Friday is here again....with chili beans.

Big thanks to all the commenters on the post about Japanese beer. Keep em coming.

I will say that someone needs to make a site that lists all of the Japanese beer brewers and all of the beers that they make. I'll might just make one.* Today I have no time as I am off on a two hour drive cooped up in a van with one of my teachers and two students. It's speech contest day. Unlucky for those in the van with me that yesterday was chili beans and beers day. Ouch.

And just in case you forgot that I am Country, here's a pic of me throwing clay pigeons for my sister. Yeah, that's my SISTER.

* If you pay me.

What makes a "Japanese Beer" or a "Japanese Brewer"?

I would venture to say that I read more about beer than the average cat, but by no means would I say I am an expert on the matter. Everyday I scan the beer blogs and tweets for new beer news. Today after reading a bit, a question popped into my head:

What makes a "Japanese Beer" or a "Japanese Brewer"?

For sure I write a lot about beer in Japan, most of it being what I would call Japanese Beer. I guess until today I had never really thought about what a true Japanese beer really is. If you asked most people who know a bit about beer to name a Japanese beer, most would probably say Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo, and maybe even Suntory. For sure these are Japanese companies that make a lot of beer, and most of the people that work for these companies are Japanese. But do they make Japanese beer???

I know you don't need another history lesson telling you about how Europeans came to Japan about 200 years ago and with them brought their brewing techniques. It is the same with most places outside of Europe. If you are drinking beer just about anywhere in the world, it's a safe bet to say that said beer has its roots in someone from Europe.

Are we going to call every beer made in Japan, Japanese beer? Is everyone who makes beer in Japan for a Japanese brewery, a Japanese brewer? Or is that term only going to be reserved for the ethnically Japanese?

I have heard some folks give breweries like Baird a hard time for not being TRULY Japanese. I find this laughable. Are the beers made by Bryan Baird and Chris Poel 'less Japanese' because they are non-natives? Would a beer made with Japanese mikans using the Japanese work ethic by a non-native be less Japanese than a boring Alt made by a native? Do Bryan and Chris (and Scott Brimmer and other non-native brewers out there living in Japan) not get to be considered Japanese brewers because they don't look Japanese?

I remember talking with Bryan Baird in the past and hearing him mention how he is more Japanese than many of their other brewers out there who are brewing the status quo. I agree.

For me, a Japanese beer is one made here in Japan with the spirit, pride, and passion of this country. For sure Japanese beer abounds. Even breweries like Kirin, and Asahi (who we give a hard time) are making a quality product that Japanese people can be proud of. (For those who don't believe me, check out how much a "premium" 6 pack of Asahi costs back in the states!) But besides this, this country is full of brewers who are pushing the limits and making Japanese beer. Beers with Mikans, green tea, miso, yuzu, fish, shiso, and many other Japanese fruits are all inventions of Japan.

Maybe it's just me, but I will always choose a Japanese beer made by a Japanese brewer if I am at a good beer joint. Part of the reason could be that I know I will not live in Japan forever, and that I will return home to KY one day where I can get many good American brews. When I am in Japan, I will always reach for the beer made here, over the ones that travel over the oceans.

And if you think that a Shizuoka Summer Ale or a Gotemba Kogen Weizenbock is less Japanese than a ho-hum pilsner made by Naninani-san--just because the brewer isn't 'Japanese'.....

Then I think you are crazy.

I hope I can stir the brewpot with this a bit and get some differing opinions. What say you?

I hope I can stir the brewpot on this one, I really want to. I want to know what everyone out there thinks.

No going back now....

I arrived at Toyohashi station on Friday night to find the fiance waiting for me. I was in a mood. I had just survived a rough week and a bit of a cold, and for sure I was ready for the "city" life of Toyohashi. On the hour and a half train ride into the big city, I had listened to Robert Earl Keen's new CD, The Rose Hotel and The Devil Makes Three, so to say I was in the mood to drink a beer would have been an understatement.

I made by way to the closest store with the girlfriend and asked her what she wanted to buy.

"Do they have any stouts?"

Ahh.....I love this woman. But I had to laugh at the irony. A year ago this girl would not have touched a "black" beer. She grew up drinking Super Dry and Kirin and the thought of drinking anything with more taste was out of this world. However, after she had her eyes opened to the vast world of beers out there, she can't go back.

