Suntory Hakushu Distillery
Suntory Hakushu Distillery
4.5
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Monday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Friday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Saturday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Sunday
9:30 AM - 4:30 PM
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Top ways to experience Suntory Hakushu Distillery and nearby attractions

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles365 reviews
Excellent
167
Very good
153
Average
34
Poor
6
Terrible
5

Geoffrey S
Deptford, NJ192 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Solo
I love whisky distilleries and this one did not disappoint (except for one thing, to be mentioned below). The location was breathtaking, in the Japanese Southern Alps, and the tour was fantastic. There's a museum of whisky, and a restaurant on site. It culminated with a great tasting.

The production capacity appeared very high, and there's a lot of barrels aging. Unfortunately there was no ability to buy a bottle of the whisky made on site. That was my only disappointment.

The bar in the visitor's center was really special. They were pouring some incredible whisky for really good prices.

This is a must-see day-trip from Tokyo.
Written 9 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Siren
Melbourne, Australia14 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2019
By train you'll need to stop at Kobuchizawa station, we took a taxi from there down to the distillery were we waited for a tour. For a small fee we grabbed a english headset and followed our tour guide around the complex. My favourite room had to be the barrel room. It's no where near as massive as some of the others in japan, but the stack of barrels held 3 (?) metres from the floor and layered to the roof is phenominal. The smell when you open the doors to the barrel room is quite strong if you are sensitive to strong whiskey. Hakushu had the large vat rooms sealed off during our visit, and instead allow you to see in via large glass doors.
The area is truly beautiful and while we missed out on the bird park attached i would like to return outside of winter to see some of the birds in the area. Well worth the trip.

For getting back to the train station we asked the front desk to call at Taxi for us at a certain time, The staff were quite helpful in this.
Written 28 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Dani P
Crows Nest, Australia18 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Friends
Awesome afternoon. English language audio guide is informative and easy to listen to.
Great value as ¥1,000 entrance fee includes tasting of 3 whiskeys, plus a Highball, plus chocolates and snacks
Written 10 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

baergrizz
Mesa, AZ106 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019
If you like whisky (or even whiskey), and you're up for a trip out of the big city, this is a nice half day trip.

The location is beautiful, the museum is bigger than I expected and the tour + tasting is fun. The museum covers more than just whiskey and more than just Suntory history. It digs in to the history of making alcohol and touches on the science as well. If you want more of a Suntory-focused museum, the one at Yamazaki near Osaka may be wof more interest. I've even to both, but have only been on the paid tour here. I expect they're very similar except for calling out specific features of the different distilleries. The water from the Alps here is kind of a big deal.

While Yamazaki gets my vote for the easiest to get to from the train station, Hakushu has the best views. Definitely don't miss the view from the top floor of the museum. If you're on a paid tour, get there a little early and spend some time in the museum--or plan to stay a bit after.

Note: the museum shop takes credit cards, but the bar, restaurant and I think the taxis require cash. My taxis took "PayPay," but that is not something I have setup or know anything about. The "JapanTaxi" app I was using in Tokyo did not find any drivers out here (hey, I had to look!)

My taxi ride to and from the Kobuchizawa station was about ¥2100 each way in no traffic (15-20 minutes or so). It was ¥1000 for the tour+tasting at the distillery -- book online a few months out if you are planning to do more than see the museum. I believe just going through the museum is free, but you should check their website to be sure.

My tour guide (I believe her name was 井口) did a great job... note that it is ALL in Japanese, so keep that in mind. There is an audio guide app that you can download (do that before you get there) that they will unlock for you just before the tour begins ... (got headphones? Bring them!) If you forget, there is a WiFi network in the shop that you can use for the download. My feedback there is that the English speaker on the recording could speak A LOT faster. As an alternative, having the ability to "2x" the speed would have been nice. Or, having a text transcript to skim... I kept lagging behind the group if I tried to play the English soundtrack from my phone. It would also be nice if they let you listen to the audio AFTER you've left. Sadly, it re-locks at some point.

