Sapporo Beer Museum

No trip to Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefectures’ capital city, would be complete without sampling the local beer, and there’s no better place to do it than the Sapporo Beer Museum.

Billed as the only beer museum in Japan, it’s housed in an historic brick building which used to be a Sapporo brewery but has been transformed into a museum about the history of Sapporo beer and brewing in Japan.

It’s free to enter, and visitors can take their time looking around the different exhibits. These include short videos about the founding of the brewery, and a display of all the different label designs from the 1800s to the present day. There’s also a wonderful collection of Sapporo advertisement posters dating back to the 1920s.

Displays are in Japanese, but English translation cards are provided. Premium guided tours are also available for ¥500, although these are only available in Japanese.

Food and drink

After satisfying your thirst for knowledge, you can move on to satisfying your thirst for beer! The Star Hall tasting room has three varieties of Sapporo beer available on tap at a discounted rate, all fresh from the brewery.

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What’s a beer museum experience without actually trying, errr, chugging down, the beer??? Therefore, I ordered their Tasting Set with 3 kinds of Sapporo beer. I liked the right most glass best which is the original recipe of the beer. ? Kanpaiiiii!!! . . (And yes, I managed to finish all three glasses. ?)

A post shared by Christa Orcullo (@orcullochrista) on Feb 23, 2018 at 8:04am PST

As well as the much-loved Sapporo Black Label, these include Sapporo Classic, which can only be bought in Hokkaido, and Sapporo Kaitakushi Pilsner. The latter is a recreation of the original Sapporo beer recipe and can only be purchased at the museum, so make sure you don’t miss out.

As with all good museums, there’s a gift shop at the end where you can buy a variety of souvenirs. If you’re still craving more, the adjacent Sapporo Beer Garden houses a number of restaurants where you can enjoy all-you-can-drink Sapporo beer and all-you-can-eat local barbecued lamb.

It’s a good idea to make a reservation (especially during peak tourist times in winter), so for that you call the Sapporo Beer Garden Reservations Center at 0120-150-550. (Reservations can be done in Japanese or in English.) Lastly, keep in mind that for those visiting the Sapporo Snow Festival, the museum and restaurants are a great add-on to the festivities.