Asahi Beer Suita Brewery

What to know

Asahi is one of Japan's top four beer producers and has its roots in Osaka. Its most famous and internationally recognized product is Asahi Super Dry, a very light, crisp lager launched in 1987. The Suita Factory (アサヒビール吹田工場, Asahi Beer Suita Kōjō) in Osaka is the company's first brewery, built in 1891.

Brewery tours at the Suita Factory last about 90 minutes and include a tasting session. Most tours are conducted in Japanese, while multilingual audio guides are available for download to your mobile device. English tours are held only on selected days.

A typical tour starts with a video presentation about Asahi products and continues through galleries displaying the company's history and beer production process. It then moves to observation decks where you can see the canning, bottling, and packing areas through windows. Along the way, there are promotional posters from past decades and a section showcasing the factory's collection of international beers.

Technology and automation play a key role; several million bottles are produced daily. The bottling and canning processes deliver the final packaged product within minutes. The conveyor belt system used in bottling at the Suita factory in the early 20th century is said to have inspired conveyor belt sushi. The last twenty minutes of the tour are for tasting, where visitors can try up to three glasses of beer and receive some snacks.

Besides the tour, the factory has a gift shop selling Asahi products and memorabilia, some exclusive. Several historic structures from the original factory remain, including a large brick building from the early 20th century, a brick wall with stained glass windows, and the top part of a chimney, all near the entrance.

The public entrance is on the northwest side of the factory grounds, about a ten-minute walk from Suita Station on the JR Kyoto Line (9 minutes, 200 yen from Osaka Station) or Hankyu Senri Line (15 minutes, 240 yen from Umeda Station).