Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin

Three Spring Seasonal Releases

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

Although the calendar reads spring, a dreary end-of-winter kind of chilly grey gloom pervades. In the hope of coaxing the spring weather gods out of their slumber, we are releasing today three joyfully bright and sunny spring seasonal beers: Kiwi IPA, Black Velvet Dark Lager and Citrus Wheat Stout.

Kiwi IPA (ABV 7%): Hop agricultural has taken deep root in New Zealand over the past decade. Hop varieties from the kiwi country are, in our experience, quite distinct from those of both Europe and the United States. Kiwi IPA is our attempt to highlight the character of three varieties of New Zealand hops (Motueka, NZ Cascade and NZ Hallertau Aroma). We flavor- aroma- and dry-hop this brisk India Pale Ale exclusively with the aforementioned NZ varieties. The result, we think, is a deliciously complex IPA quite unlike any you have experienced before.
Black Velvet Dark Lager (ABV 5%): This is the Baird interpretation of a German-style Schwarzbier (a dark lager style noted for its smooth roundness and easy drinkability). Black Velvet Dark Lager was brewed way back in summer, 2009 and as the name suggests it drinks from the glass with a silky, velvet-like smoothness. This is a perfect beer with which to kick off an evening of slow and sociable imbibing.
Citrus Wheat Stout (ABV 6.5%): While we love recreating classic world beer styles, we also maintain a reverence for the stylistically irreverent. Citrus Wheat Stout is a prime example of reverentially irreverent brewing. This unusual Stout is wheat (not barley) based, hopped aggressively with citrus flavor varieties (Simcoe, Centennial, Amarillo), and made more potently citrus with additions of freshly squeezed juice and shaved peels of the wonderful Japanese citrus fruit, Daidai. The flavor experience is beyond words — you simply must try it!
Kiwi IPA and Black Velvet Dark Lager are available both in kegs and bottles (633 ml). Citrus Wheat Stout is keg only and quantities are extremely limited.

Finally, congratulations are due to Yokota-san and his wife Kimi for the opening of their terrific new beer pub (Biiru no Yokota) (http://www.beer-yokota.com/) in Shizuoka City (located right across from the city hall building). Yoko-chan, of course, was previously the manager of both our Fishmarket and Nakameguro Taprooms. His wonderful pub offers a great lineup of Baird Beer as well as other well-selected Japan and imported craft beer. Please plan on paying them a visit soon.

Cheers,

Bryan Baird
Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

The Japan Blog List

———————————
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
——————————–
Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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日本語のブログ
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Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin

New Seasonal Releases; Lucky 7 Stout Week Kick-Off; Numazu Hanami Party

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

We kick off our Lucky 7 Stout Week at the Numazu Fishmarket Taproom on Wednesday, March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day). We wind up the week on the Japan national holiday of Monday, March 22. For event details, please refer to last week’s bulletin. Please join us for the Irish-inspired beer, food and revelry.

We also are marking St. Patrick’s Day with the general release of two seasonal ales: Midnight Oil Export Stout and Imperial Belgian Red Ale.

*Midnight Oil Export Stout 2010 (ABV 6.5%):

Export stouts generally are rich and roasty in flavor, moderately high in alcoholic strength, and sporting some noticeable hop character (normally registering in terms of bitterness and flavor). Baird Midnight Oil Export Stout 2010 enjoys a complexly layered roasted malt character that is balanced beautiful by a kiss of caramel sweetness from additions of two varieties of crystal malt. A firm, straightforward hop flavor rounds this Stout into perfect harmony.

Midnight Oil Export Stout will be available at Baird Beer retailing pubs, restaurants and liquor shops in Japan beginning Wednesday, March 17. Bottles (633 ml) also will be sold direct from the brewery via our online E-Shop (http://bairdbeer.com/en/shop/).

*Imperial Belgian Red Ale (ABV 7.5%):

Belgian ales, to the extent that they can be characterized, tend to be yeast-driven and idiosyncratic. We ferment this unique, high-gravity, lovely red-hued ale with a Belgian yeast strain that lends a softly fruity and subdued phenolic character to it. Moderate attenuation leaves a luscious upfront malt sweetness on the palate that lingers pleasantly through the warm alcohol finish. This is a great ale to mark the transition from winter to spring.

Imperial Belgian Red Ale goes on sale Wednesday, March 17 and is available both on draught and in bottle (633 ml).

Finally, the Hanami season is fast approaching and we are planning a festive Hanami party in Numazu sponsored by our Fishmarket Taproom. The party will be held from noon until 4:00 pm on Sunday, March 28 at the Minato-guchi Koen which is just a few hundred meters down the street from the Taproom. Participants can enjoy a tabe-hodai picnic and nomi-hodai Baird Beer (several styles) for 3,000 yen per person. Kids can attend for free. The cost for non-beer drinkers is 1,500 yen. More details will follow in next week’s bulletin. If you would like to reserve a spot in advance, please email the Fishmarket Taproom (fishmarket-tap@bairdbeer.com).

Cheers,

Bryan Baird
Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

The Japan Blog List

———————————
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
——————————–
Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin

Lucky 7 Stout Week @ Fishmarket Taproom (March 17 – 22)

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

March 17 is the Irish holiday St. Patrick’s Day. We take this occasion every year as an excuse to celebrate a beer style long associated with Ireland: Stout. Stout, of course, is a wonderful pitch-black ale that enjoys many stylistic manifestations. We serve up seven different interpretations of Stout during our week-long celebration which we call Lucky 7 Stout Week.

