Imayotsukasa Sake Brewery in Shibata

Super interesting...Good stuff...

Didn’t manage to participate in the English tour as we arrived late on a Friday afternoon but we bought some sake and tried the sake ice cream. The store was really good and even had a few testers (both alcoholic and non-alcoholicfor visitors who did join the tour.Sharing a photo of the brewery tour timings for reference!

Came just for the very generous tasting of 15 sakes for 1000 yen. Ice cream is amazing too.

Very nice place. Took the English tour at 14:00. It was very interesting and the guide was great. Tkes maybe half an hour and then you can taste sake, eat a wonderful sake ice cream and buy some products. Definitely worth a visit if you are in town.

interesting place

今代司酒造は1767年に創業した新潟市の酒蔵酒造、全国でも珍しい全量純米仕込みが特徴です。今回は予約必須の「酒蔵見学」をしてきました。旬の銘柄を3種類無料でテイスティングすることができ、LINEの友達登録で大吟醸のお酒を特別に堪能することができます。《関連企業》・神戸製鋼所 サーマルタンク製造

2022年9月現在、無料で酒蔵見学できます(要予約)。30分くらいの時間で、楽しく解説してもらえました。見学後に一部日本酒や甘酒の試飲もできます。1,000円で18種類の試飲が可能でした。高額な日本酒も試飲できるので、何を購入するか迷っている方にはオススメです。また売店には地酒ガチャもあるので、運試しに挑戦するのも面白いです。売店でソフトクリームやプリンも販売していたので、日本酒が苦手な方にも楽しめるかも。

［2021.12末 訪問］新潟駅からほど近い老舗酒造。「錦鯉」というブランドで有名な酒蔵で、そのお酒か！と思い当たる方も多いのではないでしょうか。錦鯉は見た目も縁起がよく、祝いの際の贈答用としても好まれる四合瓶で6,000円する高級なお酒です。酒蔵見学ができる酒蔵ということで、観光案内所の方に教えて頂き訪れました。事前にネットから予約すれば見学ができます。１時間前までなら予約ができたかと思います。これまでにいくつか酒蔵見学や直売所、ワイナリーには行っていますが今代司酒造さんが良かったのは呑みくらべの種類の多さ！20種近くはあったのではないでしょうか。代表のお酒「錦鯉」を始めとして、色んなタイプのお酒を1000円でのむことができます。多くのお酒がしっかりと密閉された状態なのもGood！全部飲んでたら確実にベロベロです。こちらのお酒は本当に美味しいお酒が多い。酒処、新潟を堪能できます。パッケージデザインもカッコよくてついつい買いたくなっちゃいますね。販売スペースもとってもおしゃれで眺めるだけでもワクワク。ソフトクリームも置いていてお酒が飲めない方も楽しめますが、飲める方にとって、最高に楽しい酒蔵です。

新潟の観光スポットとして検索出てきたのでお邪魔しました。新潟駅から歩いて行ったのですが、炎天下に行くもんじゃあないですね。戒め。中はとても冷房が効いていて癒されたのです。酒蔵見学のなかがもう暑い暑い。炎天下の外よりも湿度があり蒸し蒸しして凄かったです。見学の案内人の方が、涼しい顔で案内してくれるのを尊敬します。聞いたところ顔以外はすごい汗だくと言っていましたがそれ女優のやることや、と心の中で突っ込みつつ、見学終了。一見の価値ありです。試飲も有料ならたくさん飲めますし運転しない方はぜひ飲んでみるの良いとおもいます。荷物の関係上買えなかったのですが、次行ったときはお酒買いたいと思います。ガチャガチャは記念に良きですね。雰囲気と店員さんと、カスタマイズされた現代風な所はありつつもとても力を入れていて楽しめました。確かにこれは人気でますね。

Good tour for foreigners. English fluent guide brought great experience for non Japanese speaker

Amazing sake brewery tour in Japanese and English. Friendly staff. Awesome tasting at only 1,000 yen for 30 minutes.

