1-12-1 Sakurao, Hatsukaichi-shi, Hiroshima
Tel: 0829-32-9122
Hours: 10:00 – 17:00
Closed: Sunday, the Obon holiday,
year end and new-year holidays
@sakuraodistillery
https://www.sakuraodistillery.com/en/fieldtrip/
CREDIT: OK
SAKURAO DISTILLERY in Hatsukaichi began life distilling brewer’s alcohol for the famed sake industry in nearby Saijo. Today, visitors can tour the facility while seeing and tasting how SAKURAO makes their multi-internationally award-winning Togouchi Whisky and SAKURAO GIN.
English-speaking visitors need to check in by 5 minutes to 2 p.m. at SAKURAO VISITOR CENTER, located a ten-minute walk from JR Hatsukaichi Station. For the next 90 minutes, their guide will show them around the distillery’s facilities, explaining the processes of milling malt, saccharification, distillation, and maturation. While walking through the property, guests will see the company’s homage to their roots everywhere in the form of old ceramic jugs that were once used to store brewer’s alcohol, but which today have been turned into lawn borders and courtyard walls.
Highlights include the gleaming, copper and steel-colored tubes of SAKURAO’s German-imported still, and a warehouse where visitors can enjoy the rich, sweet aroma and old-world aesthetic of whisky maturing in stacks of iron-bound sherry and bourbon casks. At the end of the tour, guests will return to the visitor’s center for tasting and the chance to buy SAKURAO’s products.
SAKURAO’s tour runs Monday through Saturday. Guests must make a reservation on SAKURAO’s website at least 7 days in advance.
To SAKURAO VISITOR CENTER
About 10 minutes from JR Hatsukaichi station.