Lucky 7 Stout Week @ Numazu Fishmarket Taproom (Wed. March 17 – Mon. March 22):

This year’s Stout selection is as follows:

Shimaguni Stout
Mama’s Milk Stout (served on hand-pump)
Midnight Oil Export Stout 2010
Great American Stout
Citrus Wheat Stout
Morning Coffee Stout 2008
Morning Coffee Stout 2010
In addition to these Stout selections, we also will be honoring the Irish with the 2010 Real Ale debut of Luck of the Irish Red Ale. Special Lucky 7 Stout Cards, which include punches for all seven seasonal Stouts will be available for purchase and use during the week (Pint cards @ 5,000 yen; Half-pint cards @3,500 yen). Enthusiasts who purchase and complete a card during the week will be entered into an end-of-the-week raffle in which seven Baird Beer prizes will be awarded. The lucky 7 prizes to be awarded are:

Fishmarket Taproom Nonbei Pint Drink Card
Fishmarket Taproom Nonbei Half-pint Card
Shimaguni Stout (360 ml) 6-Pack
Midnight Oil Export Stout (633 ml) 4-Pack
Shimaguni Stout T-Shirt
Set of two Baird Beer logo glasses (pint & half-pint)
Set of two posters (Shimaguni Stout & Baird Beer logo)
Great Irish- and Stout-inspired cuisine, of course, will be served up by the Fishmarket Taproom kitchen during the week. A special Lucky 7 Stout Week food menu will include the following:

Irish Beef Stew
Roast Beef
Potato Gratin
Traditional Fish & Chips
Fisherman’s Seafood Pasta
English Cheese Plate
Stout Cake & Chocolate Platter
Warm Irish-style camaraderie and revelry will also be in abundance all week long. Please note that the final day, Monday, March 22, is a Japan national holiday and thus the Fishmarket Taproom will be opening its doors at noon. For all you Tokyo denizens who have not made the Numazu pilgrimage recently, this represents a great chance! We look forward to seeing and drinking/eating with all of you.

Cheers,

Bryan Baird
Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

The Japan Blog List

———————————
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
——————————–
Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-

Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

New Seasonal Baird Beer Releases: Morning Coffee, Wabi-Sabi, Obatarian

The Baird Beer brewers have been busy bees over the past several months crafting a diverse range of unique seasonal brews. Wednesday, March 3 will mark the official debut of the following three seasonal beers:

Morning Coffee Stout 2010 (ABV 7%): Each year we combine our passion for stout beer with our love of coffee in the brewing of Morning Coffee Stout. This 2010 version is an export-style stout infused with freshly ground fair-trade espresso beans from Arabika Coffee. This year we added the coarsely ground espresso beans directly to the stout in the conditioning tank in what amounted to a cold beer toddy extraction method. The result is a perfect flavor marriage between stout beer and java beans.

Wabi-Sabi Ale (ABV 5.5%): Shizuoka is the green tea capital of Japan. Drinking fine Shizuoka tea is to experience the Japanese wabi-sabi cultural aesthetic in microcosm. We feel the same is true of imbibing Baird Beer. So it struck us: why not skillfully combine the two? This we have done in a richly malty brown ale in which hop character is almost wholly absent (only 15 BUs of hops were added in a single kettle addition). We use the Shizuoka tea (infused into the beer in the conditioning tank) to supplement and make complete the bitter, herbal and aromatic character generally supplied by hops. The result is a wonderfully unique beer best characterized by the following descriptors: refinement, elegance, sobriety, dignity.

Obatarian Strong English Ale (ABV 8%): Strong English Ales generally are noted for richness of malt character, alcohol strength which imparts warmth, and a pleasant estery profile. They normally are released only after sufficient aging and maturation. Thus, they tend to be extremely self-assured beers; ones that care little for the opinions or sensitivities of others. In other words, they are the beer version of that old biddy obatarian you sometimes encounter in the supermarket checkout line here in Japan. We promise, though, that your encounter with Obatarian Strong English Ale will prove more satisfying than your experience with the human version at the supermarket.

Morning Coffee Stout 2010 will be available on draught and in bottles (633 ml) and sold throughout Japan through the fine family of Baird Beer retailing establishments (as well as direct from the brewery via our online E-Shop). Wabi-Sabi Ale is a small batch beer that will be available on hand-pump as real ale exclusively at our Taproom pubs. Obatarian Strong English Ale, another small batch brew, is draught only and also will be poured exclusively from the taps of our own Taproom pubs.

Finally, please mark you calendar for the upcoming Lucky Seven Stout Week which kicks off on St. Patrick’s Day (Wednesday, March 17) at our Numazu Fishmarket Taproom and runs through the national holiday on Monday, March 22. During the week we will be celebrating the quintessential Irish beer style: Stout. We will devote seven taps to different varieties of stout beer, serve a special Stout-inspired food menu and engage in other mischievous fun. More details will be forthcoming in next week’s bulletin.

Cheers,

Bryan Baird
Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
HOMEPAGE

The Japan Blog List

———————————
Must-see tasting websites:
-Sake: Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World
-Wine: Palate To Pen, Warren Bobrow, Cellar Tours
-Beer: Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!
-Japanese Pottery to enjoy your favourite drinks: Yellin Yakimono Gallery
——————————–
Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

—————————————-
日本語のブログ
—————————————-