When the Japanese are determined to do something well, they often come up with high quality products. For instance, whiskey. It’s more commonly associated with men playing bagpipes in kilts but Japanese brands such as Hibiki are now considered among the best in the world.
The same could be said for another alcoholic product: beer. Although not as famous as those in Europe, the Japanese brands Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo produce pretty decent beers. Asahi, with its numerous factories across Japan, runs daily regular factory tours. We found ourselves in one when we were in Kyushu back in October 2019 for Rugby World Cup.
Booking Process for Asahi Brewery Fukuoka
Free tours at Asahi’s Fukuoka brewery could be booked in advance by calling +81 92 431 2701 but unfortunately, there wasn’t an English-speaking tour on the day of our visit. We would be joining a tour conducted in Japanese but it was possible to download an app and listen to the commentary in English (also available in Mandarin and Korean).
Pre-Tour
When we arrived at the registration counter, we were asked how we made our way there. For those who come by car, the designated driver had to be identified. He or she would be given a special lanyard and no alcohol can be served to these poor fellows. Luckily our designated driver doesn’t drink alcohol at all so no loss for him. There were also QR codes at the counter and we could scan them to download the app with the tour commentary.
Tour
…itself was pretty boring as we didn’t see any actual beer-making process. Unlike the Heineken Experience in Amsterdam where there were hands-on stuff to do, it was more of the guide stopping at designated spots and doing commentary in Japanese (while we listened to audio commentary through our phone).
The tour portion in all took around 40 minutes in total before getting to the best part…
Tasting!
At the end of the tour, we were ushered into the beer hall where each tour participant was given three tokens.
I think that there were three choices of beers: Asahi Super Dry, Asahi Super Dry Extra Cold and Asahi Black.
There were also several non-alcoholic options and I recalled Calpis being one of them. Packaged snacks (peanuts and crisps) were also provided. The drinks had to consumed within 20 or 25 minutes and even though we had lunch earlier, I was properly buzzed by the third pint. Our designated driver was also asked to take a breathalyser test when he was returning his special lanyard.
Thoughts
While the tour at Asahi Brewery was not much to shout about, the free beers are enough make the excursion worthwhile. As of August 2020, the brewery tour is still suspended and should resume after Covid-19 pandemic.
Visit Date: 11 October 2019
Getting to Asahi Brewery Fukuoka
Address: 3-1-1 Takeshita, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka (Beside Takeshita JR Station, 1 stop away from Hakata JR station)
