Apart from being known for their UNSECO sites, Nara is home to numerous sake breweries, sake stores and unique bars. Whether you’re a closet alcoholic or a novice, you will find a sake or cocktail here which suits your taste. Visitors who love the taste of sake will also find sakes made into ice creams, teas, snacks and even pickles! These alcoholic stops are great to mix into your other Nara bucket-list. Here are five of my top picks for an alcoholic good time in Nara, Japan (hidden bar alert!).
Harushika Sake Brewery (今西清兵衛商店)
Harushika Sake Imanishi Seibei brewery and store is a must-visit for Nara visitors. This complex is divided into the store, the brewery and Imanishi residence. Inside the store, visitors can sample five different sakes during a tasting and even get a souvenir glass sake cup afterwards. At the tasting table, there are English menus and staff who will try their best to answer any questions regarding their sakes. I would also recommend trying their pickles and sake flavoured waffle icecream.
Harushika sake brewery produces its rice wine using the Nanto Moro-Haku (南都諸白) method. Nanto moro-haku is a group of soboshu or monk’s sake created by using polished rice both for mould-cultivated rice and steamed rice. These sakes were historically used at temples in Nara and has a long-standing reputation of being top of its craft. Today, the brewery uses a combination of this traditional method with modern technology and science to make its range of sakes. For those who are curious about the full process of making sake, the brewery is only open during February weekends. Bookings are essential to get a spot.
Next door but part of the brewery complex, the Imanishi residence was initially resided by a senior monk a Kohfukuji Temple before it was gifted to the Imanishi family in 1924. Visitors can see the home and gardens grounds next to the brewery shop.
Opening Hours: 7 Days 8:15 – 17:15. Close for summer, year-end and New Year holiday. There are no sake tasting on offer when there are special events taking place.
Price: This is a cash only store. Entry is free but there is a small fee for sake tasting samples. You will get five different samples for around 500 Yen.
Getting there: Approximately 23 minutes walk from Nara Station (奈良駅) or 7 minute walk from Nara Park (奈良公園)
Tip: Harushika is under 10 minutes walk to Nara park and Nara shopping district. I would recommend exploring those spots on the way to the brewery.
Kawai Sake Brewery – (河合酒造[株])
About 45 minutes train ride from Nara city centre, this is an original, heritage-listed Edo-period Japanese merchant house and sake factory. Although it is not in Nara city centre, this postcard-perfect factory showcases some of their best family-owned and produced Nara sake. Visitors can explore parts of the original merchant house and book a more in-depth tour for the brewery. The staff speaks some English with English signs and menus available to help provide information. Some samples of sake are free for tasting.
Opening Hours: 7 Days, 9:00 – 17:00. Will close occasionally like during typhoons and occasional family holidays.
Price: Cash only. Some sake tasting are free
Getting there: Approximately 6 minutes walk from Yagi Nishiguchi Station (八木西口駅)
Tip:
Nara Isumi Yusai (なら泉勇斎)
This intimate little seven-seater bar sits near a shopping patch near Nara Craft Museum. Although it looks small and basic, I highly recommend this place for visitors who wants to learn all about Nara sake. From local breweries to production methods, to the different types and grades of sake the bartender can provide you with all the answers. This hidden gem holds a collection of over 120 local specialty sakes. Visitors who love sampling unique sakes will find all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours of sake here. From my time at this bar, I discovered and fell in love with a few aged sakes that could taste like whisky.
The bartender here will always welcome guests with a big smile. Be warned that he is a bit of a prankster (you will love it). He speaks basic English but will try his best to help you with any questions you have. If you are worried about not which sake to sample, they have an English menu. Sakes are paid per shot here with specialty sakes costing a little bit more to sample, but the price is worth it. Be warned, sakes can go down easy, but the drunken dizziness can get to your head fast! To avoid this and to help maximize the amount of sake you can sample with zero wastage, I would recommend sharing a glass of sake with a friend or two. This way, everyone in your small group can taste each sake without drinking the whole glass each time.
