Suntory Hakushu Distillery

Brilliant! Really cannot recommend enough. Is a bit far out, we went on our way back from Osaka to Tokyo. Use Kobuchizawa station as there is a free shuttle and check the Si Tory website for timings etc. The free shuttle was great and there was luggage storage at the station to hold our bags. The paid tour was really interesting, I’ve done lots of distilleries in Scotland, but this wasn’t much different different. The nature and the topography of the area are fascinating. Make sure you check suntory website and use their routes and shuttle timings as google maps had the journey at double the time. The paid tour allows you to buy 12YO whereas normally you can only buy the standard bottle and the distillery reserve and gives you a great tasting with 5 whiskies (15ml) and snacks - well well worth it. Restaurant was actually brilliant, pizza was incredible all with local ingredients. Factor in 30/40 mins pre/post tour for this. Tasting was good, there is the one included in the tour (15ml of; lightly peated, heavily peated, Spanish oak, normal Hakushu and Hakushu highball) and snacks (smoked pasta, nuts and chocolate). Paid tasting was same as Yamazaki distillery, and good value compared to rest of Japan. Yamazaki 12YO purchase exclusive to those on the tour and was roughly £83 GBP per 700ml bottle

Loved the visit! The surroundings are stunning! A bit sad to see that prices have more than doubled since my last visit of a Suntory distillery in 2019 for flagship whiskies. As a result I didn't taste the Hakushu 25 which was one of the main reasons I came here in the first place (25€ equivalent for 15ml in 2019 vs 135€ equivalent for 30ml in 2015)

meseum is free but you need to make a reservation i went for free entrance to museum the place is beautiful and very relaxing as you walk to the forest. I got a chance to buy hakushu bottle and you can drink different whisky for tasting.

This is a really fun whisky distillery tour! The walkthrough of the manufacturing process is interesting—not the most detailed I’ve ever seen, but definitely good enough. If you don’t speak Japanese, they provide headsets with recordings in multiple languages, so you won’t miss anything. The best part of the tour is definitely the whisky tasting. They go way deeper into flavour profiles than most other distillery or château tours I’ve done, which makes it super informative. A big highlight is the paid whisky tasting at the bar—you can try rare and aged whiskies for a reasonable price, like a 25-year Yamazaki & 30-year Hibiki for ¥5,000. And if you’re thinking of buying a bottle, here’s a tip: if you’ve booked the tour, don’t buy from the gift shop right away. You might get access to some special options during the tasting session! Overall, definitely worth a visit!

We visited in November 2024. Firstly, we arrived from Matsumoto by train on the way to Tokyo. The shuttle bus left within a minute of the train arrival, so putting our luggage in a locker forced us to miss the bus. That's fine, we got a taxi which was actually very pleasant. Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the friendly staff. This is about where the good times end. When we got to the museum, we were told to download the audio guide. They said there was wifi, but there was nothing. I held up my phone to show while I asked the staff, and they just shrugged and looked confused. So we had very limited information for the self guided museum tour. Still... not the end of the world. The top floor view area seriously needs a window cleaning. There are no open areas, so you have to photograph through the windows, but they are very dirty. Seriously, a good cleaning is all they need. Finally, the main reason for the one-star review: We got to the tasting room and ordered a whisky flight with a few paired bites. Good. We then ousted l ordered several of the nicest whiskies on the list: Yamazaki 18, Hibiki 21, and a Hakushu 18. We had self-serve water, but we wanted something else to cleanse our palate between tasting these whiskies. They didn't have anything available (not crackers, breadsticks, or chips. Nothing.) I went to the shop and waited in line for 10 minutes to buy a small bag of crackers. Nothing crazy just plain salty crackers. When I opened them in the tasting room, I was rudely interrupted and told I couldn't bring in my own food. I mentioned that they were from the Hakushu shop, and the staff member pointed to the fine print on the menu card that said food (includes from the shop). I asked why they don't allow crackers or anything that would help with tasting the whiskies and again shrugging. So, being stubborn, I just walked right to the tasting room door and ate a few crackers, then walked back to the table to taste. They had no problem with that. But Suntory has a very bad policy. They need to offer a limited selection of non smelly palate cleansing snacks in the tasting room. Basically, crackers or breadsticks. I don't mind paying for them, but I really think it would serve 2 functions: giving customers a palate cleanser when tasting flights of whisky (which after the second, the palate is pretty shot); and helping to alleviate customers getting intoxicated rapidly. Having a bready snack would help immensely. And I know it's not an issue with having the food in the tasting room because they serve a paired flight as a special. It seems they were catering to a particular type of tourist who we saw multiple examples of: tossing back a few whiskies without really tasting it, and then buying every bottle they could of the Hakushu non age whisky, which was the only whisky for sale. We visited Yamazaki in 2017, and it was far better. And more convenient to get to. Hakushu was a pain to get to and was not worth the effort. Now we are Nikka fans over Suntory because they have been excellent.