We were tipped off about Sapporo Craft Beer Forest in 2014, just after it finished thanks to a reader (cheers Darren!) and he strongly recommended this year’s iteration, ingeniously called Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016. In its fourth year, Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016 encompasses nature and craft beer with it being held at Sapporo Ban Kei ski slope and is held over two days Saturday 9th July and Sunday 10th July.
Tickets for Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016 cost ¥3,000 and include six drink tickets, some original goods that are more than likely going to include a glass, and also a gift from a brewery on entry. There is also a new ticket for this year’s event that costs ¥5,000 which gets you six drink tickets and an original glass as well. The Saturday event starts from 13:00 until 20:00 and the Sunday runs from 11:00 until 17:00. There are no discounts for buying the tickets in advance but then neither does the price increase on the day.
Breweries Confirmed For Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016
- North Island Beer (Hokkaido)
- Hokkaido Noboribetsu Beer (Hokkaido)
- Onuma Beer (Hokkaido)
- Aqula (Akita)
- Iwate Kura Beer (Iwate)
- Harvestmoon (Chiba)
- T.Y Harbor (Tokyo)
- Sankt Gallen (Kanagawa)
- Yokohama Brewery (Kanagawa)
- Shonan Beer (Kanagawa)
- Johana Beer (Toyama)
- Shiga Kogen (Nagano)
- Yo Ho Brewing (Nagano)
- Minamishinshu Brewery (Nagano)
- Y Market Brewing (Aichi)
- Ise Kadoya (Mie)
- Swan Lake Beer (Niigata)
- Minoh Beer (Osaka)
- Daisen G Beer (Tottori)
- Kyoto Brewing Company (Kyoto)
How to Get Tickets For Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016
Tickets for Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2015 can be bought at either:
- e+ either online here or at a convenience store.
- Ticket Pia either online here or at a convenience store.
Tickets can also be bought from these places in Sapporo:
- Beer Bar NORTH ISLAND (ノースアイランド) 011-303-7558
- Maltheads (モルトヘッズ) 011-522-5152
- Kalahana (カラハナ) 011-251-1087
- Beer Cellar Sapporo (ビアセラー・サッポロ) 011-211-8564
- 酒場マチルダ 011-272-2777
How to Get to Sapporo Craft Beer Forest 2016
Sapporo Ban Kei ski slope is not the most accessible of places and is best reached by car, but that means no drinking for the driver. Thankfully, the organisers have realised this and laid on some (free) buses that depart from Maruyama Koen Station that leave one hour before the event starts until two hours before the event ends. The return bus arrives at the same station starting from one hour after the event begins, with the last bus on the Saturday at 20:15 and on the Sunday at 17:15. If you REALLY want to walk, then it’s about an hour walk from Maruyama Koen Station.
3 comments
I’m going to this today. Will report back later
Please do – heard good things about this festival and would love to make it up there.
That was a short weekend, but here it goes.
Event space was great, very cool and refreshing compared to central Japan, lots of open space to kick back in the grass.
Food was fairly priced, bout on par with most festivals. Pours were pretty full with little head. Glasses were a little small though.
Shiga Kogen had some great stuff on tap, including their Takeshi Pete?! Other brewers had some pretty… Meh stuff. But they were mostly the smaller guys. Something like 100 beers were available a few taps at a time.
Many head brewers were on hand and there was a meet and greet, but I didn’t bother goin.
Shuttle busses were pretty frequent. So getting to and from the event was pretty easy.
I don’t think it would be worth paying much more than pretty discounted airfare to go to, but it was a nice change of pace.