Local drinks
酒飲み比べ
Alcohol is an important and accepted part of modern life in Japan. It can be a social, commercial or religious consumption, as part of traditional customs or daily events.
Discover the manufacturing secrets through factory tours or learn how to taste the drinks during workshops.
Sake is the symbol of Japanese alcohol
It is made of fermented local rice, water and rice-malt. Its taste varies depending on the region and the traditional production technique at use.
You can warm it up, cool it down or drink it at room temperature.
Also known as rice wine
Rice has been japan's most significant staple food since ancient times, and sake is a type of alcohol that went through History. Alcohol content varies depending on the brand, however hydrated liquor is about 10 - 16%, and unprocessed sake is about 20%, which is stronger than wine and beer.
Shochu is also a traditional alcoholic beverage.
Shochu is often confused with Sake, which is colourless and transparent. However, it is completely different.
Habushu, sometimes called "snake wine" is an awamori-based drink from Okinawa
The alcohol content is 25-40%, which is much stronger than sake. Sake is made by brewing like beer. Shochu is processed through distillation using rice, sweet potato, buckwheat, barley, etc.
as raw materials.
Umeshu is the most popular fruit liqueur
Ume is made of plums and apricots.
It has been used as an ingredient in Japanese cuisine for hundreds of years.
Umeshu is made by soaking plums in Shochu or sake and sugar. The sweetness and unique aroma of plums dissolves in alcohol through maceration. It is easy to drink with an alcohol content around 10-15 %, recommended for people who prefer sweeter drinks
Japanese whisky is also popular
"Highball" is a cocktail made by thinning whisky with sparkling water and ice cubes. This is the popular way to prepare it in Japan, which is refreshing and easy to drink.
Domestic whisky production began in 1923 with Shinjiro Torii (the founder of Suntory) who built a malt whisky distillery in Yamazaki, suburb of Kyoto. Nowadays, there are whisky factories you can visit all over Japan where you can taste it as well.
Japanese beer loved by everyone
Japanese beer is light, cool and also the most consumed alcohol in Japan.
Japanese people usually drink it after work, at barbecues or when sharing a meal of raw fish.
There are many manufactured and region-specific beers nowadays, but Kirin is a pioneer in the Japanese beer world. It was made by the first company in Japan to brew and sell to a large number of people. You can drink beer almost everywhere in Japan and should try local and limited editions ones.
Japanese wine
is also brewed in some places
It uses 100% Japanese grapes.
The Japanese archipelago extends from north to south, and grapes are cultivated in various places such as basins, mountains, hills, and in coastal areas.
Japanese wine has a rather short history. About 140 years ago in the Meiji period, two young men from Yamanashi prefecture, who had already been cultivated grapes for raw consumption, learned winemaking in France and became the first domestically produced wine seller when they got back to Japan.
Currently, it is brewed in Hokkaido, Yamagata, Nagano and Yamanashi.