Venue: Tanaka Sake Brewing Kikkogura, Otaru When: Apr 16th - May 5th 2021, 9:00am - 4:00pm

Each year, Hokkaido's Tanaka Sake Brewing Kikkogura hosts the Otaru Umeshu Festival, which serves as a celebration of this much-loved beverage. Made from steeping unripe ume plums with sugar in alcohol, umeshu has a sweet, slightly sour taste, and can be found all across Japan from bars to convenience stores.

The Otaru Umeshu Festival allows visitors to participate in umeshu tastings, along with offering umeshu varieties for purchase. There's also some unique plum-inspired foods available at the event, including the likes of plum cheesecake, plum vinegar, and plum miso.

In efforts to prevent against the spread of the novel coronavirus, the event will work off a reservation system this year, which can be arranged on the official brewery website.
 

Getting there

The Tanaka Sake Brewing Kikkogura is located around 10 minutes on foot from the JR Otaru Station, which is served by the Hakodate Main Line.

For those who opt to drive, there is a small parking lot available on site for 15 vehicles.