Omnipollo is no run-of-the-mill craft beer company — you can tell from the eye-popping designs and day-glo colors on its cans and bottles. So too its range of draft brews, and not just for their wild names and exotic ingredients.
Founded in Sweden 10 years ago, Omnipollo — the name is a mash-up of omnipotence and pollo, the Spanish word for chicken — mostly gets its beers produced by other brewers, although it recently set up a brewery of its own inside a former church in Stockholm. Now Omnipollo has opened its first bar in Japan, and it’s just as unorthodox as you’d expect.
You’ll find Omnipollos Tokyo down a backstreet in Kabutocho, around the corner from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It occupies the radically revamped premises of Matsuyoshi, a former unagi restaurant known as much for its classic wooden architecture as its charcoal-grilled eel.
This is the perfect season, especially if you like the idea of soft-serve beer slushies. The Pleroma Mango Orange Passionfruit Creme Brulee Sour (6 percent alcohol by volume) is as summery and seductive as it sounds; Bianca Double Peanutbutter Jelly Lassi Gose Soft Serve (7 percent ABV) also has a nice tartness. But the Magnapoli Night Cap Snack Apple Pie Strawberry Cup (12 percent ABV) is a rich, sweet boozy step into the dark. You have been warned.
Nihonbashi Kabutocho 9-5, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 103-0026; omnipollostokyo.com; open 3-10 p.m. (L.O. 9:30 p.m. drinks, 8:30 p.m. food); closed Wed.; beer from ¥870, hot dogs from ¥900, fries ¥ 500; takeout available; nearest station Kayabacho; nonsmoking; major cards accepted, cashless; English menu; English spoken
