Simply Sake: Tasting & Brewery Tour in Matsumoto

Become a sake aficionado with a brewery tour and tasting experience in Matsumoto–one of Japan’s more active sake-producing regions! You’ll tour the 150-year-old brewery, witness the rice polishing and steaming process, learn about the facilities from your expert guide, and then venture next door to a Meiji-era Japanese house for a tasting. But it doesn’t end there! Take home a special gift from the brewery to keep the sake spirit alive. Make yourself at home in the halls of an active sake brewery that's been operating for 150 years. Founded just after the fall of the last Shogunate, this brewery still relies on pure groundwater pumped from 62 meters below its creaking floorboards. Discover the hands-on techniques for washing and steaming rice used for centuries. During this tour, you’ll enjoy an introduction to spaces that are typically off-limits, like the muro, where precious koji microbes coax simple rice into the beginnings of shimmering sake. Next door is a well-preserved, traditional Japanese house that will transport you into the Meiji-era. Explore the spaces where the brewery's founders ate, slept, and entertained guests while seeing artifacts like their writing desk and customer notes. Here, guests can enjoy the brewery's sake on-site, paired with pickles, senbei rice crackers, and other traditional drinking snacks. After viewing the facilities, you'll visit the official shop and receive some take-home treats, courtesy of your spirited sake hosts! Take advantage of this rare chance to step into the lives, history, and homes of the people who make one of Japan's most unique beverages.