Great Japan Beer Festival 2012 in Yokohama

Marginally less crowded than the event held in Ebisu each June, this craft beer bonanza in Yokohama still gets pretty heaving. The format at the Great Japan Beer Festival – which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year – is simple: your ticket gets you a 50ml tasting glass, from which you can drink as many microbrews as you like over the next three-and-a-half hours. And there are certainly a lot of options: there are nearly 200 varieties of beer on offer this time around (see the website for a complete list), including a fair few that are difficult to find anywhere else – and draw queues to match. Note that attendance is capped at 3,000 people for each session, the first 1,000 of whom will get a nifty '2012 Yokohama' commemorative glass.