The 24th Sake Brewery Festival （酒蔵まつり）| Kuriyama

Kuriyama is a wonderful town, which has several great long-established companies, serving very delicious local food. The other day, "Kuriyama Shinise, or Long-Established Store, Festival （くりやま老舗まつり）" was held in the town, which consists of two festivals on the same days; "Kibidango Festical （きびだんごまつり）" and "Sake Brewery Festival （酒蔵まつり）"!
         
Kibidango is a sweet dumpling made of mochi flour, sugar, and maltose. In a previous post, I introduced "Kibidango Festical （きびだんごまつり）" and if you are interested in the festival, please click here→☆.

After enjoying kibidango, a traditional Japanese sweet, we went to the Sake Brewery Festival↓ The premises of Kobayashi Sake Brewery （小林酒造） was used as a festival site, which was packed with a lot of people like this!

This brewery is one of the famous sake breweries in Hokkaido, and produces several kinds of sake from dry to sweet flavors.

One of the most popular events in the festival is a tasting corner, of course!!!

They served a few kinds of sake free of charge! This is freshly-brewed sake!

Tastes very young!!

I like dry taste, too, and tried "Maruta （まる田）", their famous brand sake.

Yummy x 2!!!

We can enjoy some daiginjyo （大吟醸）--top-quality sake brewed from rice grains milled to 50% of weight or less-- at the price of 500 yen! 

We can also get this ochoko or sake cup as a present! Wow!

Would you like something to eat with sake? Don't worry about it! The festival site has a lot of food stalls, selling something local, or using sake or sake cake! Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

Look at tofu produced by Tanaka Tofu Shop, a local tofu shop, using local ingredient and delicious water↓

More than perfect!

I love beef gristle stew, but it was already sold out when we came here!

This booth smells very good. What are they cooking??

Voila! Jingisukan or lamb BBQ is our local cuisine! But it is not normal jingisukan, but jingisukan with sake cake! Yummy x 2!! Of course I ate it!

We also enjoyed grilled clams! They goes will with sake!!!

Kuriyama is an agriculture town. How about potato croquette?

I chose a potato and beef croquette! Yummy x 2!!!

 In front of the brewery, we were able to enjoy some local events such as a Japanese drum show! How cute the local kids are!!

In the same premises, there is a recommendable soba restaurant, named Kinsuian （錦水庵）.

We can enjoy delicious soba and sake at the same time in this restaurant! I really recommend it!　(See the details→★）

 After enjoying sake and local food, we went to a sake museum↓

Look at the traditional sake cups and containers!

Their history is also very interesting!

I really want these pottery sake containers!!! How cool they are!

*Just for reference, we can taste almost all their sake in this museum except the festival period.

And then we went to their sake brewery! Kobayashi Sake Brewery was established in 1891.

While we felt their history,

we learned how to make sake!

At the end of the brewery tour, we tasted water used for sake.

Wow! They serve amazake （甘酒）, sweet drink made of sake cake!

Actually I don't like amazake very much, but really love this amazake! It's very tasty and not too sweet!! Thank you, Kobayashi Sake Brewery!!!

Do you like sweets? If so, let's get something local here!
How about sake puddings?

I bought a pudding set; chestnut pudding and sake pudding! Let's compare them each other!!!

When I opened the lid, I felt sake flavor from it!

I really recommend this one! Sake cake goes well with pudding!!! As this pudding is sold only in the festival site, we have to go to the festival next year, too!!!

How about sake rice crackers, which is also sold only in the festival site?

Crunchy x 2!!!

We really enjoyed their sake and sake desserts here!

I'm sure we'll be back this festival site next year!!

■Where is "Kobayashi Sake Brewery （小林酒造）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!

CAFE HACK BERRY （カフェ ハックベリー）| Crepe [Crêpe] Cafe | Ebetsu

I've found a wonderful cafe, into which an old house was renovated. This is "CAFE HACK BERRY （カフェ　ハックベリー）", a crepe [crêpe] cafe, located in Ebetsu, 20 away from Sapporo. Let's enter it!

I love this atmosphere! Time passes very slowly in this cafe!

Look at the cute objects on the counter! They are all my favorites!

Classical lighting, table, and wooden windows................
The cafe makes us vrelax and feel comfortable♪

They serve more than 30 kinds of crepes, which are made of Hokkaido flour! I like their concept; local production for local consumption!

Look at the coaster! How cute it is!

If you pay additional 200 yen, a drink comes with a crepe! How reasonable it is!

