Kansai Beer Lovers 関西のビール愛好会: Rokko Beer Diner & Garden

Kobe is home to Rokko Beer located on Mt. Rokko but since that's a bit inconvenient they opened a taproom in the city. It's located right near City Hall and Sannomiya station in the basement of an office building. It's called, Rokko Beer Garden.

As it’s underground there are no windows making the ambiance not that great. On the plus side, they have a nice happy hour with a glass of beer being just 390 yen (100 yen off) & they also have a 1000 yen horoyoi set which includes a beer & 3 snacks.

The service was ok but the staff really didn’t seem to know anything about beer. The menu didn’t list the ABV and when I asked he had to go check with someone in the kitchen. The selection is decent for Japan with 8 Rokko beers & the rest Belgian or German beers. They have a tiny non-smoking section of 2 tables, the rest of the seating (50-60 seats) is all smoking. A surprisingly big place, too bad it is mostly smoking... All in all a decent place if you are in the area but not worth a special trip, I like that they are open for lunch and find their happy hour pretty good too. I tried their fries which were better than Rokko Beer Diner’s!

Rokko Beer Diner is Rokko's newer bar in Kobe located on the 3rd floor of a building across the street from Motomachi station.

This gives Rokko Beer Diner, a lot more light and a feeling of openess which creates a much nicer atmosphere.

On weekends they have a nice lunch special which will get you a free drink(including beer!) with your meal, their beers are 400 yen till 4pm and from 4-7pm they have a really nice happy hour with 5-600 yen(depending on the beer) getting you a glass & a small bowl of fried chicken and chips! Their normal prices are 480 yen for a glass, 6-700 yen for a US pint and 9-1000 yen for a large.

Magazine article about their great happy hour

The menu here was much better too with lots of information about the beers including ABV, company name, country, etc.

They have 20 taps but when I was there only 16 were in use. The staff here were much more knowledgeable, friendlier & the beer selection much wider than Rokko Garden as they had the 8 Rokko beers, some American Craft beers, German & Belgian beers.

On top of that I heard they had Italian craft beers on tap before too! From everything I’ve heard and my own visit, this is the best places for good beer in Kobe at the moment. Go check it out.