Getting here from Tokyo is best on the Azusa limited express trains, which will take about two hours from Shinjuku JR station and cost about $50 per person each way. As for the amount of time total, I caught the outbound Azusa 1 train at 7:00 from Shinjuku and arrived at the distillery's reception desk by 9:30 for my 10:30 tour. I spent most of the hour in the museum and outside on the beautiful grounds. (I had booked the tasting tour a couple of months in advance). At the end of the tour and tasting, I did some shopping in the shop and caught the Azusa 16 train back to Shinjuku at 12:52. I was alone and didn't dawdle at all. Planning for the 18 train an hour later is a safe bet... you can exchange your tickets at the station if you make it in time to catch the earlier one.

An important tip to prevent missing your outbound train: be sure to ask the reception desk at the distillery to call a cab for you about 30 minutes before you need to leave. Mine only took 15 to arrive, but the weather was not great so the place was not that crowded.

I can't stress enough: if you want to sample at the bar... BRING CASH

You really should check the website before heading out to visit. They are closed for maintenance some days and it is not a quick (or inexpensive!) jaunt from Tokyo.
Written 20 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Laurie E
Henrietta, NY19 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019 • Couples
My husband is a whiskey/ bourbon connoisseur and I reserved tickets for this tour as a gift for him during our trip ro Tokyo. I knew the trip was 2+ hours from Tokyo and if your don't have as Jr rail pass, it's $50 one way pp. What I didn't realize is the shuttle freon the train to the distillery was not in operation until 2 days later. It was another $50 for the taxi to/from and we had to wait for a taxi. We barely made the start of the tour. We had been on other bourbon and whiskey tours in Kentucky and this one was minimal in comparison. The real disappointment was the lack of selection of whiskey in the gift shop. They did not have their own malt whiskey. What they did have wad plenty of makers mark and wood products made from the casks which were pricey. Overall for $250 transpotation for 2 people from tokyo, this was a disappointment.
Written 19 July 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

000manbeast000
San Diego, CA24 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2019 • Friends
Showed up with a group of friends who all had a reservation. I figured I'd either get in or I'd go to the garden/shrine in the back and get drunk at the tasting room while I waited. We went on a Wednesday and I had no problem getting in. Paid my 10 bucks and got added to the group. I guess I got lucky, maybe it was a slow day. Don't forget to bring your headphones, preferably the corded ones so you don't have to mess with Bluetooth trying to hear the English version of the tour.
Written 4 June 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jonathan T
Houston, TX11 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2019 • Couples
Overall this tour could use some points of improvement which I’ll elaborate on later.

Visits are reserved in advance which you can do on their website, be sure to do this early as the weekends fill up quickly. Cost is 1000 yen per person for the basic tour which includes tasting.

To get there, we left Tokyo station and transferred at Shinjuku station. Because we had a JR pass for the week, we did not pay extra for this trip. The seats should be booked in advance, although there are people that were able to get on without reserved seats. You can tell based on the color above each seat. Still safer to book ahead at your JR ticket offices.

Trip takes approximately 2 hours so plan accordingly depending on your tour time. We left around 7:15am for a 11:30am tour time. They request you arrive 15 min in advance. When you get to the kabuchizawa stop, there is a taxi stand. We paid 1990 to get to the distillery from the train stop.

We first hit the gift shop, as expected there wasn’t much there. They had a Hakushu distillery reserve (the Hakushu whiskey aged 3 years) and a smaller version which was a “special edition” in a different bottle. Unfortunately because of the language barrier I really couldn’t tell what the difference was. Certainly no older whiskeys were available. They also carried the Chita which is readily available in Tokyo and most of the US. Ended up leaving with mini bottles of Yamazaki 12 packaged with a highball glass which cost 2700 yen.

Next the tour. The location is deep in the forest which is beautiful. You can download a audio app if you don’t speak Japanese and it will prompt you to each area. Fairly standard distillery tour overall. Ended with a short tasting. You try 3 different Hakushu whiskeys. A white oak cask Hakushu, a lightly peated Hakushu, and a single malt Hakushu which was the one available for purchase. They also had an extra one for you to make highball with. The tasting was good, I have to admit I was mildly disappointed to not see them open up even a bottle of the 12 yr for tasting, as most tastings I’ve been to will at least let you try a bit of the “good stuff”. It did feel a bit rushed overall as they were probably looking to get next tour group through.

