Brooklyn Brewery's spacious Tokyo tasting room, located in the sprawling basement of a boutique hotel in Kayabacho, is one of the nicest craft-beer bars in town. They offer a big selection of freshly imported Brooklyn beers on tap and in cans and bottles, along with decent food in a pleasant setting. There's often a live DJ, and the club-style background music is played at a reasonable volume that doesn't hinder conversation.

The drinks list features a number of unusual Brooklyn beers you won't find elsewhere in Japan. A recent tap list included Brooklyn Capataz (a barley wine aged in sherry barrels) and Brooklyn Rose de Ville (raspberry sour ale) as well as a brown ale, a pale ale and a few IPAs imported from New York. You can put together your own tasting flight of anything on tap (Y1,100-1,200), or start with a standard flight of the brewery's most popular offerings.

If you're in the mood to celebrate or just splurge there are a number of special beers to choose from. Their legendary Black Ops (Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels) is one of our favorites, and it's available in several different vintages dating back to 2013 so you can see how the flavor changes with age.

Other choices include Quintaceratops (Belgian quad aged in rum and bourbon barrels), Intensified Coffee Porter, and K is for Kriek (brewed with honey and orange peel and aged in bourbon barrels on cherries). These special beers are priced at Y4,500-5,500 for a large bottle that's big enough for a group to share.

The food menu is small but well chosen to go with the beers, with ten varieties of tacos as well as quesedillas, fried potatoes, kale chips and similar snacks.