Imayotsukasa Sake Brewery — Attraction in Niigata

I didn't know much about sake, and the tour and tasting at Imayotsukasa was a terrific introduction. In a terrific historical building, the wooden beams and barrels really give an authentic touch. They offer guided tours in English or Japanese which shares the both how sake is made, different grades and methods, as well as interesting history of local rice growing, sake production, and rice cracker making - all of which are connected. Surprisingly Niigata was the top prefecture in number of breweries, but #3 in total sake produced, highlighting the small craft nature of sake in this part of Japan. The older methods are still in place for a small portion of production. After the 30-45 minute tour you have the option of the tasting room. For about 1000 yen a person you can sample up to 15 different sakes. I recommend this... Much of what you learned on the tour you can taste for yourself. Recommend eating food before arriving, some of the sake is strong. Also recommend the ice cream with Lise by-product of production.....

I don't speak much Japanese and we arrived around 11:05-11:10am but we were still able to join the Japanese tour. You can grab an English pamphlet from the shelf before going on the tour so it's not necessary to join the English tour (only at 2pm each day).

I tried two types of sake and the deep sea non-alcoholic rice wine (amazake) for free. The amazake tasted a little fishy, so I guess that's why they call it a deep sea one.

They sold out of some of the sake items and only had the sake bread ice cream product left. I thought it was okay. I wish that they had the soft serve because I wanted to try that one.

They also have some sake that are exclusive to the store, so they would be good as presents.

I would definitely come back if I'm...

The tour was great, and my guide explained very thoroughly on the sake making process and the difference in quality of sake. After the tour, we could try 2 amazake and one sake for free. The taste was amazing. There is also premium sake tasting for ¥1000 and it was worth it as well as you can try 9 different types of sake in this zone.

There was 2 types of gacha - omiyage gacha and sake gacha. Each try is ¥500. It was a fun experience.

They also sell soft serve (it may depend on the hour - when I came the soft serve was not available but when I was done with the tour and sake testing, the soft serve was available and I...