The Sapporo Bier Museum and Bier Garden

On Saturday, my host father “June-chan” asked me what my plan was for the day. I didn’t know for sure so I started browsing the brochures you get from the visitor center. The Sapporo Bier Museum came up and I pointed to that and said “today I go here.”

Before leaving I was trying to plan my route there. I had subway maps and city maps opened up on the table trying to make a good route. June said, “What are you doing?” “Planning my route” I replied. “No, no, no, you should take the JR Train to Sapporo Station and then walk there.” I wasn’t sure about this idea, I had looked at prices to ride the JR train and they’re pretty spendy, except they are fast. “Here, use my pass to get there” June said. So it was set, thanks to June-chan the route was pretty straight forward: 1st get on the train, 2nd walk to the factory (15min walk).

Densha de GO! (Let’s ride the train)

Honestly I had never ridden in a commuter train before. I’ve been in other trains like from Portland to Seattle, but it was not quite like this. I rode my bike to Oasa Eki (above pic) in Ebetsu-shi and used my pass to get into the train station.

Everything looked old and used like it had been there for years and have sent many Japanese too and from all sorts of places. I asked a nice person just which train to take and then waited for the train to arrive.

In Japan, the trains travel the same way cars do in Japan (opposite from America). This little fact I didn’t know or atleast forgot on my way back home which cost me 15 minutes to figure out.

Once on the train I was headed to Sapporo Station. Sapporo station is pretty big by comparison to the other stations in the greater Sapporo/Ebetsu area. It’s like the grand central of Hokkaido. All of this was pretty cool to look at, but a station that big made it easy to get lost or at least mixed up on which way was south and north.

Eventually I headed in the right direction and in about 15-20minutes I was standing in front of that famous smoke stack, the one with a big red star and サッポロビール written lengthwise on one side. Pretty big eh?

My first impression was that this was a real old antique looking place. It had all the elements of a German style pub/brewery yet with a hint of old Japanese to make it a truly unique place.

I was unsure as to how to proceed, so I went into a building and the lady at the front escorted me to the museum section (how Sapporo beer started, is made, etc.). The tour was very interesting and cute. Everything about mass beer brewing was explained in detail according to some ancient method developed about 100-150 years ago. According to the tour, Sapporo Classic Beer is made with hops and brewed like all beers are usually brewed. The results taste the same as most beers do with slight variations between the quantities of each batch. Supposedly, Sapporo has found that beer magic to make each batch as good as the next. Who cares really, it was obvious people were eager to get to the “tasting room.” Some of the tour was cool, in the beginning Sapporo beer was distributed in wooden kegs and the advertising for the beer was usually some geisha girl drinking Sapporo beer. Also Sapporo beer has had many name changes over the years: Hokkaido Beer, Nippon Beer, etc. A final interesting tidbit is that the Sapporo Company produces Green Tea, Water, Sports drinks, cola, and a lot more. Beer is only what Sapporo is famous for but, the factory produces much more then just beer. They’re latest beer product is “draft one,” it’s supposed to taste like draft beer only it’s in a can. It’s alright, they’ve done pretty good, but nothing really beats draft from a tap.

Knowing that, I was headed to the tasting room. The tasting room looked like an old beer cellar. It was lit with these old lamps and the walls were made of brick. I ordered a draft beer (200 yen) and just sat to enjoy this place. What an experience this place was. If anyone was to visit Sapporo, then I’d recommend the Beer Museum. The tour is about 15 minutes long, it takes about 15 minutes to get there by walking from Sapporo station, and it’s awesome. Admission is free to get in, only the beer tasting costs money.

The rest of the museum is spread out in a big campus with beer gardens and cafés everywhere. The Genghis Khan is nothing more then a grown up barbeque with beer for a lot. That night, June cooked up a big meal for us that resembled the Genghis Khan with draft one beer.

That night old friends (the ones I met on the first day) came back and we partied celebrating just being together.

The next day (they day we went fishing) it rained.

~J out