Begin your tour in Kawachi, one of Osaka's old brewing regions, and trace sake, beer, and wine back to where they started. Learn about the area's mountain springs, fertile soil, and old trade routes that made it easy to ship barrels out once they were made.
First, visit Amano Sake Brewery, where the sake on the shelf has won national gold medals and, according to local history, once passed Toyotomi Hideyoshi's lips. The shop itself looks like it hasn't moved in a hundred years, and neither has the recipe and the area. Enjoy a pour straight from the brewery that's made it for generations.
Next, head to Banrinoharu Brewery. The beer here starts with what locals have called “Golden Water” since the Edo period, spring water from Mt. Kongo that's been feeding this valley for centuries. It's brewed inside a converted sake warehouse, so you're drinking modern craft beer surrounded by old wooden beams built for something else entirely. Enjoy a fresh pint, tapped right where it's brewed.
Make a final stop at Kawachi Wine, in one of Japan's oldest wine-growing regions, where winemaking has stayed in local hands for generations.