NISSIN World Delicatessen International Supermarket

June 21, 2008
This is purely an import beer store (over 200 varieties). Do not go here for micros, you will be gravely disappointed. Getting beyond that, this place has an amazing selection, but they stick with brands that you can commonly find at other import stores, though the selection here is the widest. Some rare stuff does show up time to time (once found a german hefe with two ratings that was great), but this is more of a place to go if you are looking for your favs (Dupont, Rogue, Gouden Carolus, Sam Smith, Weltenburg, etc). Though could be only place I know that always has about six Andechs avialble. Wine selection is insane (well over 1000 labels). Heavily marketed to expats so prices aren’t cheap. Still, its central (10-15 min walk from Roppongi crossing toward Azabu Juban).

June 10, 2008
3rd floor is where all the beer and tons of wine is. 2nd floor is the huge international supermarket with lots of great food from all over the world to enjoy with the beer you buy on the 3rd floor! They tend to carry a nice mixed selection of some generic domestic beers like Asahi and many of import beers from all over the world (at least 200+) but only a few micros (and they are the more commonly found ones). If you spend over 10,000yen you can get everything delivered to your place if you live inside Tokyo for free. So if you want a case of beer and some food you don’t have to haul it back on the train in pain. They had a nice Oktoberfest beer selection last year. They have big volumes of each beer too so don’t worry too much about things being too limited on stock. They have cases of the more popular world beers in the corner next to the elevators. They’ve had glassware sometimes but most of the time there is none so don’t get your hopes up, but if you are lucky they might have some. This place seems like it could be really good for beer as their store is the biggest import supermarket in Tokyo! Go check it out and buy some beer. I’m tired of all the winos taking over the tail end of the beer fridge in the back.