I told her (like the 100 times before) that we can't find good beer just anywhere here, and if she wanted a stout the best thing that we could do in Toyohashi would be to get some Black Ebisu out of the bottle at a local shop I know. For that night, it worked.

My fiance's story is the same as countless others here in Japan and back home in America. It was the same for me a few years ago. Once a person tastes what REAL GOOD beer tastes like, it's hard to go back. I equate it to a kid who eats a burger at McDonald's.

When you were a little kid, there was nothing better than a Happy Meal. Hell, it did make you happy. But, once you got older you realized that there was a whole world out there outside of the Happy Meal box. Remember the first time you had a real smoked cheddar and bacon burger? Or what about a 100% Grade A quality burger covered in melted blue cheese? Could you ever go back to that crappy Happy Meal and be happy about it????

So it goes with brews. Sure I can drink the Super Dry or the Ichiban Shibori. But if you ever see me sipping those brews, just know that what I would rather be drinking is a nicely hopped IPA, or an Angry Boy.

Or if I'm with my fiance...A stout.

Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin 2009 #26

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

The Festival of Hops at our Nakameguro Taproom is just around the corner, kicking off this Saturday, November 7. Event details are listed below.

Festival of Hops @ Nakameguro Taproom (Saturday, November 7 - Sunday, November 15):

*Beer:

Eight different single-hop beers will be featured throughout the festival. The eight Beers are:

(1) Glacier Ale (U.S. Glacier Hops)

(2) Sterling Ale (U.S. Sterling Hops)

(3) Motueka Ale (NZ Motueka Hops)

(4) Hersbrucker Hop Ale (German Hallertau Hersbrucker Hops)

(5) Amarillo Ale (U.S. Amarillo Hops)

(6) Simcoe Ale (U.S. Simcoe Hops)

(7) Centennial IPA (U.S. Centennial Hops)

(8) Cascade IPA (U.S. Cascade Hops)

We will be selling Single-Hop Half-Pint Drink Cards all week (valid only during the Festival period) for 4,800yen (8 x 600 yen -- 400 yen discount) for those eager to experience the entire lupulin lineup.

Completed cards will be entered into a festival-end raffle in which we will be awarding the following prizes:
(1) Taproom Hashigo Nombei Pint Card,
(2) Taproom Hashigo Nombei Half-Pint Card and
(3) Baird Beer t-shirt of the winner's choice.

We also will be featuring a "Smell the Hop" display throughout the week in which all eight varieties of hops (in whole flower form) will be available for inspection and sensory evaluation.

Other beers of strong hop character that will be available for sampling during the festival include:

(1) Suruga Bay Imperial IPA (the newest year-round Baird Beer that will debut at 3:00 pm on Saturday, November 7)

(2) 6 by 2 IPA (Ryoichi Takabayashi's Wan Cup Champion IPA to be debuted on Sunday, November 8 @ 2:00 pm)

(3) Teikoku IPA (year-round Baird Beer)

(4) Rising Sun Pale Ale (year-round Baird Beer)

(5) Red Rose Amber Ale (year-round Baird Beer)

(6) Angry Boy Brown Ale (year-round Baird Beer)

*Food:

Seven or eight hoppy beer-inspired fresh food items will be featured throughout the week to compliment and enhance the beer experience. Hops in beer do a wonderful job of stimulating the appetite. They also are very effective at extinguishing the heat from spicy food and lightening the heaviness of rich food. Food menu prices will range from 500 to 1,000 yen.

*"Hop Character in Beer" Seminar & Tasting:

(a) Japanese Language Seminar (Saturday, November 7; 12:30-2:30 pm; limit 20; by reservation only; 3,500 yen per person)

(b) English Language Seminar (Saturday, November 14; 2:00-4:00pm; limit 20; by reservation only; 3,500 yen per person)

We love hops at Baird Beer. We exclusively use whole flower hops; we aroma- and dry-hop regularly; we maintain the broadest inventory of hop varieties in the Japan beer industry. During this two-hour seminar and tasting, I will be discussing hop character in beer: What is it? How do you get it? How do you evaluate it? I will be discussing this from the viewpoint of both the brewer and, more importantly, the enthusiast beer consumer. In addition to tasting 4 sets of single-hopped beers, we will be touching, rubbing and smelling hops and punctuating the experience with some tasty cuisine from the Nakameguro Taproom kitchen. I am excited to share two hours with you discoursing on one of my truly favorite topics. Please make reservations by contacting directly the Nakameguro Taproom (nakameguro-tap@bairdbeer.com; tel. 03-5768-3025).

