Sapporo Beer Museum, Sapporo

Sapporo Beer - the oldest beer brand in Japan since 1876

Yea it's a touristy thing that we must do when one is in Sapporo. All travels and trips for Notti Monkey must revolve around FOOD and BEVERAGES. It would be better if the beverages contain alcohol. Hahahahaha. Alcohol makes ppl happy and most of all it kills bacteria. Water carries bacteria so please go ahead and have more alcohol. *hic*

The side facade of Sapporo Beer Museum, the only beer museum in Japan was only recently opened in 1987. Originally this building was constructed in 1890 by foreign architects and engineers as a factory for Sapporo Sugar company until the demand for japanese sugar declined *thanks to cheaper Taiwanese sugar*. In 1903 Sapporo Beer purchased this building as their manufacturing plant. It operated until 1965 before the whole plant was transferred to Eniwa.


Today it is a very important cultural heritage from the Meiji Era and has been selected to receive the status of Hokkaido Heritage. Only certain deserving assets which are meant to be preserved and passed on to the next generation as treasures can receive this status, so it is a very honorable one.

JS said this way to the museum!!!

We were so ambitious and wanted to do the real tourist thingy and thought of catching some loop bus to get here. You see the loop bus is something like a hop on hop off bus that go through the sights and shoppings in the city. But....we ended up hopping into a cab. We failed lar....JS said taxi is much easier...no time wasted...and so much so we are now planning to cycle around in Provence, France next month. I think that would be a failed project too bcoz I have a feeling in the end we gonna hire a chauffer with a limo to go around the villages.

-_-"  right JS?

Poser!!!!

it's just that I have this habit...whenever I see a seat or seats or couch or chairs or benches or stools....basically anything that I can lay my big bums on, that would be it. Even if it means only for a few seconds. Guess I will make a good participant or sample size to test chairs before they go on production. Monkey can give reviews on its ergonomic design, comfort, heights etc

Every history has its beginning of inception, date/year, founder, why, how, where

For Sapporo Beer it's even more important because it also marks the birth of Beer Brewery in Japan. Yeap it's that dramatic!! hahahaha. Started by Mr. Seibei Nakagawa, who studied the art of brewery in Germany from the largest brewery in the world at that time, he came back with vast knowledge and experience. Nakagawa-san also personally oversaw the planning and construction of this brewery. Being a perfectionist and a great master, he also headed the procurement of machineries....selected all the fine ingredients for his beer and finally the packaging, marketing and advertising. Basically from the barleys and hops to the iced cold beer in the bottle. Wow!!!


A walk through their history timeline~~~ but it's all in Japanese.

Do u know that beer is such an old beverage in the world that even the Code of Hammurabi has it??? on regulations and laws about consuming this beverage. If you are in Louvre Museum Paris, you should look for the famous black stone with the Code of Hammurabi. I was surprised that it's so big and tall, about 7.4 feet.


The main ingredients in beer - barley.
Didn't our moms alwiz said drink more barley water...so this is it!!! this has to be it!!!!


sou des neh....this is how Hops looked like. There was even a canister of hops for us to touch and nose. Hops add bitterness to the beer and also act as a natural preservatives.


a photo-op corner...and so we were here on 1st August 2014. That's like more than a month ago. Gosh I am so lagging behind my postings...ok ok note to self.

the huge Wort Kettle made from copper. This is the boiling stage where hops are added. Usually boiled for an hour to release the bitterness from the hops. The longer it's boiled the more bitter it is but then the flavour of the hops is less distinctive so it all depends on style and what the brewery wants to achieve in terms of flavour.

a collection of really old bottles throughout the years from 1878 to 1908

There is a cute miniature animation on the entire process of beer brewery.
First the hops plant and barley, it's all headed like jack and the beanstalk towards the heaven bcoz finest ingredients are the gifts from the higher above to Earth.

Then the barley are roasted, the mashing process to convert starches to sugar. Then hops are added before it's further boiled inside the wort. After all the boiling in numerous stages to remove water through condensation, yeast are also added.

after the boiling and heat work it's now the filtering process and into the cask!!!!

But the happiest part would be consumption of all the hardwork. Look at that that. I wished I could climb the red ladder and dive into all those iced cold beer.

Wooohooo!!! eppy moment for me too. Summer also marks the Beer Festival in Sapporo so we were just in at the right time.

not forgeting the supply chain of delivering the beers worldwide, of coz these days we dun use horses donkeys and sampans....tee hee hee.

the beer bottle caps over the years.

The ad campaigns over the years!!!! wow it's like a walk down memory lanes.

The Communication Corner, usually used by Marketing and PR person

that would be my dream job...to work in the PR department of champagnes house or wineries. To be able to speak breathe and drink something you so passionate about to your privileged visitors, private collectors and international medias. I think the job isn't as easy just taking your guests on private cellar tour and then pop open a bottle at the end of the day isn't it?

Read about her dream job here at KRUG champagne house. This is the kind of job I want now. *Click here to read*

the proud growers of barleys in Japan

Today Sapporo Beers are sold worldwide with a few manufacturing plants. 5 in Japan and 1 in America.

