Sake Tasting in Takayama – A Must Visit for Sake Fans

Sake Breweries in Takayama

Takayama is home to six sake breweries, all located in the historic district, and can be visited within a short walk from each other. These include the following:

• Harada Sake Brewery
• Kawashiri Sake Brewery
• Niki Sake Brewery
• Hirase Sake Brewery
• Funasaka Sake Brewery
• Hirata Sake Brewery

Tasting experiences at the above breweries vary; however, almost all offer opportunities to visit and sample sake without advance reservation.

At Niki Sake Brewery, for example, you can get tokens at a change machine and use the self-pour dispensers to try whatever sake you wish- all priced a la carte. It is worth noting that you also have to buy a sake cup here, and cups acquired at other breweries are not allowed. (Note: This is a common rule at most self-pour places.)

At Harada and Hirase Sake Breweries, you pay a flat fee for tastings, with Funasaka requesting you try each sake only once and Hirase allowing you unlimited tastings capped at 30 minutes (which, to be honest, is enough to try everyone once and, perhaps, revisit a favorite or two you may want to buy).

We also visited Hirata Sake Brewery on an organized tour, reserved in advance, which was quite a fun way to see the sake brewery itself- although it is worth noting that this is quite small. This included a selection of sake poured at the end and the opportunity to try more with self-pour dispensers in the lobby afterwards. For those who do not want to take a tour, you can always opt for the latter on its own, just like at other breweries.

• As a bonus, Marukin Shouten is another must-visit spot in Takayama, as it is part souvenir store with an array of incredible locally made products (a lot of which is food!) and part sake bar with roughly 100 sakes from all over Japan available to try from self-pour machines- most of which are also available to purchase by the bottle. Much like some of the breweries in the area, you get tokens from a coin machine and purchase a cup and sake a la carte. While this one had a lot of local breweries available, we enjoyed trying others from regions in Japan we haven’t visited yet.

For us, we visited them all, and had a really fun time working our way around all of the breweries over the course of our three days in Takayama. But if you do not want to visit them all, we have some tips on what to consider when planning your sake tastings!

What Type of Sake Tasting is Best?

Now, it would be easy for us to sit back and say visit them all (because that’s what we did). But we also recognize that not everyone who visits Takayama may have enough time to do that, and you may not be interested in sake enough to warrant a visit to every spot. So, given the above list, how do you decide which sake breweries to visit?

From a quality perspective, we personally liked the sake from Hirase and Hirata the best. They are quite high-quality producers, offer a great range of products, and, naturally, we ended up buying the most bottles from these two. If you’re looking for high-quality sake above all else, and are willing to trust our personal tastes, we highly recommend these two.

For those who don’t know much about sake, however, we do have to note that available information can feel few and far between at times. Hirata’s tour, for example, offered a great insight into sake, and the guided tasting helped share a lot of knowledge you wouldn’t otherwise get elsewhere (even compared to their standalone tasting room in front of the brewery!). Hirase’s tasting, while self-pour, came with an extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable host who talked to us about sake during our visit. So if you know nothing about sake and want to learn more, these two get another point from us.

• If you do not have time to do the tour at Hirata, we still recommend visiting for their self-pour machines at the brewery. Tour or not, they were still one of our favorite stops!

Other spots felt like we were left to learn about the sake based only on available signage, which may or may not provide all the information you need to make an informed decision about what to try. Niki’s signage, for example, shared enough relevant details for each sake, but if you don’t personally know the difference between ginjo, daijingo, junmai daiginjo, etc., and your personal preferences surrounding each, you may just be taking a shot in the dark on what you want to try unless you’re already familiar with sake to a sufficient degree.

As such, if we were to make an order of recommendations, it would be the following:

First, if you know very little about sake and want to learn the big picture (or are big sake fans like us and simply want to see inside a brewery), sign up for a tour at Hirata Sake Brewery and plan to stick around after to try a few more sake in the tasting room to round out the experience. This will help you get a guided understanding of how sake is made and the various styles right away. If you do not have fundamental knowledge of sake before arriving in Takayama, this one will help get you there.

Second, we’d recommend visiting breweries where you can try the full portfolio for a set fee next, like Harada and Hirase. Pay particular attention to the style types you try, which ones you like and dislike, and connect that with the knowledge you picked up on the tour at Hirata. You may not like everything you try, which is quite all right (I’m partial to slightly sweet and fruity Junmai Ginjo myself), but learning the styles of sake you enjoy is the goal when visiting breweries that let you try it all.

Finally, we’d recommend saving the self-pour places for last. By visiting the prior breweries first, you will have learned some fundamentals about sake and what styles you like, which will help make a bit more of an informed decision when selecting sake à la carte.

This is, of course, not a requirement. You’re going to have just as great a time visiting a self-pour place on its own without these added steps. But if you really want to take a deep dive into learning about sake and connecting the dots on the styles you like, we’d highly recommend the above order if you have the time. If you don’t, well, start with a Junmai Ginjo and thank us later.

Overall, Takayama is a lovely historic town that has some truly excellent sake production. Whether you visit one or two breweries, or do what we did and try them all, you won’t be disappointed with some delicious brews here!

Did you visit the sake breweries in Takayama? Which ones were your favorites? Comment below to share!