Sapporo is mostly known for its beer. Sapporo beer is advertised almost everywhere, and to be fair, it’s very tasty. I had made a list of breweries I wanted to visit before my trip, but while googling for breweries during a very rainy night here in Sapporo, I came across Sapporo’s only sake brewery: Chitosetsuru. And according to their website, they have a sake museum.
When it comes to sake breweries, the term ‘museum’ can be taken with a grain of salt most of the time. And in the case of Chitosetsuru, this is one of those cases. The museum consists of a room with posters detailing the history of the Chitosetsuru brewery, with here and there English sprinkled in. I did like the mikoshi display, and the small statues that explain the sake brewing process. It it always fun to learn about the history of the brewery itself, but for people who are not able to read Japanese, it will not be an informative visit.
The other room in this building is of course the museum shop. This area is a lot bigger than the museum area. Chitosetsuri makes every kind of sake from mostly local rice types, and I was positively surprised that they also sell 2 kinds of namazake: a dry and a sweet variety.
While being able to buy the multitude of sake that Chitosetsuru products, I do find it quite saddening that this brewery does not have a tasting area (as of this writing: November 2023). It’s always a pleasure to try different sake and get excited about the breweries products before buying a bottle, but here it’s not the case. The shop does sell sakekasu ice cream. It’s better than nothing I guess. Thankfully the sakekasu ice cream was very tasty.
I don’t think people should go out of their way to visit this museum, even if you are in Sapporo. Try Chitosetsuru sake at local restaurants of bar, and if you really like it, visit the museum/shop. And while you are there, get a nice ice cream.
Chitosetsuru Sake Museum
〒060-0053
5 Chome-2 Minami 3 Johigashi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido
5 minute walk from Bus Center Mae subway station
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