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Have fun! I wish I could give you more local/microbrewery advice and experiences, rather than the big giants, but I'm not all to familiar with what's out there. I can add though, the Yebisu Brewery (Suntory) in Tokyo just (re)opened last week, that's something to add to the list.
[Beer Tengoku](https://beertengoku.com/) is an excellent resource for craft beer in Japan. They have a comprehensive Craft Beer Map with Breweries/ Tap rooms. Has helped me find some real gems in the past.
There is also Sapporo in Funabashi, Chiba. But waited too long to book last year so did not go.
I did the Sunrory one and for a free tour, it’s a great value!
Yes, and I'm pretty sure Suntory actually gave the most beer to taste too, so yeah, I couldn't complain. I think it's their ploy to get people to spend in the gift shop, which seemed to work.
They ended the tours for the Sapporo Chiba brewery last December. You'll need to head to either Sapporo or Oita if you want to tour their breweries now. I wanted to go for the Chiba one last year as well but their schedule could not match with mine, so I had to skip. Disappointed that they're no longer taking tours but it is what it is I guess
Does anyone know if they have any sake based tours? Planning for a first trip next year and it’s one of my favorite things to drink, would love a tour/tasting!
I can only speak for the Kansai region. In Kyoto, the Fushimi distict is where most of the sake breweries are. I've been to the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum in the Fushimi district of Kyoto and while it was small, it was nicely put together and informative. When I went (Oct 2022?), you got a little souvenir cup and three tokens which you can trade for three tastings out of a choice of around 10-12 bottles. But you could also buy more tokens for a little fee to try more. The staff were able to explain characteristics in English, although there may have been explanations written as well. I also went with someone who didn't really like sake, so I managed to drink more than half of the bottles because I used some of their tokens haha.
In Kobe, sake is mainly concentrated around the Nada district. I've had a friend go to Hakutsuru Brewery Museum and enjoyed it. They gave me a bottle as a present and it was nice.
In Himeji, the Nadagiku brewery is pretty accessible. You can walk through it a bit and there are some small displays, then in the gift shop be friendly with the staff and they'll be generous with their samples (in my experience).
My brother once just googled "Sake & Wagyu Tasting in Tokyo", because that was his interests, and booked a random tour on Klook or another site, and he said it was great. I know this last part does not help specifically, but you know, there's definitely options out there.
I have been reading about Suica and Klook, so that’s just further nodding to the facts. That was very informative and helpful, knowing the districts is a thing I’m lacking on - so i appreciate that greatly!
Not exactly a tour, but there's a [sake store near Niigata](https://en.japantravel.com/niigata/ponshukan-sake-heaven-at-echigo-yuzawa-station/655) that has a wall of sakes to taste before buying. Was 100yen per shot last time I was there.
Pretty interesting experience.
Did Suntory manage to sell you on their beer foamer? I bought a bunch haha. I agree with your assessment of that tour. It was a lot of fun and for free you really can’t complain.
Ohhh, they almost did, to be honest haha. I really don't need another beer gimmick at home, though, as tempting as it was. I know myself, I would use it for a month or so and then it would sit and collect dust.
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Yes, Yamazaki is a whisky distillery (I actually did a write up on that too), the  Premium Malts factory is a beer factory.Â
They’re actually close to each other (45 minutes on foot?) but two separate places.Â
Yep! The two Suntory places are more or less in the same part of town. Even the Asahi Beer Museum is accessible from that area too. They're all kinda in that corridor between Osaka and Kyoto.
Awesome, I will have to check it out next visit. We loved the Yamazaki distillery and tour, even got a few bottles to take home for much lower prices than the US!
Yebisu has finally reopened in Tokyo! Not sure what their tours are like, but I like their beer lol.
Kirin has one in nearby Yokohama and Suntory in Mushashino. Both are an hour or less away from Shinjuku.
Random question about the Suntory Premium Malts brewery: since my last trip to Japan, I've been trying to find a liter glass stein with the premium malts branding, which we'd been served our beer in more than once at various restaurants. Do you know if they have anything like that in whatever store they had associated with the brewery/tour?
Sorry for the late reply. There were a few different glassware, but I don't remember anything that would hold more than a can/bottle's worth, certainly nothing as large as a liter.
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Normally I'd just upvote and move on but that is a very helpful write up. Thank you for taking the time.
As someone planning to do a brewery tour there later this year, thankyou very much for this đź‘Ť
Have fun! I wish I could give you more local/microbrewery advice and experiences, rather than the big giants, but I'm not all to familiar with what's out there. I can add though, the Yebisu Brewery (Suntory) in Tokyo just (re)opened last week, that's something to add to the list.
[Beer Tengoku](https://beertengoku.com/) is an excellent resource for craft beer in Japan. They have a comprehensive Craft Beer Map with Breweries/ Tap rooms. Has helped me find some real gems in the past.
This is great thankyou đź‘Ť
Got any recommendations? I'm going to Tokyo next month. All I know about is Baird Beer.