酒蔵見学に伺いました。新潟駅から歩くと20分くらいでしょうか。酒蔵見学は面白かったです！案内の方はご年配の男性で酒蔵以外の話も聞けて大満足でした。酒蔵見学すると三種類のお酒（ノンアルコールの甘酒あり）を試飲できます。甘酒は苦手でしたが、こちらの甘酒はサラッとして飲みやすかったです。プライス1000円支払うと、10種類以上あるお酒の試飲もできますので、試飲してから購入すると良いです。酒ガチャ（500円）もあるので運試しをしても楽しいです。私のイチオシはソフトクリーム！ぜひ食べてみてください！滑らかでクリーミー、さっぱりとして、しつこく無くて美味しかっです。スタッフの方にカップアイスにして販売してくれないかと要望したほどです。座敷（椅子6脚、靴脱）もありますなで、混んでいなければゆっくりできます。

新潟で酒蔵見学をしたいと思ったらここです！！新潟駅からのアクセスも良く酒蔵見学の予約もWebでできるなど酒蔵見学を積極的にされているところだとおもいます。当日は、朝イチのツアーに参加しました。開店時間前に到着して外で待っていたらお店の方が気を利かせてくれて時間前にもかかわらず店内に案内してくれました。酒蔵見学は、社長さんの案内で詳しい説明が聞けます。古い酒蔵と近代的な要素を取り入れた見学コースとのマッチングは見ていて飽きない設定だと思いました。特にお酒を作るための精米の違いをうまく展示されていて面白いと感じました。見学の後の試飲もできて満足なコースだと思います。お酒が飲めない方にも美味しい甘酒が用意されています。新潟観光を検討されている方に絶対おすすめの酒蔵です。

This is a great place to visit. Enjoy the tour in English (2pmor Japanese. Sample the great sake, if you are not driving, then support a great local business. The sake are excellent and well priced. Thanks for a great tour

Small sake brewery offering tours. Some free tasting available with full range available for 1000 yen. Sell some other things like sake infused ice cream and coffee, amazake and snacks that pair well with the booze. Staff were friendly and very knowledgeable. Free tour available but totally booked out during Golden Week so I unfortunately couldnt go.小さい造酒屋。ちょっと無料味見できけど1000円でいろいろ味見できる。日本酒だけじゃなくて、ソフトクリームやコーヒーや甘酒や日本酒に合うおつまみも売ってる。スタッフさんはとてもフレンドリーで日本酒のことが詳しい。ゴルデンウィークなので、残念にツアー参加できなかった。

Fun brewery! Free tour, sake tasting after

Amazing brewery tour. Very friendly staff and it was really interesting to learn about how they make their sake.And the tasting session was very worth the yen! They have a lot of tasty sakes to try.

The sake tour in this 120+ year old sake brewery was really great! And also... available in English. You can taste 15 or so different sake for 1,000 yen. I definitely recommend it when visiting Niigata.

This is a very fun thing to do while in Niigata! The 30+ minute tour is free, and if you connect with the brewery on Line, you get a free limited tasting after the tour. The advanced tasting costs ¥1,000, which also felt like a good deal! The whole experience took about an hour and was a lot of fun!

manager quick complain

Very nice tour and excellent local Japanese alcohol to taste!

Extremely pleasant service. The tour was great and sake tasting even better.

Great english tour of sake brewery with relax atmosphere and no rush. With ¥1000 you get to taste more sake than what you could probably handle afterwards 😅

Highly recommended to visit this famous sake brewery. They offer a guided tour with tasting of different types of very fine sake. Walking distance from train station.

This sake brewery in Niigata can be visited for free. English guidance is available, you just need to book in advance on the website. The visit is not very long (about 30 minutesbut its interesting. After the visit, you can test 3 different sake for free (and more if you pay 1000 yen). The brewery also has a nice shop with many kinds of sake.

Excellent tour in English, for free. First time since living in Japan that I think someone explained so clearly the differences between sakes. Tasting costs ¥1000 pp and Id well worth it, you try about 20 sakes. Come here!!

This is a nice place to add to your itinerary if you need ideas of what to do in Niigata. They provide tours in both Japanese and English (its best to make a reservation aheadand they will walk you through the process of how sake is made. The best part of course is the samples at the end which is normally 1000 yen but you can get for 800 yen with a coupon picked up at the station. The samples are self-service and there were about 20 varieties. Try all of them!

A distinguished place for sake tasting.

