THE EDIFICE
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| This museum clearly isn't a creature of mass tourism... |
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| My first time to see actual beer barrels |
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| Sapporo Breweries' iconic pentagram logo |
THE EXHIBITION
THE BEER
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| Beer tickets come out of a vending machine, natch. |
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| The three tasting variants |
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| The Sapporo Girl: Charming then, as now. |
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| 4 men, infinite serves of beer... |
"We gotta do the Beer Museum," I told Chris as soon as the group decided Sapporo would be our next destination following Niseko.
Of course the whole point of going to Sapporo was to catch the Snow Festival, but whatever. One of my fondest childhood memories was a field trip to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ilagan, Isabela. I was beside myself with excitement, wondering how much more kickass the Japanese version would be. "It'd be Coca-Cola on steroids, for sure," I gleefully thought.
I was disappointed.
It was all very... educational. History, old documents, dioramas, interactive exhibits... The only things I honestly found remotely interesting were the posters of the Sapporo Girl through time and milieu - as though we needed any more reminding that Sapporo is, in fact, a global player in the beverages game. Whatever, the Sapporo Girl appealed to my inner drag queen.
"Where are the futuristic machines that bottle the beer???" I wondered with increasing agitation as our tour of the museum came to a close. There was nothing here that resembled what I imagined a display of Japanese technological prowess might be. It was all cute-sy stuff. It was all so... dare I say it... Disney!
Yep, The Sapporo Beer Museum was a Disneyfied experience - right to the point where the "ride" spits you out into a retail shop so you can "take home a piece of the experience."
Only difference is, this retail shop has... ooooh!... BEER TAPS!
My eyes immediately lit up. I could feel the familiar palpitation that I was earlier missing, especially when I realized that we were to purchase our beer tickets from... ooooh!... a VENDING MACHINE! Japan is so dope!
It was 2PM and we haven't had lunch. I think the boys assumed that we would get just a couple of tasting trays to share, but in the end, we each got our own. Plus, we got several snack sets, too, which of course were packaged in cute, little bags. This is, indeed, Japan!
Sapporo Classic is pale and smooth and drinkable, like water. It paired well with the cheese.
Sapporo Black Label has a deeper, golden colour. Its flavour is complex: bitterness offset by fruity notes of hops and barley. It paired well with sweet corn.
Kaitakushi was the final variant. It is cloudy and creamy and paired well with crackers. At that point, I stopped to wonder for one hot second what the fuck was I doing, analyzing beer and how they each paired with packed snacks and studiously scribbling notes onto my museum brochure when all I wanted was... more. Get to know more of Sapporo, I mean. I mean the city, not the beer. Whatever!!!
In the end, The Sapporo Beer Museum hit a homerun.
Kampai!
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| Hyperactive at the Sapporo Beer Museum, where else. |
// HYPERACTIVE <3 SAPPORO BEER //
