Otokoyama Sake Brewery

When my wife and I researched places of interest around Furano, we came across Asahikawa, a city located about 56 km (1 hour 5 mins drive by car) north of Furano. Otokoyama Sake Brewing Museum & Park in Asahikawa was a special interest as we enjoy sake. From our hotel in Furano, the drive to Otokoyama Sake was scenic and enjoyable. The museum showcases the history of Otokoyama and chronicling its historical brewing artifacts, brewing processes, collection of regional and international sake awards, etc. An audio-visual TV presentation is available in different languages, including English, and we found this very interesting. From the museum, visitors can view through glass panels into the sake production plant. Entry to the museum is free-of-charge. In a separate building is the sake retail shop where sake tasting and soft-serve ice cream can also be enjoyed. As I was driving, I did not participate in the sake tasting. My wife did and she enjoyed the sake samples. There is a wide selection of sakes for sale at different price points. We purchased Otokoyama's top award-winning Naturally Pure Junmai Daiginjo, Yukimizuki Junmai Daiginjo, and Fukko Sake. We observed an interesting activity by locals who brought large plastic containers to fill up with mineral water which was dispensed free-of-charge from taps. The mineral-rich water is drawn from underground wells for sake production, and the water sources are the very reasons for Otokoyama's location. Of course, we emptied our small drinking bottles and refilled them with the mineral water!

As we head up NorthEast, we stopped by the sake museum. This sake is almost around the world. It's not a huge place but it does display how they make sake and sell it around the world. There's also an area where you can get free water! There's also a slide for kids! There's a shop where you can purchase some sake and taste them. They have a sticker for drivers so they know who's driving and not let them drink. Nice place to stop by if you're leaving Asahikawa. There's also shopping across the street

I really appreciate their free-entry museum. On the top level of museum, I could learn every single stages of sake making. It’s so well curated and easy to understand. It’s foreigner freindly setting which offer presentations in a few different languages. I enjoyed both free and paid sake tastings. Loved everything.

350 year old award winning sake brand. They use snow filtered water from Mount Daisetsu. Pretty nice but smallish museum. The store outside has the tastings area. Tried a 7000円 sake for 200円、it was tasty. There is also a cafe. I tried the rice latte 450円 and it was very delicious, tasted like sake😂. Overall a pretty cool experience. Easy to take the bus here from Asahikawa station, use the Japan Travel app for routes, when you get on the bus take a ticket. Note the buses only take coins so have exact change.

The Museum closes at 5pm and the cafeteria closes at 4:30pm. So plan ahead and enjoy the tour in the 1st floor. Really interesting to know some history. The cafeteria has a lot of options to buy from. I bought the animal can sake, which was a very good to take as a gift. Try the sake tasting as well.