English tour at 2pm weekdays. Guide was very knowledgeable. Afterwards free tasting of 3 options (1 alcoholic and 2 non alcoholicor pay 1000yen for your own ceramic cup to keep and taste all varieties

You can taste around 20 types of sake for ¥1000

A sake brewery with a guided tour. Tours are only in Japanese but English translations are available. For 300 yen you can have unlimited tasting of their sake.EDIT: apparently my comments are outdated. Thanks to the owner for the update.

Free brewery tour and some free tasting afterwards, for extra ¥1000 you can taste 20 different Sake :Definitely recommend to visit as it is located not far from Niigata station.

Excellent tour around the sake factory! They run an English tour on weekdays at 2pm - we only had few people in the tour and it was very informational. The sake quality there was perfect. Definitely recommend to stop by

Great place with amazing tour guide! The sake tasting is really good too :)

Great place to visit at Niigata

If you have seen the white and red koi-like bottles recently of sake around Japan, know that its all from Imayo. Its a modestly sized outfit producing 50k large bottles a year, with a sake range that tastes more traditionally "ricey" unlike some of the more modernised zesty, or even outright citrus, flavours. Their amazakes are also delicious, from the sweet rice congee to the milder "yoghurt" offerings. When we went, they also had a 500yen mini challenge "bag all you can" of the residual Ume plums from their umeshu [dry and tart, yummy] process.

The tour was free. I was part smof aall group and no reservation was needed. Unfortunately, the Wifi connection kept failing for the English translation.They charged me 10,000 yen to try the Sake instead of 500 yen. A large group came in after us and didnt have to pay to try the sake. So that was a little disappointing.

Within walking distance from JR station. Guided tour every hour starting at 9:00, 10:00, etc. but only in Japanese. You can try taste the sake after tour. English tour held only once per day at 13:00 & we did not join as not at right hour.

Imayotsukasa is a great place to go for the nihonshu beginner and the adept.Being the oldest maker in Niigata is only one feat this place can claim. Having never diluted their product to increase profit is another.The tour is about 20 minutes and happens on the hour usually. After the tour there is a tasting for 500 yen(to get the cup).Shipping(domesticis free if you buy more than 10, 600yen worth. You can also ship unpasturized from here.

Very good sake!20 minutes free tour, in Japanese only, but there are some English signage to explain.500 yen for sake tasting.

Tour was interestingFor non Japanese they give you link to YouTube video you can watch while having the tour to explain everything.Sake tastingTry up too 20 different sake for 500yenand get a nice sake cup

This place smells amazing! You would get so much more out of the tour if you knew Japanese. But if you bring headphones, there is an English tour that you could follow along.

Sake tasting , Good Sake and nice staff

AMAZING PLACEPerfect moment in the brewery.Very interesting visit of a craft historic place as I really like !Free entrance & free taste (2 sakeif I remember well, I recommend the 500 Yens tasting with a nice glass and access to taste about 25 differents and delicious sake !! We came by bike from the center, it was easy and pleasant. Go and enjoy this must see in Niigata prefecture.

Highly recommend the tour. I went last year forgot to rate ahah, the guy was very cool, I met him in a matsuri and proposed us to come visit, the explanation and passion he has makes everything very interesting. The sake are so nice and still keep 2 bottle for good occasions ^^

Very nice sake brewery, very nice and kind staff, wide verity of sake...A must visit when at Niigata...

Quick tour with the guide trying his best to explain what he can in English. Guide was very funny a x it was very enjoyable. Building is beautiful inside and out. They have really worked hard to maintain the beautiful wood structure. Sake was amazing. The tasting room had over 21 sakes to try from non-alcoholic to their best quality ones. Recommend the tour and tasting. You can book on their website or call ahead. Enjoy!

It was a wonderful experience to see the sake brew.

Our guide was an old yet very charming and friendly man. He told us (there were 6 of us im the tour; during summer holidaysinteresting stories and it was very much accommodating and entertaining. The building and facilities were old but well maintained.The free tasting seemed also amazing (though I could not join since I was the driver)... Would like to come back again and try the tasting next time!

Incredibly friendly staff and really wonderful sake. We didnt do the tour because they didnt have any English ones that day but they still let us taste the sake. Highly recommend for sake lovers!