We left the 11:30 tour by 1:30 and caught an earlier train than we had planned. Luckily there was a 2pm train that we got in without any reservations. Did not eat at the restaurant, the food did not look super appealing compared to what we have been eating over the entire week, although we did not try it so I cannot make a solid assessment.

The overall experience was not bad but just left a bit more to be desired. I think the store should offer something more special for the visitors to make the 2 hour trip worthwhile. Most people who are willing to make an entire day trip to travel to this distillery are big fans and would love to see something to take home. I could easily purchase many of the “coveted” Suntory whiskeys without going to Japan to visit!

Two other points that would enhance the experience. Make the tasting a more thorough experience. Offer something special even if it costs a slightly bit more. Again, I doubt the true fans would worry about the cost. Making better use of the beautiful setting of the forest would also be nice.

If you’re a big fan of Suntory whiskeys you should still go, but I would just set my expectations appropriately.

Written 25 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nick S
New York City, NY20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2019 • Solo
There are two attractions to visiting the distillery:

1)A short introduction to how whisky is made plus a tasting of four whiskies.
2)A very scenic and relaxing train trip from Tokyo. The train goes through a mountain valley with very nice views.

There are many reviews of the distillery tour; I'll focus on getting there from Tokyo, the shop and lunch. If you are a fan of whisky, I'd read a little in advance on how it is made to better understand what you see on the tour.

The tour includes
1)looking at and smelling raw barley grains and barley dried with peat,
2)mashing (extracting sugar from malt),
3)fermentation,
4)Distillation (Several types of stills operate)
5)Aging (A huge room with barrels of whisky)

You don't see bottling or malting.

I reserved a spot online; the entrance fee was ¥1000.

Transportation
I took the 7:30 AM Azusa 3 train from Shinjuku. It arrived in plenty of time to get a taxi at the station to the distillery for the 10:30 tour. Taxis are waiting outside of the station.

A round-trip green car ticket was ¥13,520.
The taxi to the distillery was ¥1950. It was a 15-20 minute ride.
At the end of the tour and lunch, staff at the distillery called a return taxi; allow 30 minutes for it to arrive (It took 15 minutes for me). The return taxi fare was ¥2710.

If you don't have lunch at the distillery, you should have plenty of time to return on the 12:52 train to Shinjuku. If you have lunch, the 1:52 will work.

Whisky Shop
There is not much of a selection at the shop. Nothing has an age statement. They had bottles of Suntory Chita, which are readily available in Tokyo. I purchased a 300 ml bottle of Hakushu; it's a special edition only available at the distillery for ¥1440. I also purchased a 700 ml bottle of Hakushu for ¥4536.

Lunch
A small restaurant, The White Tavern, is on the grounds of the distillery. It was fine, but I think I would have preferred to have lunch at the ramen stand at the train station. My lunch was ¥1580 around the same price as most of the entrees.

Bird Sanctuary
The entrance to the sanctuary was roped off. The distillery grounds are very wooded, but there weren't any birds visible. I wouldn't set aside time to see the birds.

English Language App
The tour is conducted in Japanese. Suntory has an app with an English-language version. It worked fine. The only glitch is it required the screen on my android phone to stay on when playing the audio and used a fair amount of battery power. Also remember to bring headphones. The tour guides were friendly and were happy to answer questions in English.
Written 24 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Leslie Tang
Singapore, Singapore580 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2018 • Friends
As I am a whisky lover, and have been drinking Hakushu for years already I have to visit the distillery. Beautiful distillery as it is inside the woods. Disappointment they are out of stock for Hakushu whisky. I dive at White Terrace as the food is pretty good. Worth the visit.
Written 6 November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Jocelin A
74 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2018 • Friends
This maybe a new distillery but it is an awesome experience with the different whisky tasting and how it is being made.

Sadly there are no english guide there so while the rest of the japanese visitors are being brief by the guide we the non japanese tourist are listening to an english audio guide. To me personally this is kinda dissapointing. A human interaction is much preferrable than an audio guide since we are not in a musuem.

But still i would give a 5 star because the people there are very polite and they try to answer any question to the best they can.
They even prepare some booklets for instructions in english during the whisky tasting.
Written 21 October 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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SUNTORY HAKUSHU DISTILLERY: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Suntory Hakushu Distillery