‘Kanpai’ to Sapporo Beer Museum! Japan’s only dedicated beer museum is a top way to taste lots of beers and learn about brewing.
One of Japan’s biggest breweries (along with Asahi, Kirin and Suntory), the Sapporo Beer Museum in Hokkaido is a heritage site with a huge museum, old brewing vats, a Sapporo Beer brewery tasting room, plus several bars, cafes and restaurants.
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Brewed since the 1870s (although the beer in the tap-room will likely be newer!), Sapporo Beer Museum (サッポロビール博物館) is easily one of the best things to do in Sapporo, at any time of the year (we visited in winter – don’t worry, the beer didn’t freeze).
The sprawling Sapporo Beer Garden (“Kaitakushi-kan”) has numerous bars and restaurants. The grounds are nice too with lots of green spaces and historic red brick buildings and old warehouses turned into beer halls.
From inexpensive beer tasting to exclusive Sapporo souvenirs, here is our guide to Sapporo Beer Museum in Hokkaido, Japan.
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How to get to the Sapporo Beer Museum in Hokkaido
From Sapporo Station to Sapporo Beer Museum, there are several forms of public transport:
- Take bus 19, 63, 88 or 188 from Sapporo Station
- Take the JR Hakodate Line from Sapporo Station and alight at JR Naebo Station – it is around a 10 minute walk from the north exit
- Take the Toho Subway Line from Higashi-kuyakusho-mae Station – it is around a 10 minute walk to all the beer from exit 4
Alternatively take a 5 to 10 minute taxi ride from Sapporo Station north exit.
If you fancy a stroll, Sapporo Station to Sapporo Beer Museum is a 25 minute walk.
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Sapporo Beer Museum costs / Is the museum free?
Yes, the Sapporo Beer Museum is free entry – although there are extra costs if you would like to do a guided tour or taste the beer (which is highly recommended).
Note – unlike some other countries, you must be over 20 years of age to drink beer at the Sapporo Beer Museum (and across the whole of Japan).
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Sapporo Beer Museum opening hours
Sapporo Beer Museum is open daily from 11am to 6pm daily – last admission is at 5.30pm.
The tasting sessions in Sapporo Star Hall finish at 6.30pm (last orders at 6pm).
Sapporo Beer Garden is open daily from 11.30 to 9pm (last orders 8.40pm). It is closed on 31st December.
All times correct as of May 2024.
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Sapporo Beer Museum tickets and guided tours
Whilst admission to the Sapporo Beer Museum is free, guided tours cost 1,000 Yen per person.
The tour is in Japanese so if you wish to have an audio guide device in English or Korean, there is an additional 500 Yen charge.
The guided tours include a 6K video over in their theatre, a tour of the museum and two beer tasters – Sapporo Draft Beer Kuro Label and Fukkoku Sapporo Beer.
Sapporo Beer Museum tours last 50 minutes and depart daily (except Monday and public holidays) at 11.30am, 12pm, 12.30pm, 3.30pm, 4pm and 5.30pm.
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Sapporo Beer Museum tickets and reservations
You don’t need a prior reservation for a ticket for the Sapporo Beer Museum itself – it is free entry.
However, reservations for the guided tours are highly recommended and they can be booked on the official Sapporo Beer Museum site here >
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Sapporo Beer Museum exhibition
The first thing you notice when you arrive is how nice the grounds are at the brewery.
As well as old brewery vats turned into flower beds or other old equipment and beer barrels repurposed, you’ll see ivy climbing up the red brick walls. If you visit in March or April you will also see a smattering of sakura cherry blossom trees.
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There are several floors of old brewing equipment plus tonnes of interpretation panels (all in Japanese, apart from a smattering of English).
However, many exhibits have laminated information sheets in English, Chinese and Korean (or use the QR codes to translate on your phone). There is also a rather neat miniature model of what the old brewery used to look like.
Aside from the old brewing equipment (so shiny), our favourite bit was looking at all the old vintage beer labels and old Sapporo Beer TV commercials. It is amazing how much the branding and labels have evolved over the last few decades.
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Sapporo Beer Museum – Beer tastings at Star Hall
Did someone say ‘beer tastings’? For us, the best bit of the museum was getting to try lots of Sapporo beers in their sumptuous Star Hall. A retro taproom with red-brick walls and sleek and shiny lighting, this would make an excellent place for a party.
