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Always the Journey

The sign at the reception desk said "full". My dream of a whisky factory tour that ends with a complimentary sampler was abruptly shut down.

If you want to take a tour of the Nikka Whisky Factory it's best to make reservations.

Then we got in trouble. The boys love exploring, and there was a pond with ducks. After getting shut out of the factory tour we headed outside and started walking around. It's a beautiful place, nestled in the mountains between Sendai and Yamagata. And it's autumn so the brown, red, and yellow leaves create an astounding backdrop for some backwoods wandering.

Just as the boys and I started to mosey on down a path behind the main building a lady came out and said, very politely of course, that we couldn't go that way. I had seen the sign, but I thought it was just for cars. It turned out there was very little wandering to be done at the Nikka factory. 


We made the best of it.


Upon further reflection, a 70-minute whisky factory tour that ends with papa sampling whisky and getting a bit tipsy wouldn't have been great anyway. I still got tipsy, mind you. Just on my own. 

At one point when we were in the gift shop, right next to the tasting room where the tours end, a group was coming in after their factory tour and about to enter the VIP area. It was then I realized... the tour group was all dudes. And not just any dudes. Old dudes. And any dudes under the age of 50 were sportin' very not ironic mullets. And they all seemed like they knew where the nearest big and tall men's clothing store was.

Bullet dodged.

Eri and the boys would've been miserable on the whisky factory tour. So we enjoyed it our way.


And for 11 bucks (a small price to pay for not having to do the tour) I got a whisky sampler. The boys had some pretty delicious apple juice. And Eri had a taster of apple wine, which she later admitted she could've gone for one more of.


The best part was really the journey. As it always is.

We took the bus from our house to Izumi Chuo. Then the subway to Kita Sendai Station, which connects to the Japan Rail Senzan Line.


That took us up into the mountains to Sakunami Station, where a whisky factory bus picks people up and drops them off all day. The parking lot at the Nikka factory is mostly just buses. People come for the autumn foliage, but they for sure stay for the whisky tasting.

The boys could've cared less about the destination. For them it's always the journey.



Around dusk I went for a walk and reflected on the day. The boys didn't take a nap, they had pizza and donuts, and they were getting pretty hyper/grumpy. We all got very tired. It was a big adventure.

As I returned home after a good hour of walking I was stopped in my tracks by just how lucky I am to live on this street.

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