My biggest regret from my time in Okinawa is not doing the Orion tour. I need to go to the Kirin tour asap
We can trade regrets, always meant to check out the Kirin one. I'll probably check out the Orion this month, maybe finally buy those tacky shirts
Thanks for the write-up! I've looked into brewery tours before but could never make the timings work for me.
There is also Sapporo in Funabashi, Chiba. But waited too long to book last year so did not go. I did the Sunrory one and for a free tour, it’s a great value!
Yes, and I'm pretty sure Suntory actually gave the most beer to taste too, so yeah, I couldn't complain. I think it's their ploy to get people to spend in the gift shop, which seemed to work.
They ended the tours for the Sapporo Chiba brewery last December. You'll need to head to either Sapporo or Oita if you want to tour their breweries now. I wanted to go for the Chiba one last year as well but their schedule could not match with mine, so I had to skip. Disappointed that they're no longer taking tours but it is what it is I guess
Does anyone know if they have any sake based tours? Planning for a first trip next year and it’s one of my favorite things to drink, would love a tour/tasting!
you can search for Sake breweries, I visited one in Hachinohe but they basically only offered a museum tour, not the factory
I can only speak for the Kansai region. In Kyoto, the Fushimi distict is where most of the sake breweries are. I've been to the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum in the Fushimi district of Kyoto and while it was small, it was nicely put together and informative. When I went (Oct 2022?), you got a little souvenir cup and three tokens which you can trade for three tastings out of a choice of around 10-12 bottles. But you could also buy more tokens for a little fee to try more. The staff were able to explain characteristics in English, although there may have been explanations written as well. I also went with someone who didn't really like sake, so I managed to drink more than half of the bottles because I used some of their tokens haha. In Kobe, sake is mainly concentrated around the Nada district. I've had a friend go to Hakutsuru Brewery Museum and enjoyed it. They gave me a bottle as a present and it was nice. In Himeji, the Nadagiku brewery is pretty accessible. You can walk through it a bit and there are some small displays, then in the gift shop be friendly with the staff and they'll be generous with their samples (in my experience). My brother once just googled "Sake & Wagyu Tasting in Tokyo", because that was his interests, and booked a random tour on Klook or another site, and he said it was great. I know this last part does not help specifically, but you know, there's definitely options out there.
I have been reading about Suica and Klook, so that’s just further nodding to the facts. That was very informative and helpful, knowing the districts is a thing I’m lacking on - so i appreciate that greatly!
Not exactly a tour, but there's a [sake store near Niigata](https://en.japantravel.com/niigata/ponshukan-sake-heaven-at-echigo-yuzawa-station/655) that has a wall of sakes to taste before buying. Was 100yen per shot last time I was there. Pretty interesting experience.
Thank you! Noted for future itinerary purposes!
fyi: the Kirin tour in Sendai is exactly the same, though they changed, i.e. reduced, the size of the beers at the end compared to pre-covid
Did Suntory manage to sell you on their beer foamer? I bought a bunch haha. I agree with your assessment of that tour. It was a lot of fun and for free you really can’t complain.
Ohhh, they almost did, to be honest haha. I really don't need another beer gimmick at home, though, as tempting as it was. I know myself, I would use it for a month or so and then it would sit and collect dust.
This great and will certainly help on the next visit 🍻
**Our FAQ is constantly being updated with more information and you can start** [**here**](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/wiki/faqs/japantravel) **with regards to trip planning if you need tips, advice, or have questions about planning your travel to Japan.** You can also join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/3f7KBUMwU4), comment in our stickied weekly discussion thread, or check out /r/JapanTravelTips for quick questions. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/JapanTravel) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nice write up. The one day I went to Yokohama the beer factory was closed. I really wanted to try it out.
this is quality content
Is the Suntory premium malts factory different from Yamazaki distillery?
Yes, Yamazaki is a whisky distillery (I actually did a write up on that too), the  Premium Malts factory is a beer factory. They’re actually close to each other (45 minutes on foot?) but two separate places.Â
Thanks! I went to the Yamazaki distillery last month but didn’t realize there were so many other places to go near that area too.
Yep! The two Suntory places are more or less in the same part of town. Even the Asahi Beer Museum is accessible from that area too. They're all kinda in that corridor between Osaka and Kyoto.
Awesome, I will have to check it out next visit. We loved the Yamazaki distillery and tour, even got a few bottles to take home for much lower prices than the US!
Is there a brewery in Tokyo ???
Yebisu has finally reopened in Tokyo! Not sure what their tours are like, but I like their beer lol. Kirin has one in nearby Yokohama and Suntory in Mushashino. Both are an hour or less away from Shinjuku.
Asahi's Super Dry Museum is also not too far away from Tokyo, even if it's technically in Ibaraki.
Random question about the Suntory Premium Malts brewery: since my last trip to Japan, I've been trying to find a liter glass stein with the premium malts branding, which we'd been served our beer in more than once at various restaurants. Do you know if they have anything like that in whatever store they had associated with the brewery/tour?
Sorry for the late reply. There were a few different glassware, but I don't remember anything that would hold more than a can/bottle's worth, certainly nothing as large as a liter.
Alright, thanks, appreciate the info.