The Sapporo Beer Museum tastings cost around 400 Yen per beer tasting or (like us), you can go for a tasting tray of three beers for 1,000 Yen.
We were given some free snacks (fried peas and beans) with every beer purchase. You can also purchase Hokkaido Premium Cheese which was an awesome accompaniment to the beer.
You can try various Sapporo beers in the Star Hall taproom like Sapporo Draft Beer Kuro Label, Kaitakushi Beer and exclusive to Hokkaido only, Sapporo Classic. Soft drinks and non alcoholic beers are available.
The atmosphere is nice and convivial in Star Hall (maybe it is all the beer) – look up and check out the beer bottle chandeliers in the roof space – maybe it is ‘light beer’?
To buy your beers, there is a set of vending machines to buy your beer tasting tickets which you then present to staff – alas these vending machines aren’t quite as cool as these ones >
Seating is limited to just 30 minutes (we aren’t sure if they keep track) but we found this enough time to get through three Sapporo Beer tasting trays between us (because we weren’t sure about the beer the first or second time around…honest!).
To the left of the bar, don’t forget to find the huge beer glass exhibit which you can stand behind to make it look as if you are swimming in a huge pint of Sapporo Beer – now that would be hoppy heaven!
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Sapporo Beer Museum Beer Garden and Restaurants
Within the grounds, there is a huge Sapporo Beer Beer Garden (AKA Sapporo Bier Garten), which is home to several restaurants and beer halls (because beer is often best when served with food).
Known as “Kaitakushi-kan”, the Sapporo Beer Garden” started out in 1890 as a sugar factory before becoming a brewing malting factory (a key part of the brewing process, as you’ll learn from the museum).
Sapporo Beer Garden / Bier Garten was born in 1966, with the iconic Kessel Hall (a huge beer hall) as centrepiece.
In the Kessel Hall, gaze in awe at the vast copper brewing urn that is over 100 years old (installed in 1912) – nearby, there is the slightly more modern Poplar-Kan beer hall.
One Sapporo Beer Museum menu option that took our eye was the all you can eat BBQ & all you can eat beer. Their Genghis Khan restaurant serves up luscious lamb with tender vegetables on a domed skillet (for better cooking) – nom!
The all you can eat Genghis Khan BBQ costs 3,600 Yen per adult. If you want to do all you eat and all you can drink, it costs 5,280 Yen. Sapporo Beer prices are correct as of May 2024, and the all you can eat and drink sessions last 100 minutes.
Also onsite are the Lilac restaurant and hall, serving up international dishes like Korean and western classics plus the Garden Grill, an upmarket beer bar with classic cuisine.
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Sapporo Beer Museum – other bars and gift shop
The gift shops are packed full of exclusive Sapporo Brewery merchandise and super cool souvenirs to take home (or even to set up your own Japanese style bar or izakaya in your apartment – oh, just us then?)
The main gift shop is open until 7.30pm daily and you don’t need to take the tour or visit the museum to get in.
As well as souvenirs, you can also buy limited edition beers and snacks here – so definitely a great place to visit if you are really into your beers!
We were very taken by the Sapporo bear branded gachapon toy capsule machines as well – there is so much cool beery merchandise.
Plus there are lots of Hokkaido exclusive foods and snacks like the famous Shiroi Koibito (白い恋人) “White Lover” biscuits – Sapporo’s most popular souvenir.
There were even Hokkaido soy sauce scallop flavoured Pringles to buy.
If you still want another beer after Star Hall but don’t fancy a proper sit-down meal in the Sapporo Beer Garden restaurants, there is also a small cafe serving Sapporo beers and soft-serve ice-cream.
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Official museum website
The English version of the official Sapporo Beer Museum Website can be found here >
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Other things to know
- Please drink responsibly when visiting the museum – you can buy Sapporo beers in multiple places including the cafe, restaurants, beer garden so it can all start to catch-up on you
- All of the museum exhibits and videos are in Japanese but English, Korean and Chinese translations are available using a QR code scanning system or laminated cards dotted around the museum.
- You must be 20 years or over to consume beer at the Star Hall taproom and other bars onsite
- Try not to take home the Sapporo beer glasses from the tasting room – you can buy your own as souvenirs in the gift shops.
- Photography is allowed but no video or voice-recordings
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Address
Sapporo Beer Museum, 9 Chome-1-1 Kita 7 Johigashi, Higashi Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 065 – 8633, Japan
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