If you love learning directly from locals like me, the locals who drop by for a drink love a good chat with their broken English. We got some of our best Nara recommendations from the bartender and locals at this bar. I don’t think we ever stopped laughing since we stepped inside (and it was not because of the sake of getting to our heads).
Opening Hours: Open Friday – Wednesday 11:00 – 20:00, Close on Thursdays.
Price: Cash only. One glass is between 200-600 Yen
Getting there: Approximately 14 minutes walk from Nara Station (奈良駅) or 9 minutes walk from Nara Park (奈良公園)
Tip: If you are thinking of purchasing unique and special sakes to take home as souvenirs this store will hold specialty sakes that you cannot find outside Nara.
Ogawa Matabei (小川又兵衛商店 ならまち店)
Sitting opposite UNSECO site of Gango-ji, this sake bar and Izakaya is a close contender to Nara Izumi Yusai sake bar when looking for specialty sakes. The wooden-structured store itself is a heritage-listed property dating back to Japan’s Meiji-era. Visitors will find small amounts of seating around the outside entrance of the store. This store sells an array of Japanese sakes, mirin and beers with the occasional Japanese wine. They have a list of famous Nara sakes and a quick snack menu for visitors who are after a short break after exploring Gango-ji Temple.
Opening Hours: Open 7 days. Monday – Friday 19:00 – 15:00, Saturday – Sunday and public holidays 11:00 – 19:00
Price: Cash only. One glass of sake is around 200 – 500 Yen
Getting there: Approximately 20 minutes walk from Nara Station (奈良駅) or 10 minutes walk from Nara Park (奈良公園)
Tip: I highly recommend exploring UNESCO site Gango-ji temple before you get tipsy here.
Lamp Bar (ランプバー)
Imagine walking into a Frank Sinatra era man cave/whisky bar with a long, dark, wooden bar bench sitting opposite a few gatsby-styled box seats. Now think of a long wall lined with dark mahogany and glass cabinet and shelving all cluttered with an impressive selection of alcohol and spirits. At the end of this intimate lounge is a door which brings you into a pirate captain’s private library, which only fits a small group of friends. This one of my favourite hidden bars in Japan – The Lamp Bar.
Owned and run by the world’s best bartender at the Diageo Reserve World Class cocktail competition, Michito Kaneko, this hidden bar has no menu. Here, customers will be personally attended to one by one. Each patron will have a personal chat with their bartender in regards to their drink preferences before a bespoke cocktail is created and served. In recent years, the team here has started to distil whisky and spirits to personalise their cocktails further. If you ask nicely, they may give you a shot to sample for free.
On my last trip to Nara, my best friend and I had more cocktails than we could count here (still no regrets in regards to this. That night, after a long chat to the bartenders, we made some out-of-the-standard-cocktail-box requests which turned out amazing. Some of the best cocktails made for us were; a cocktail that tasted like tiramisu, a cold cup of summer matcha, a warm cup of white chocolate with a hint of green tea, something lemony to help cleanse the dessert-like cocktails and the classic old fashion with a twist.
Opening Hours: Open 7 Days, 17:00 – 2:00. May close some Tuesdays.
Price: They take both cash and card. There is a table/service charge of 500 Yen. If you are looking for some cheap tourist bar cocktail then this place is not for you. The prices of a bespoke cocktail is similar to what you will find at a five star hotel or sophisticated cocktail bars in cities like Sydney, London and New York.
Getting there: Approximately 12 minutes walk from Nara Station (奈良駅) will take you to a side street with a residential building with a white and baby blue tiled facade. Walk down the ally along the side of this building and you will see a rectangular light box labeled “Lamp Bar”. Follow the direction the finger graphic points and you should arrive at a glass door entrance to the residential complex. Inside, there is a wooden door way framed with two old fashion street lamps and small texts “Lamp bar” under the right lamp. Go through the small court yard and push open the wooden and glass door and you will arrive inside Lamp Bar.
Tip: If you have a sweet tooth, I highly recommend trying the tiramisu request! If you are a whisky lover request to try their home distilled whiskeys!
