Liquors Hasegawa Honten

It has a huge selection of liquors and they offer tastings on almost all of them. –1 star for the prices. They will typically have prices on the higher end.

As a tourist, this was one of those spots I was told by my friends to check out. I love brown spirits, and trying whiskey tastings for 1 – 3 US dollars was amazing. They pull out a built in table ledge for you to place your bottle of choice and pour a sample for you, neat. The limit is 2 per guest.
There are 2 locations in Tokyo station, but only one of them offered the tasting option. They are literally on opposite ends of the station from each other. Absolutely loved this spot and will make my way here everytime I visit Japan.

At the Yaesu underground entrance to Tokyo Station, I was recommended to shop here for my liquor to bring back to home. They didn’t not disappoint me.
I wanted the 25y Yamasaki but the price of ¥298 000 was to to high. Instead I purchased the 12y at a price my wife will only get mad but not kill me over. The proprietor said his price for the 25y was to high but he has to buy it from a middleman.

I travel to Tokyo several times a year and I basically either try to pop by Hasegawa, or go to ⁷⁄₁₁ and stock up on Taketsuru before the flight back.
The best way to describe it is that they have a lot of good stuff. The Nonjatta blog review says it better than I could so you might want to google that.
There’s a decent selection of virtually any brown spirit you could think of. It’s not extremely deep, but has enough to get any amateur excited, particularly as you can taste two at each visit (they had to cap it there due to the increasing number of tourists getting drunk cheaply… ah, the shame of being a gaijin and sharing that reputation).
Prices are Tokyo prices, which means a good 20%+ below duty free. If you care about whisky, armagnac, rum, basically anything which has spent a few years in the barrel and is all the better for it, it’s a must stop, despite the long and infuriating walk through the maze of underground corridors from Tokyo Station.
You can either trust your luck and Google search skills on the day, or check their stock on their website before visiting. There are many mini bottles which is ideal to max out that liquor allowance; I picked up an alright 20 year old Bruichladdich cask strength 200ml for the price of a pint in a Singapore bar.
Beware that there are two Hasegawas, and the one on Google Maps is/​was the one that sells sake. Grab directions off any of the various blog posts on the subject instead.
PS: if you’re looking for the standard Yamazaki, Hakushu, Taketsuru, Yoichi and Miyagikyo, go to ⁷⁄₁₁. You can grab full sized or mini bottles for really not much money, and it’s always in stock.

I was looking for miniature bottles of some Japanese whiskey and this placed delivered when others didn’t. Don’t bother trying to find the famous Yamazaki/​Hibiki, etc at the airport as they are almost always sold out or cost 50000yen for a limited edition bottle. Here, they had Hakushu and a plentiful selection of other brands. I found my miniature bottles and left happy. 700yen a piece was great compared to 900yen I saw at Kyoto. Their craft beer selection is always impressive! I’ve never seen so many Japanese craft beers in one place! Only thing I was irked about is that I felt like I was going to knock over bottles the way it was arranged – a lot going on but it’s a small space so what can you do. A hidden gem in Tokyo Station.

Until the rest of the world started going crazy for Japanese whisky you could find an unrivaled retail selection. Nikka’s Youichi or Miyagikyo 10, 12, 15 year expressions — readily available for a reasonable price. You can still find Scotch and Gin that is hard to find elsewhere.
The best thing is the 10ml samples for ¥100-¥300. They will pull out a small shelf hidden in the retail bottle shelves, pour your sample, and leave you the bottle to ponder buying. You could get mildly buzzed on the samples but they now limit you to two samples at one «visit» (but you can «visit» more than once in a day).
They will wrap your purchase (s) for travel.

The best place I’ve ever found to buy whisky. Great prices and selection. I schedule long layovers in Tokyo just to visit this store, and they are great about helping package the bottles for checked baggage.

Upon hearing how Yamazaki and Hibiki are flying out of shelves as soon as they arrive at Haneda Airport, I was looking around to purchase a bottle of Yamazaki here before I left Japan.
To my dismay, they don’t have any Yamazaki as well, apart from the miniature 50ml Yamazaki 12. Tough luck. So I settled for a recommended Nikka Whiskey to bring home. It is good, nonetheless.
I find this place a treasure since you can actually have whiskey tasting right here.
I had a few tasting, including NIkka Coffee Grain Whiskey. You pay a minimal fee for a 15ml of whiskey. If you like it, you could purchase a new bottle of whiskey home. I would say it is a great business plan and why no one does it in Singapore?
The next time I am in Japan, I would definitely visit the store again!

BOTTOM LINE: Probably the best (and cheapest) place to purchase Japanese whiskies in Tokyo.
Located in the Yaesu Underground Shopping Centre connected to the the Tokyo Station, this place must have one of the largest selections of Japanese whiskies in one place, and all for a reasonable price. The best part? Tastings for a nominal fee! They also have some other liquors available, but I really wasn’t paying that much attention to them. :P
I’ve taken the following translation from
:
Less than 5000Y (100Y)
5000Y — 10,000Y (150Y)
10,000Y — 15,000Y (200Y)
15,000Y — 20,000Y (250Y)
20,000Y — 25,000Y (350Y)
30,000Y — 35,000Y (500Y)
35,000Y — 40,000Y (600Y)
40,000Y — 500,00Y (700Y)
1. Liquors Hasegawa is not a drinking establishment.
2. Tap water is available. You can bring your own bottled water.
3. You cannot taste 3 samples at once. 2 samples is okay.
4. Please wait patiently if the cashier is busy.
5. The tasting tables are located within the bottle aisles. Please be mindful of other customers.
6. Intoxicated customers may be refused service.