If you’re in Sapporo and you want to learn about Sapporo Beer, you’re all set. You can either stay inside the city and visit the Sapporo Beer Museum, or you can hop on a train and tour their factory (which is about an hour outside of the city).
I visited the Beer Museum, and it’s fine. I did indeed learn about Sapporo Beer, but there isn’t a ton to see here. It’s mostly just one big room with various displays outlining Sapporo’s history.
It’s free, however, and the building itself (a former brewery) is quite impressive, so it’s worth checking out if you’re in the area.
There are also some beers you can sample for relatively cheap, including Sapporo Classic, which has apparently been brewed to replicate Sapporo’s original recipe. It’s only available in Hokkaido, so I figured I’d give it a shot.
It tasted like someone started pouring a beer, realized they only had enough to fill a quarter of the glass, and then just topped it up with Perrier. It’s aggressively carbonated, but the flavour is pretty weak. I wasn’t crazy about it.
Location: 9-chōme-1-１ Kita 7 Jōhigashi, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065-8633
How to find it: You can’t miss that distinctive red brick building.