Japanese Yamazaki and Hakushu Distillery to offer virtual tour experience

Yamazaki and Hakushu, two celebrated Japanese whisky distilleries are offering an immersive virtual tour of their distillery for whisky lovers.

Both Yamazaki and Hakushu have been operating whisky distillery tours for tourists for years and it has been a popular programme.

Due to the current travel restrictions, however, the distilleries have announced that they are going to put the experience online and invite worldwide customers to get on this immersive experience regardless of the geographical distance.

The experience consists of a complimentary 360° tour, which has been available since 21 January, where guests can explore both the Yamazaki Distillery museum and Hakushu Distillery museum freely with VR technology. Checkpoint links are introduced in the tour that guests can use to further check out the explanations and videos of the exhibition.

The distilleries will also offer an online live tour. After registering for the event, the distillery will send the participants a sample kit with 180ml of whisky and a special glass to complete the experience. During the live tour, a guide will take participants through the distillery with a live explanation of the distilling process and the interactive experience will allow them to ask questions in the session. The demonstration will be shot by a 360° camera. Priced at JPY3,000 (£21/HK$223), the online live experience will debut on 6 February and operate on weekends.