Voila!
This is a crepe with fresh cream and strawberries! Yummy x 2!!

How about a crepe with fresh cream and peaches? We enjoyed both of them! Hahaha!

They serve lunch-type crepes such as a sausage crepe, a potato salad crepe, a teriyaki chicken crepe and so on! We should come here again!

I really want to try their soft ice cream and parfait, too!

When it's warm outside, the deck must be wonderful!

I've found my favorite cafe!! How lucky I am!

■Where is "CAFE HACK BERRY （カフェ　ハックベリー）"?

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■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!

The 14th Kibidango Festical （きびだんごまつり）| Kuriyama

Spring has just come to Hokkaido! A lot of festivals have been held in this season.
Today I'll show you "Shinise Festical （老舗まつり）" held in Kuriyama, a small town located 40 minutes away from Sapporo.
Kurihama held two festivals at the same time last weekend; "Kibidango Festical （きびだんごまつり）" and "Sakagura Festival （酒蔵まつり）"!
           
*Shinise means long-established stores.
**Kibidango is a sweet dumpling made of mochi flour, sugar, and maltose.
***Sakagura means sake berwery.

First, we joined the "14th Kibidanbo Festical （きびだんごまつり）".  "Tanita （谷田製菓㈱）" started its business in 1923, one of the long-established sweet makers in this town, serving delicious kibidango dumplings.

A lot of people gathered at the festival site, and bought their delicious kibidango! Actually the dumplings are so traditional that I've eaten them only a few time so far!! This is a good chance to know the traditional sweets!!

Look at the panels!

They are very enjoyable!
Why is there Peach Boy in the pics?
I'll show you "Peach Boy （桃太郎）", a Japanese fairy tale, and explain why their mascot is Peach Boy. This is the story↓

♪♪Once upon a time, an old man and his wife lived in a place.
One day when she was washing clothes in a river, a huge peach was flowing from the upper stream. She brought it to their house, and tried to eat it with his husband.
When he cut the peach, a baby boy came out of the inside. They named the boy "Momotaro（桃太郎）, which means a peach boy, and raised him as their child. The couple were so happy because they hadn't have their children.
When Momotaro grew up, he knew people were suffered from ogres, and decided to go to the Ogres' Island to attack them.
Momotaro got kigidango dumplings from his parents, and went for ogre extermination. On the way to the island, he met three animals; a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant, gave some kigidango dumplings to them, and went to the island together.
Momotaro beat all ogres, and brought a lot of treasures from the island to their home. Momotaro and his parents lived happily ever after!!♪♪

When we come here, we should join the factory tour! I really wanted to see how to make kigidango, a very traditional sweet treat.

First we got kigidango as a present at the gate! How lucky we were!!!

Before the tour, let's learn the ingredients; mochi rice, suger, maltose, and kidney beans. Are you ready??? Shall we start the tour?

Wow! The traditional sweets are produced manually! I thought they used several machine to make it!!!

Kigidango is cut here and

wrap it like this! Wow! Wow! Wow!

At the exit, the boxes of kigidango were piled up like this. Kuriyama is a very peaceful rural town, and it seems they don't have to think somebody may steal the boxes! Hahaha!

They produce several kinds of kigidango.

A local person, a tour participant, voluntarily told us that these three kinds are recommendable; a normal one, a milk-flavored one, and melon-flavored one.

We really enjoyed the "Kigidango Festiva"l!!

Next we moved to the "24th Sakagura or Sake Brewey Festival". One the way to the festival site, there are a lot of stalls along the street, and we enjoyed some local food!

Look at the HUGE bean jam buns, which were bigger than my face!!!

How about fried dough cookies? Looks very traditional and delicious!

I love fried bread and bought it!! What's in the bread???

Voila!!!

Fish sausage was in the bread! Yummy x 2!!!

After coming back home, I tried kigidango!

It had three pieces of normal one, and one piece of melon flavored one.

It tastes like caramel candy!
This was the first time to eat melon kigidango, but it was much much more delicious than I thought! I love it!

I really love local festivals!

After the Kibidango Festival,  we went to the "Sakagura Festival", in which we drank a lot of sake!!! If you are interested in the Sake Brewery Festival, please click here→☆♪

■Where is "Tanita （谷田製菓㈱）"?

View Larger Map


■Tour guide information■

Do you need a nationally-licensed English-speaking tour guide when you travel to Hokkaido?

I'll guide you! Plz click here!