Hakodate Beer Hall

Hakodate Beer is a brewpub on the city's waterfront that has been making beer on site since the mid-1990s, when changes to Japanese law opened the door to small regional breweries and sparked the country's first craft-beer boom. Housed in a handsome building near the Bay Area and the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouses, it pairs its own brews with the seafood and produce of southern Hokkaido, making it a relaxed, convivial stop after a day of sightseeing.

The brewery uses Hokkaido's clean water and pours a core lineup that typically spans a crisp pale ale or kolsch-style lager, an amber, a wheat beer and a darker ale, along with seasonal specials. Sampler flights let you work through the range, which is the best way to get a feel for the house style. As one of the pioneering ji-biru — local beer — makers that emerged in the 1990s, Hakodate Beer carries a certain historic significance in Japan's craft scene, and drinking it at the source, overlooking the harbour where its ingredients arrive, adds to the appeal.

The kitchen leans into the region's strengths. Hakodate is Japan's squid capital, and the menu makes the most of it with grilled, fried and sashimi preparations of ika, alongside other local seafood, Hokkaido cheese and hearty pub fare designed to go with beer. The pairing of a cold, clean local lager with freshly fried squid is a small revelation, and the food is substantial enough to make the beer hall a proper dinner destination rather than just a drinks stop.

The setting is a large, atmospheric hall with a warm, informal mood, well suited to groups and families as well as couples. Its position on the waterfront, a short walk from the red-brick warehouse shopping and dining complex and the base of Mount Hakodate, makes it an easy addition to an evening in the Bay Area. Coming at dusk lets you catch the light on the harbour before heading up the mountain for the city's famous night view, or after descending for a late, unhurried meal.

Prices are those of a comfortable brewpub — a little above a basic izakaya but fair for house-brewed beer and quality local ingredients — and the venue is used to international visitors, with menus and staff able to help. It can fill up on summer evenings and holidays when the Bay Area is at its busiest, so arriving early or booking for larger groups is sensible.

For travellers, Hakodate Beer offers a laid-back, characterful way to eat and drink locally in the heart of the historic port. It ties together several threads of the city at once — its 19th-century opening to the world, its famous squid, Hokkaido's fine produce and Japan's craft-beer story — in a single pleasant evening by the water. Raise a glass of the amber, order the squid, and watch the harbour lights come on.