then, some Karaoke Honey Toast at Pasela Resorts near our hotel. Delicious!
The Beer:
Name: Yokohama XPA
Style: American IPA
Producer: Sankt Gallen Brewery
Alcohol content: 6.0%
Bottle size: 0.33 l
Purchased from: Gon Pachi Roppongi in Tokyo
Yokohama XPA by Sankt Gallen Brewery. Excellent bitterness. Really lasts in this beer. And at only 6%, not overpowering at all.
