Tl;dr: would recommend a bit of history for the beer lovers.
Being in Sapporo, and enjoy drinking beer, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Sapporo beer museum. It was easy to get to from Sapporo station or you could get a taxi from Sapporo city central for around ¥1500. The museum tour is free, and although the guided tour is only in Japanese, you could either go to their website to get the English, Korean, or Mandarin translations, or we later found that they have the printed version of the translation at each station.
It was a small and simple museum with no fancy interactive media. Once we got to the souvenir shops, we found some items are very expensive. Fridge magnets were ¥800, more expensive than beer glasses!
We then went to the tasting beer hall and got the tasting paddle for ¥1000. Although busy, we didn't have to wait to get a table. We didn't have the chance to try the beer garden as it was getting dark and had to head off for dinner.
A fun experience at Sapporo Beer Museum. We did the self guided tour because the paid tour was sold out, but the self guided was perfectly fine. They have English, Korean and Japanese cards to read from at every section of interest. At the end of the tour you line up to try the beer out. The sitting area has a maximum time if 30 minutes, but we took a little longer and it wasn't an issue. It's 1,000 yen each for a flight of 3 beers. It was fun to compare the different beers. Enjoy!
Stunning complex. Multiple buildings clustered nearby together. The museum structure was encased in russet and gold foliage. Delightfully striking. Free tour which was not having much English info, but pricey tastings to enjoy if wanted. I had number 3 beer. Delicious. Served nice and cold. Enjoyed coming here.
Nice place to spend an hour or so. The location is conveniently located near Sapporo Station. There is a free tour and a paid tour and we did the free tour. The free tour has an accompanying English pdf which you can use to follow along the museum. It's an interesting introduction into the history of the beer.
At the end of the museum, there is a beer tasting hall with a few options if you don't drink beer. The vending machine accepts cash and credit. There is also a gift shop which sells the beer from the tasting hall, among other options. There are also shirts, bags, stickers, beer souviners, etc.
Had an amazing experience at Sapporo Beer Museum. If you are fan and interested in Beer, this is the place to go. I booked the premium tour which I can definitely recommend. For a premium tour It's not expensive, about 1000 yen. There is only a Japanese guide but you can hire a English audio guide with it. My tip would be is to book the tour we extra time to explore the museum on your own afterwards. With the tour you will also get a tasting and a demonstration of how to pour a Sapporo beer. The shop is also really nice and has a tax free option. Definitely recommend visiting when in Hokkaido.
