Craft beer pub in Dongincheon: 3-beer tasting at Incheon Beer Tiger

A craft beer pub in Incheon I visited on a trip a while back and am only now getting around to posting about — Incheon Beer Tiger, a Sinpo-dong, Dongincheon spot with its own in-house craft brewery.

Where is Incheon Beer Tiger, and what are the hours?

Incheon Beer Tiger is at 3 Jemullyang-ro 218beon-gil, Jemulpo-gu, Incheon, on the 1st floor of Building H at Incheon Art Platform (the original listing gives the address as 1-5 Haean-dong 1-ga, Jemulpo-gu, Incheon). There's a free parking lot behind the building.

• Weekday hours: 16:30–24:00 (closed Mondays)
• Weekend hours: 13:30–24:00 (closes 22:00 on Sundays)
• Parking: free lot behind the building

It sits on Gaehangjang-geori (the old port street), right next to Chinatown, and that's where you'll find Incheon Beer Tiger.

To get in, look for the colorful door on the building face facing the main alley of Gaehangjang.

Inside Incheon Beer Tiger: Friday and Saturday live sets

Inside, Incheon Beer Tiger has tables for 2 to 8 people plus bar seating. Even though I came late on a weekday evening, the place stayed pretty busy right up to closing.

What really makes this place special is the live music every Friday and Saturday. The whole space is themed around music, so you get to enjoy indie band live sets alongside your beer. With a JBL 4344 speaker setup, you get top-tier sound right in front of you.

You can check the lineup in the pub itself, or on their official Instagram.

Incheon Brewery craft beer on draft and by the bottle

Incheon Beer Tiger operates as Incheon Brewery's first directly-run craft pub. There's a range of ales and dark beers, and you can have either on draft or in a bottle.

I visited on a weekday, so no live show for me, but the real reason I came was to try the craft beer made at their own in-house brewery.

When you travel somewhere, isn't the whole point to drink something with local character instead of some mass-produced brand-name drink? Incheon Brewery has built its own brewing facility over in Chinatown, and this place is essentially the brand's first directly-operated craft pub.

My plan was one lager, one dark beer, one ale — three glasses total, haha.

The prices were nicer than I expected too, which made it even better. Genuinely hard to decide what to drink. For the record, they also sell whiskey if you want to do a boilermaker-style pairing.

Pizza is the main pairing food here. They also have dried pollack, nachos, and other bar snacks of course.

Three beers compared: Gaehang-ro Lager, Magye Incheon, Banana White

Gaehang-ro Lager (7,000 won)

Gaehang-ro is Incheon Brewery's only lager, priced at ₩7,000 at Incheon Beer Tiger. The moment the first glass came out, I was impressed by how even the foam was. Being a proper craft pub, the draft lines are clearly well maintained.

Ohh, the finish was really clean, haha. A nice refreshing quality, a bitter hop edge, and a light body.

Nothing beats kicking things off with a cold lager to wake up your palate before anything else.

Magye Incheon, the dark beer (8,500 won)

Second glass was the ₩8,500 craft dark ale, Magye Incheon. Had to try a craft dark beer while I was at it, right? It's lighter-bodied than you'd expect from a dark beer, but that restraint actually makes it go down smoothly.

There's a faint roasted coffee note and, behind that, a bit of fruity acidity. The look and taste somehow match the name 'Magye Incheon' (roughly, 'Incheon of the Underworld') really well, haha.

Banana White (7,500 won)

Last glass was the ₩7,500 white ale, Banana White. Apparently it won the 2019 Korea Liquor Awards, whoa. True to its name, it's got a gentle, sweet-and-sour banana aroma and flavor that's really charming.

Personally, out of the three, this one matched my taste the best. It keeps the bright, smooth foundation of a good ale while adding that banana kick. This is the kind that I'd genuinely want to buy a few bottles of and keep stocked in the fridge to savor for a long time.

What to eat with the beer: truffle mushroom bomb pizza (19,500 won)

For food, I ordered Incheon Beer Tiger's truffle mushroom bomb pizza for ₩19,500. They really do pile the mushrooms on top.

The pizza itself was quite good too. Paired with the lager especially, it was pure bliss.