Roppongi runs late, and a bar that means to serve it has to do two things well: keep the taps clean past midnight and give a drinker somewhere to go after the beer. Shamrock by Abbot's Choice does both, with the district's largest draft range on one side and more than 200 whiskeys on the other.
The bar sits on the ground floor of the Kondo Building at 7-13-6 Roppongi, a short walk from Roppongi Station, and stays open from 3pm to 5am every day of the year with no fixed closing. Japan Travel files it among the city's best sports bars, and the screens carry the football and rugby calendar through the night, which is the reason it lands in this ranking rather than the cocktail lists.
An Irish bar that takes whiskey seriously is following the drink back to its source. The word whiskey comes from the Irish uisce beatha, the water of life, and Ireland and Scotland have argued the spelling and the method for centuries. Shamrock sets a 200-bottle wall against that history, which lets a curious drinker run a flight from a soft Irish blend to a peated Islay single malt in one sitting. Few sports rooms anywhere offer that range, and fewer still keep 30 draft lines pouring beside it.
The room
The bar reads as a classic Roppongi Irish room, dark wood and a long counter, busy with a mix of residents, industry workers finishing late and travelers chasing a result from another time zone. Screens are placed for the sport, and the late license means a European night kickoff plays out to a full house. Happy hour runs on weekdays until 7pm, which sets the early-evening rhythm before the post-midnight crowd arrives. The 30 draft lines are billed as the largest selection in Roppongi, a claim the late trade keeps honest because the kegs turn over fast enough to stay fresh. That volume is the difference between a token Guinness tap and a beer program that a serious drinker can work through across a week of visits.
What to order
Start with a draft, since the 30-line range is the widest in Roppongi and the lines are kept moving by the late trade. Then turn to the whiskey wall and order by origin: a Redbreast or similar pot still for the Irish case, an Islay malt for the smoke, a Japanese bottling to taste the local style against its ancestors. The kitchen runs pub plates built for a long sit. A draft and a measure of whiskey keeps the tab in mid-range territory.
Who it is for
This suits the late drinker, the whiskey-curious and the supporter who wants sport on screen without a closing time getting in the way. It is a strong landing for anyone arriving in Roppongi after the trains stop. For where it sits among the city's sports rooms, our Tokyo sports bar ranking lines it up beside the broadcast hall Legends and the long-running Tokyo Sports Café nearby.
Best time to go
The bar opens at 3pm and runs to 5am daily, so the windows are the weekday happy hour before 7pm for the draft range, and the small hours for European football that kicks off after midnight in Tokyo. Being open every day of the year makes it a reliable fallback when other rooms close for holidays. Plan the wider night with our Tokyo guide, our editorial on watching the game in Tokyo, and the global sports bars hub.
Sources
Reporting for this profile draws on Time Out Tokyo, the Tabelog listing, and Japan Travel.
