The last time I sent a letter to Santa Claus with my Christmas wish was way back when even a sip of beer would make me cringe.  Over the years, I gave up on the bearded dude since he never did appear on Christmas Eve and my Mum would scold me for wasting cookies and a glass of soured milk under our plastic Christmas tree.

Decades later, I’m reviving my hopes that he’ll bring me what I want at last.

When in Tokyo, I always stay at ANA InterContinental Tokyo. They recently renovated their Club Lounge, making it the largest Club Lounge in Tokyo. And the coolest addition is a self-dispensing beer machine. Fresh, nama biru at the push of a button and tops up with foam, without spilling over!

Our beer-bellied Santa will surely know where to get one of these. Anyone got his email?

On this night, I was led straight into the den of Drunk Bears, a pub in Akasaka, Tokyo. There are tons of restaurants and bars in this area serving the legions of office workers in this area. Drunk Bears is located right on ground floor of the Prudential Tower but what makes this different from the rest is its menu of about 100 different beer bottles.

Drunk Bears at Akasaka

What impressed me was its truly international selection of bottles. Most pubs that I’ve been to with similar boasts typically stocked up on British, Belgian and German beers. But Drunk Bears really searched the corners of the world to create their menu. There were labels from Russia, Peru, Cuba, Greece, Jamaica.

It’s been surprisingly difficult to find Japanese microbrews in Tokyo even though there are over 120 labels around. So I started with a sip of Japanese history by selecting the only local microbrew beer on the menu called Meiji Ishin (in reference to the Meiji restoration). significant social and economic reforms. During this time, industries like beer brewing, dairy production and Japan’s first railway system were introduced. This beer in particular featured a man on the label – Toshimichi Ohkubo, one of the great personalities of the Edo and Meiji era. Other nuggets of history on the label showed that this man, was famed for defeating his political rival, Saigo and was eventually murdered at the age of 48 in 1878.

It was during this period that set Japan on course to being a developed country.

Strangely enough, I think beer and politics have had a long association. When I was in Philadelphia last year, I learnt as much about the Pioneers as I did about their love for homebrews! I’ll save this for another time…

Moving into modern times, the next label I had to try was Maccabee, from Israel. I’ve seen Jewish drink on television but I’ve never pilsner but wasn’t that memorable in taste.

Finally, the last bottle I tried was Bohemia, from the same Mexican brewers as Dos Equis. I had to try it as one of my buddies, Mike Hoban, once raved about Dos Equis and I gave the beer credibility by association to help filter my selection process!

Its an easy beer to drink, pilsner style beer but not one I would have ended my night with. In retrospect, I should have started with the Maccabee, followed by Bohemia and then the Meiji Ishin. Still, I’m 3 beers closer to sampling every beer in the world!

Mexico's Bohemia Pilsner - light and goes down easy