Ponshukan Echigo Yuzawa

A fun one for the sake lovers

There are several Ponshukan locations in Niigata Prefecture, including Niigata City and Nagaoka Stations. This one is at the Echigo Yuzawa Station (great if you're visiting the area to ski or board), and it's the same basic concept as the other locations. 500 yen gets you 5 tokens, and an opportunity to sample some of the prefecture's best brews. You get a small sake cup handed to you by the store staff, and then it's a vending machine styled setup where you pick the brew you want, pop in a token, and it dispenses it! There's not just sake available, but also some locally produced wine and umeshu. I'm a big umeshu fan but the ones here were very strong compared to what I was used to - keep that in mind! Outside the tasting area you'll find lots of local products for sale, including rice if you want to pick some up.