Sip sake you can only get at the brewery
Some sake breweries run their own restaurants, where you can drink sake that is not sold anywhere else, with food made to go with it. Non-drinkers can tour the brewery, try sweets made from sake lees, the paste left after pressing, or simply enjoy the meal. All three here are an easy train ride from Tokyo or Osaka.
A brewery in the Tama River valley in western Tokyo, where you can taste limited sake, such as the first batch from a fresh pressing, poured only beside the brewery. At Mamagoto-ya on the grounds you can eat a set meal of tofu and yuba, the thin skin that forms on heated soy milk. Non-drinkers can tour the brewery or walk the river gorge, and Sawai Station on the JR Ome Line is a few minutes away.
A restaurant in the memorial hall of Sakura Masamune, a brewery in Nada in Kobe, Japan's largest sake-making area, serving unpasteurized sake poured only here with Japanese food. The hall also has a cafe, a brewery shop and exhibits, so non-drinkers have plenty to do. It is about 5 minutes on foot from Uozaki Station on the Hanshin Line, about 20 minutes from Osaka.
A brewery restaurant in Chigasaki, near the Shonan coast, where you can compare three sake from the master brewer's private stock, poured only here. Non-drinkers can enjoy the seasonal course meals, or the bakery and cafe on the grounds. It is a 7-minute walk from Kagawa Station, two stops from Chigasaki on the JR Sagami Line, and booking ahead is best.