The distillery tour is one of the best brewery/distillery tours I’ve been. I just can’t stop raving about how fantastic this tour was. It’s evident that they take pride in what they do. Even if whisky is not your choice of beverage, the tour impart knowledge, history and appreciation.
They were many who came without reservation and they were promptly turned away. For non-Japanese speakers, a QR code will be given and that connects you to a translated tour audio. I didn’t have my earphones with me, so I read the translated text. Just the tour took 50min. At the end of the tour, there’s sample tasting. I liked all I tasted and I am/was not even a whisky drinker, converting to one because of this tour.
I went home with a few bottles :). The gift shop has limited edition whiskies and those seemed to be popular.
Thank you so much, Nikka for the experience! I totally enjoyed it and learned so much. Your commitment and pride is inspiring!
Not very languages friendly free guided tours except for Japanese with online reservation only.
They produced Peat/smokey taste whiskey mainly but also have some other too.
The entire distillery is a historical site. The guided tours will less about 40 minutes.
There is a small museum, restaurant and gift shop.
Amazing experience! Make sure to reserve ahead of time for the tour. Really interesting to walk through the whole distillery and see how things were made and the history plus the whiskey tasting at the end was great. They also have a bar where you can taste rare aged whiskeys which were delicious, one of the best highlights of our trip to Hokkaido.
My husband and I had a blast, doing the free tour here at the distillery. He's a huge fan of the Nikka whiskey products. An hour tour gives you a tour guide who will walk you through the entire property and explain the delicate and complex steps taken to produce their fine whiskey. That, topped with a free tasting (must be over 20+ age) to end the tour, and we loved it. There is an audio tour available to visitors who do not speak Japanese, that can be downloaded on your phone. The English version we used was a big help.
You can book reservations in advance online or by phone, and it's super easy and convenient. Note, they do the tour regardless of rain or shine, and we did the tour during a light rain. So be ready to dress for the weather!
Absolutely amazing experience. First, you must pre book in order to have the tour. There is an English guide for your phone, but you'll need cell service in Japan (or wifi though I didn't ask). It really made the whole experience accessible for an English speaker.
After the 50-minute tour, there is a tasting. It was pretty basic stuff: the Yoichi single malt (not basic), Nikka Super Blend, and the Apple Wine. It was still very nice for the total price of $0 per person. 😯😯😯
After the tour, you can go view the museum and pay to taste other Nikka whisky and some other whisky brands (they own a few).
We splurged for the IX decades. Be warned, it's ¥10,000 for 10ml. That's basically 1/70 of a bottle. But it was enough for both my wife and I to taste and enjoy.
We've now visited 3 whisky distilleries in Japan, and this has been our favorite.
