Nikka Whisky Distillery

May 14-15, 2017

This weekend was a particularly special one because of a visitor from Tokyo, Susan!! Susan and I have been friends since Mt. Fuji and for three years we keep in touch and visit each other as much as we can. Since a couple months back, Caoliang and I went to Tokyo, she decided to return the visit with seeing us in Sendai. So Sunday morning, she arrived bright and early on a night bus from Tokyo to Sendai Station. It was exciting to have her come visit but not so exciting to wake up at 6am to go get her! Anyways, I was happy to have her here and looking forward to the weekend.

Sunday, the 14th was really nice because, thanks for Caoliang, Susan and I were able to come for brunch at the tent and then watch the show together afterwards. Even though I've seen the show a handful of times now, I still really enjoy seeing Caoliang perform especially with a first timer. Susan was so excited about everything it was really cute. I felt like her excitement was infectious, making me feel extra excited too to see a show I already knew well.

After the show, we braved out the wet and grey weather to walk around Sendai Station a bit. We found ourselves doing light shopping and then in a cafe I like to call, the ducky cafe. It was great to catch up and just spend time with someone who's like family.

That evening we had delicious pizza from Bird Cafe right around the corner from the hotel and planned out what to do the next day.

The next day Caoliang had a day off from work. That was perfect because then the three of us were able to do something together. Susan originally wanted to check out the Nikka Whisky Distillery that was about an hour outside the city. Being that Susan and Caoliang are into whiskey, it seemed like the thing to do.

So we took the 40 minute train out to Sakunami Station and then walked the remaining 25 minutes to the factory. The surroundings were so lush and green. Luckily the rain had subsided and it was just barely a drizzle when we arrived. The walk to the factory wasn't too bad. It was mainly along the big road with greenery all around. There was even this mountain that was nick named "Gorilla Mountain" because it looked like the profile of a gorilla's face, which it did.

Once we arrived, we saw it was perfect time for their 1pm tour. The factory was also very accommodating in supplying us like head sets that had english translations for some of the tour stops. The tour was about an hour, 40 minutes of walking around the facilities and 20 minutes to taste test. I think Susan and Caoliang were most excited about the taste testing.

The tour was really informative if you knew Japanese but only semi informative with the head set. It was still interesting to see the facilities, smell the aroma of whiskey in the making, and to taste three different kinds of products. During the tasting period, they allowed us to sample two whiskeys and one wine for free. I enjoyed the apple wine the most. Caoliang and Susan are more into whiskey so I feel like their tasting of it was a bit deeper than mine.

After our twenty minuets in the tasting room were up, we proceeded to check out the gift shop and then which much excitement, Caoliang and Susan went over to the tasting bar. At this bar, you could buy a small sampling of any chosen product they had on the wall. Caoliang and Susan ended up trying at least ten different products. And I think the staff behind the bar had fun watching them because he gave them a couple of tastings on the house. Even though I wasn't partaking in the testing, I still found it entertaining that these two were so into the tastes and smells of the whiskeys.

To avoid me taking care of two tipsy people, I suggested we hurry up and get a move on if we wanted to head back into the city to do other things before evening. Luckily, they didn't have too much and were still functional. When we were leaving, the rain had started up again so we called for a cab to get us to the station and then took the 45 minute train back to Sendai.

The rest of the evening was spent doing yoga together and then getting some yummy Chinese food before Susan had to hop back on another night bus back to Tokyo. I was awesome to get to hang out with my boyfriend and good friend. I'm also very grateful for people like Susan in my life. Friends like these you keep forever. Love ya girl and even though we won't be in the same country, it won't be the last time you hear my "because you're small" jokes :)



xx
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