Hokkaido Pub Crawl

[Henno]

We just got back from Hokkaido yesterday and had a blast. As well as all the touristy stuff I sampled some rather nice beers.

First day there we stopped off at the Sapporo factory. This was the mother in laws idea as she had gotten her hands on a list of breweries and stuff I had printed out before we came over. She worked out that it would be between the airport we landed at and the hotel we were staying at, the Sheraton thank you very much!

It turned out to be very interesting even though it was commercial beer and I know how you guys feel about that in general. The Japanese efficiency in a factory must be seen to be believed. You can walk from one end of the brewery to the other in a small tunnel with viewing windows of the lot. I particularly enjoyed the canning machine but unfortunately the bottling and packaging machine station was not up and running when we were there.

The best bit was at the end you get nibblies and all the beer you can drink at the end. I don't think they had had an Australian their before so this offer may be off now.




The beer in my hand here is a Sapporo Classic which you can only get in Hokkaido they tell me. It had a nice creamy head when served off the tap. Probably the best Sapporo makes. I tried most of them I think.

 

[Henno]

That night we went to Phred Kaufman's bar in Sapporo after trying to find the Beirgarten and failing. Long story about bad research and note taking on my part.

Phred was quite helpful when I could drag him away from the locals. He has a huge range of imported beers and being American a lot of them are from his home land. Nothing wrong with the Rogue though.



I am enjoying a Trappiste Rochefort 9 here, which is actually 11.3% Phred is holding up an Oberdorfer Weissbier which I liked so much I had two of.



Playing foozball at the end of the night with drunken Japanese women was a cack.

 

[Henno]

The next day we jumped in our hire car and drove down to Otaru and checked into our hotel and booked a private bath. It was the coolest hotel I have ever seen. It kicked the Sheraton's ass basically. I could ramble on about Otaru for ages but I won't. Just go there and eat the ice cream, just vanilla in a cone, no fancy stuff. The place is famous for glassware, dairy products and Otaru beer. They are all good.

We took the cable car to the top of the mountain and went oooh aaaah for a while. It's a ski resort in winter. I have't had much to do with snowy stuff but it is the first ski field I have ever seen with a view of a city, the harbour and the ocean to the horizon.

Our hotel was a 3 minute stroll to Otaru Beer No1. Very cool place. Even mumma san was into it so we stayed for dinner. Hooray!



If you go here you'd be silly not to try the 'beer viking' All you can drink for an hour for about 20 bux. Unfortunately for me it was purchased for me half way through dinner which kept my count down, probably the hangover as well so shouldn't complain.

Lastly but not leastly I thought I'd bung in this pic of me drinking boring old Kirin with some pretty Japanese girls. This was at a massive feast put on by mums family after we went to Grandma's Buddhist funeral. Mum's family don't mind a tipple and by 1am it had gotten messy.




Back to Oz tomorrow

 

[Trough Lolly]

Henno....Set up a tour son and count me in!
I gotta get over there...all that beer and er, entertainment! h34r:

Cheers,
TL

 

[cj in j]

Man, it sounds like you had a blast. Glad you got to Otaru -- great town and good beer. Next time you'll definitely have to plan a stop in Tokyo and Numazu -- Baird Beer is the best in Japan and Tokyo . . . well, Tokyo doesn't have the best beer, but it does have the best people. Steve and I will get you drunk, no problem.

 

[NRB]

Steve and I will get you drunk, no problem.

I can attest to that! :chug:

You're not wrong about the cuties wearing their yukatas Henno... (I think that's what those onsen robes are called). Geez I miss Japan!

 

[Henno]

I definately will plan a Tokyo stop next time I'm back and look you guys up. I want to go back to Hokkaido in the winter and do some snowboarding. Thanks again for putting me onto some cool places.

They are called yukatas and even I got into one sometimes but you don't want to see that.

Last pic has to be something the Japanese definately have right. Great big onsen baths with views of the city. A great place to have a sake with the wife.

 

[NRB]

Henno the best onsen view I had was at Hakuba, specifically Cortina (Corchina) in Nagano prefecture. The Hotel Green Plaza (what a monstrosity!) had open windows overlooking one of the runs. Needless to say, the people coming down the slope could see directly into the onsen... a bit disconcerting at first, but a hell of a laugh.

I found this picture in a catalogue:



I only drank in a bath once - Hotel Grace in Hakuba; we basically had the entire hotel to ourselves. It was like having our own private cooking staff. :chug:

 

[AndrewQLD]

Fantastic stuff Henno, I have been following your trip with interest, What a huge range of beers at the Phred Kaufman's bar , I think it might have been a blessing getting lost there.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Henno]

This hotel had the big public onsen and we got an hour in the private one which had an inside and an outside. The outside one was actually a big old whiskey barrel.

Pictured is sister in law in the barrel looking inside. Unfortunately I was ushered outside when she came in and my wife took this pic. I couldn't see the problem with having a bath with the two of them. Go figure!



Andrew, I'll see ya when we get back mate. Time to do the AG transition. I've been spoilt over here and my kit beer is going to taste very ordinary.