If u are driving and under 20 years old, no beer for you.

JS can't decide which tasting we wanna do....Monkey suggested all top 3 but he was much busier choosing which roasted nuts to go with his beers. -_-"

I think we should start with the black label...no?

Liquid gold.....yumsssss
gosh looking at these pic made me so thirsty.

I wished I could swim in beer!!!!

The huge Star Hall for tasting. By the way the entrance to the museum is FREE. There's  lil museum shop at the corner of this hall and the best purchase would be some Beer Jelly to be brought home as souvenirs.

After quenching our thirst, we went out around the factory museum for a short walk. Nope that ain't our bicycle hahahaha.

The famous tall chimney which u could see from afar.


at the museum's garden there's some barley plants

and hops!!! finally I've seen, touched and smelled hops
:)))))))))

Opposite the museums there's a Sapporo Biergarten to enjoy some fresh draft beer with the famous genghis khan BBQ mutton called jingsukan in japanese.

It was an educational visit for both of us and we look forward for more. To read more about Sapporo Beer, please visit their website here:
http://sapporobeer.com/
Opening hours: 10.30am to 6.30pm
Closed on Mondays

LGBT dinner with my roomies @ Brussels

oh yum yum yum :))))
Belgium style Crispy Pork Knuckle

Thanks to the another sensation created by our dearie local government, we organised our own LGBT gathering heheheheh
LGBT = Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender

what's better than to organise them with your ex-roomies
as in your ex-roomates
yes I slept with them for 4 years in campus during Uni years
we held hands, we hugged each other, we slept on the same bed
okie let's not go into more details on wat we did :P
what's important is.....we ARE NOT LESBIANS -_-

We had a Brussel Platter to share with a huge bowl of crispy chips, calamari and other stuffs
at the beginning, we thought we have over-ordered....in the end everything was wiped cleaned off their respective plates :))))
more sinful indulgence fr the platter
hahahahahhaa usually yummy food are unhealthy and sinful
I didn't try this but there's something sweet inside like a piece of fruits/berry
the sweetness balanced off the saltiness and fattiness of the bacon

look at its roast pork belly from the same platter
there's only A LINE of meat, the rest were fat
hahahahaha I'm not really a fan when the proportion is way too unhealthy like this

to balance our conscience we ordered some salad
a simple fresh crisp caesar salad

Amazingly, Brussels Beer Cafe serves vegetarian food among its meaty carnivore menu
there's some vegetarian pasta and meat-free salad

watermelon, apples and feta cheese salad topped with kalamata olives
we needed these refreshing salad after all the meat

These days, the cameras get to ogle and feast on the food first
b4 the human can consume them

Roast Pork alio olio was excellent - star dish of the nite
sometimes the best things in life are the most simplest right?
the pasta was cooked al-dente with balanced taste and some hints of spiciness from the chilis innit

crispy potato skin was really good too
crunchy on the outside oozing with soft cheese and fillings in the middle
looks like all of us had to go for meat-free diet this week after such a sinful weekend huh?

Tanca, Huei and JS

bcoz it's a LGBT gathering, the ladies made their other halves wear PINK and RED
they had to hold hands in this pic :P
but they looked like they kinda enjoyed it *maybe except Huei*
he kept on saying "Brokeback Mountain"
>.<

JS said, straight men who wear pink have high self confidence and high esteem
ya kar? which school said that?
JS-nism
hehehehhehe

Huei wanted sausages and we ordered this as the last course of the many many main course
hahahahahhaha

everyday there's Happy Hour here at Brussels Cafe
and soon the BrokeBack Mountain gang showed their true colors :P

the ladies were drinking as if the Beer was hot *in temperature*
looked like they were "blowing" it right?
hahahahahhaha

My roomies were Wah-Wah-Wah-ing at something
Mee Mee said if we were to edit this pic, can put a piece of "Char Siew" in front of their face
and the pic will still looked believable for them to Wah-Wah-Wah

still wah-wah-wah-ing from a different angle
yes it's my Ring....to clear the air...it's an ANNIVERSARY RING OK ppl!!!!

after all the wah-wah-wah-ing activity we need more food
Creme Brulee was pretty good, only problem was the portion was too tiny

Tiramisu
one of the easiest dessert to prepare....it practically needs only assembling
no cooking required :))))))))

Chocolate Brownie
I was so stuffed, I didn't even touch most of the desserts

Bee Ree, Shell Shell, Mee Mee and Nee Lee
*our pet names were created gazillion years ago, inspired from SIMS first generation in the early two thousands*

The Roomies who held hands, slept together and did many other things together
:P
we came in pink too, Nee Lee's dress was pink at the bottom...can't see in this pic
:)))))))))

I look fwd to our next LGBT gatherings, hopefully the men are OK and will turn up in pink or red again
hehehehehehe.

Brussels Beer Cafe
Unit I-01-G, Setia Walk,
Persiaran Wawasan,
Pusat Bandar Puchong,
47160 Puchong,
Selangor.