Celebration and drunken day!

First of all, YES! I passed the defence!! /(^^)/ \(^^)\ /(^^)/ \(^^)\ Whoo~ hoo! Finally, my waiting time was over.

It was a perfect day to find out the result cuz I was joining one of my professor's field trip to .... Suntory Beer and Whiskey factories. Interesting, huh?


We went first to the Suntory Beer Factory in Nagaokakyo District of Kyoto. This factory is the second largest Suntory Beer Factory in Japan, supplying Suntory Beer in the western Region of Japan excluding Nagoya, Kyuushuu and Okinawa. Can packaging processes at 1,500 cans/minute while for bottle, it's 700 bottles/minute. I wonder how much people can drink in a day!
Beer Machines
Recycling process. Here for Suntory, recycling rate is a bit above 80%
Rune, my French classmate (and the free high-class beer tasting at the end of the factory tour)
Prof.Hikino! The lady in the background who led our tour is also a former student of Hikino-sensei.

Before leaving beer factory -- do you know how to properly pour beer to keep the best taste? I always thought it was best to not creating the foam or bubbles. I was totally wrong. The lady suggested you pour beer from a high distance (pour about 70% of a can). Then wait until foam gets settled a bit. When the amount of foam and beer pairs half-half, pour the rest of the can while declining beer glass for it to go right through the foam and to the bottom. It surely tasted good! Oh yeah.. and it's best to keep beer glass clean. Cool it in the fridge for an hour before usage. FYI, beer gives best taste at 5-8 degree celcius.

After beer tasting, we moved on to the Suntory Whiskey Factory in Yamazaki, just a train stop from where we got off for Beer Factory. The atmosphere is totally different cuz it's way toward the mountain side.
I actually liked it here better.

Whiskey Distilling Machines
Whiskey Cask. The oldest was 1924, a year after this factory was built
The Cask making
tasting time!
members: Ou-san (Chinese), Gena (Russian), Ramma (Mongolian),
Prof.Hikino, Rune(French) and Kou(Chinese)

Japanese prefer mixing whiskey with water. Doesn't taste good at all. (-"-) I really enjoyed all those snacks though. ie ie. Good tour. Good timing!

on the way back