*::UNKNOWN PLEASURES::* FUN and FREE Things to do in Tokyo★Take a Tour and Drink at the Suntory Brewery

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FUN and FREE Things to do in Tokyo

🍺Take a Tour and Drink at the Suntory Brewery🍺

Saving your money for summer or obon plans,

but you still want to do something fun?

Do what we did, and take a tour at the

Suntory Musashino Brewery

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In this post, we'll tell you about our trip to the Suntory Musashino Brewery.

Don't know about Suntory beer?

Well, the brewery in Fuchu holds free tours

while explaining their special technique

that goes into the creating their famous beers,

particularly their DELICIOUS

Premium Malts

The best way to get to there is from

BUBAIGAWARA STATION
(which you can get there by taking the Keio Line from Shinjuku Staton)

Once you arrive to Bubaigawara Station,

there is a free shuttle bus that will take you to the brewery🚌🍺

Below is the set time schedule for the shuttle bus

*PLEASE NOTICE that the schedule is different from AUG 11-16th, 2017*

Shuttle Bus Time Table

(schedule taken and translated from Suntory website)

Once you arrive and go inside the factory,
there will be lots of displays that will attract your eyes.
Such as this pretty golden and navy display of beer cans
surrounding a Suntory beer commercial.

BUT PLEASE!

Make sure to check in at the reception desk first!

It is there you will get all your information and pamphlets about the tour.

When we went, English audio guides weren't available,

just English pamphlets and each section of the tour
was written in Japanese and English on the wall.

However, now they have a multi-language audio guide!
So if you would like one,

be sure to tell them at the front desk when you check in.

The gift shop is on the left hand side when you walk in.

Feel free to take a gander before the tour starts!

Once the tour is over,

you will be exiting out the same way,

so no need to worry if this is the only chance you'll get to buy something.

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🌟 The Tour Begins🌟

In the very beginning,

you will be shown a short video on a big screen

about the process of crafting beer.

From there, the fun begins~

(Step 1) Ingredients

The main ingredients in Suntory beer are:

1. Barley (malt)

You even get to taste the barley they use to make the beer!

2. Hops

Real examples of the hops used!

3. Natural water

(Step 2) The Wort Production

In this part of the building holds three MASSIVE tanks;

a wort kettle, whirl pool, and cushion tank.

The pre-fermentation process where "wort",

a sweet juice made from malt,

is produced.

They grind the malt and add warm natural water,
then add hops to produce the wort.

You got the peak inside and see the starch all bubbly,
it was pretty cool to imagine that's how it all starts.

(Step 3) Fermentation

Here yeast is added to break down the sugar in the wort
to make alcohol.

It was really cool seeing all the chrome pipes manipulated
in different directions.

(Step 4) Maturation

The beer is then transferred into temperature regulated tanks.

(Step 5) Filtration

The filters are used to remove the yeast from the mature beer.

It's hygienically controlled into making what they call "draft beer",
which doesn't use heat pasteurization.

Everything in the Suntory Brewery is so spotless and shiny!

(Step 6) Canning

The last stage is the canning!
Here is oxygen is removed from the beer

to protect the beers freshness and great taste.

It was really neat seeing the machines involved
in the canning process.

We even saw a picture of the factory workers!
Wonder how long it takes them to get all suited up.

(Last Stop) The Tasting!!

At the end of the tour, the tour group is taken to the tasting room!
For those who aren't old enough or don't want to drink,
no worries!

Suntory is a big company with a wide range of beverages.

In fact,

there was even a group of elementary kids there on a field trip!
So at the end of their tour, they got to drink Suntory's juice, Natchan

You were greeted with lovely Suntory Brewery workers,

and you could just pick up whatever drink you wanted!

The drinking time is for 30 minutes,

so go grab yourself what's available

and learn more about the Suntory brand!

The beers that were on tap were:

🍺The Premium Malts

🍺The Premium Malts Ale

🍺The Premium Malts Master's Dream

look....at....that....

○o。.FOAM。o○

We know what some of you Westerners are thinking.
And the answer is no,

we aren't the ones who don't know how to pour a beer properly....
they are!!!!!
We were served this way if you can believe it!!!!
They're big supporters of a 7:3 ration of beer to foam
Japanese people LOVE the foam on their beer (if you couldn't tell!)
which makes no sense to Westerners....
We didn't want a cappuccino, we wanted a beer!

It was perfect timing really,

because after that astonishing sight,

the Suntory guides gave us a "demonstration

on how to pour a glass of beer properly"

↶Take a look↷