Nikka Whisky Sendai Factory

Like all distilleries, this place is cool. A few things of note before you make the trek out here though: -They do not do English tours (at least, not without a special reservation). -They do not sell their special blended scotch on site (but you can try it in the tasting). The gift shop was otherwise nice and well stocked, and the tasting pours were generous for the prices. I’m glad we went, but I would not count this as a must go unless you really love the brand.

Reluctantly giving this place 3 stars. To start things off - the compound is beautiful. A bus picked us up from the nearby train station which was nice (only comes once every 30-45 mins, assuming they have a bus there for every reception). I didn’t do the factory tour because it was in Japanese and I’ve been to enough whiskey distilleries to know what they’d show us. That and you can download an English app specific to Nikka Factory that goes through all the different parts of the tour. Anyway, I’m here to try out the whiskey. I went to the tasting room and picked 3 of the basics - about $2 each. The classic Nikka, a pure malt, and a regional blend. Wasn’t a fan of the second 2. When I went back to try some of the more limited whiskeys, I was denied. Apparently only 1 order per customer per day, and a max of 3 tastings. Great sales strategy. They’re 1 for 3 on decent blends and now you expect me to go to the gift shop and buy your products that you won’t let me try ahead of time (by the way, The Nikka cannot be purchased from the gift shop). Not to mention this distillery is an hour outside of Sendai and the the place was half empty. This is more of a novelty than an actual tasting room. Suggestion to the owners to look up the point of a tasting room. In short retrospect, this is yet another superfluous Japanese rule that nobody has the balls to question.

Wow Nikka Miyagikyo distillery is just wonderful! I took a trip during the week from tokyo to Sendai early morning, arrived at Sakunami station… what a beautiful and cute station. As I walked out, there was nothing around, no convenience store or taxis. So I walked around 20-25 mins to get to the distillery. Beautiful walk, especially when you arrive at the Nikka grounds… you can smell the fermentation in the air. The tour was beautiful, they walk you through different parts of the factory, and of course you get a tasting in the end. Followed by the bar and gift shop. You’re only allowed to try 3 different drinks at the bar. I was pretty much there a day after the release of the old famous Yoichi 10 years old. I had the chance to try the old and the new side by side! Wonderful experience. I’ll def go back there again soon! Highly recommended

Likely the most accessible Nikka Distillery for most visitors, however equally as enjoyable as the Yoichi Distillery in Hokkaido. Whilst the museum is nowhere near as impressive, the facilities are unique and the shop/tasting area is quite well set-up. Free tours (Japanese spoken only) which can be booked online (via .jp web) with three samples upon completion. Admittedly, the Yoichi whiskies were my favourite, but I did manage to score a Tsuru and the three distillery exclusives here. Can be a bit of a mission to get to (irregular train and bus service) and our return bus was late, meaning we were stuck at Sakunami for a while. I would highly recommend adding Yamadera to your trip after here, one of my favourite Japanese destinations to date!

To be honest tasting was ok and the only age statement available for tasting was the single cask miyagiko 10 year not much to see drink eat or buy unlike hakushu and yamazaki snacks not very appetizing even when they are paid. Chocolate was not bad but no videos only pics allowed even in the dark storage room where there is nothing to see

My partner and I had visited back in February. If you decide to make the walk from Sakunami Station rather than drive, it’s about 25 minutes on foot. Mid-February, there’s snow, but I thought it was scenic. We went without making reservations, but they were able to fit us into a tour group within the hour. (It probably helped that we went on a weekday.) There are audio guides for English and a few other languages too. It’s interesting to see the setup of a Whiskey factory. The location of the factory was very charming too, especially with the snow. Three kinds of whiskey samples are given at the end. There are also juices, teas, water, and ice—either for mixing with the samples or just drinking. The gift shop is right next to the sampling area. It was funny to see people from our tour group LOADING up their baskets to the brim with souvenirs haha. There are some whiskeys exclusive to this distillery for purchase here. There’s a bar right next to it where you can pay to try some of their other beverages, even ones they might not carry in the souvenir store. My partner paid ~400円 and had a shot of Taketsuru 17. (“GOOD stuff” in his words) We were bumbling tourists, but the staff were all very accommodating. They showed us the way to the actual reception area when we took a wrong turn into the gift shop. Before we could ask how to hand back the audio guides at the end, they proactively offered to collect them from us. One staff member even tried making recommendations to us with gesturing and our limited language comprehension. Patient and helpful people here! A very good trip if you couple it with a walk to get there too.