*Homebrewing Appreciation Day (Sunday, November 8):

Homebrewing of beer has been practised throughout history all over the world. The homebrewing community forms a bedrock of support for the craft brewing movement everywhere. We will be celebrating the efforts and passion of this community on Sunday, November 8. The highlight of the day will be the debut tapping (@ 2:00 pm sharp) of Ryoichi Takabayashi's Wan Cup Champion IPA: 6 by 2 IPA (brewed by Takabayashi-san and Baird lead brewer Chris Poel at the Baird Brewery this past September). This is a beer of fantastic hop character. Chris and Takabayashi-san will be talking about the brewing of this beer and sharing the insights gained. We also will be conducting a 20-question hop quiz for interested takers. Prizes will be awarded to the top two scorers. The choice of prize will be either (1) 1 kg of whole flower hops (chose from our inventory in allotments of 200g) or (2) a half-pint Taproom Nonbei Drink Card. The test will be administered between 2:00 and 5:00 pm and the winners announced at 6:00 pm.

We look forward to sharing hoppy times with you at the Festival of Hops!

Cheers!

Bryan Baird

Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
www.bairdbeer.com

Matt Nadeau from Rock Art Brewery

I know it's been a while since I have posted, but I had to bring you some good news today. Check out this killer interview with Matt Nadeau, aka the brewer at Rock Art Brewery, aka the guy who stuck it to Monster Energy Drinks!!!!

Matt and Renee, Fight on friends! We're doing what we can to spread the word here about your recent fight against The Man. Hope we can generate some buzz for you across the pond! Cheers to you for not giving in. If you've got any time, I'd love to hit you up for a short interview about this ordeal, just a few questions:

1. You are a small micro-brewer in Vermont. Why fight?

Principles, It's my name, I have it trademarked in VT since 2006, lawyers told me the name is fine to submit an application to the federal government. The trade mark office reviewed the name and saw no conflict with the name, yet a one billion dollar company wants to get into the beer market and felt they could keep me from using the legal rights to the name. Not this time, justice is for sale here in the US as told to me by lawyers in the trademark court of law. That's not right, we did not pledge " and justice for those with the deepest pockets".

2. How has the world of facebook, twitter and blogs made it possible for your voice to be heard?

Over the top! The total media campaign was 21 days from being told I will get nothing , to "ok we'll work with your offer before any of this started.

3. Has any of this publicity affected your brewery in a negative way?

Not too much at all, a few corporate types , maybe students? said that I was whining about the court system and that I needed to buck up and be more corporate like. I hope those poor souls will someday realize what life is really all about and for their sake I hope they make enough money in this world to "put their money where their mouth is" because they will need a lot with that attitude. I've been told by lawyers that deeper pockets will drain you till your gone and then they win by default.

4. Why are you brewing full flavored "different" beers in the first place?

Ahhh…Why did I get into brewing???? I think it all started back when I found that beer was my beverage of choice. I was the youngster at the family parties that would order some odd beer off the menu because I wanted to try something new and hoped that it would have flavor. I would get that odd look from all the relatives at the table because I wasn’t ordering the same national beer that the rest ordered. I loved going to Montreal and drinking the Canadian beers back in the 80’s The beers had flavor, something that was hard to find with the few American offerings available at the time. I enjoyed tasting different flavors in beer, some had distinct malt flavors some had more hops or bitterness to them, end result was flavor.

Flavor was my driving force to enter into home brewing. My wife ordered me a copy of Charlie Papazian’s “Joy of Home Brewing” and I was off to the races. I was brewing one level of beer, while reading and studying the next level. Soon I was cultivating yeast from test tubes and propagating them up to pitching level and holding/ brewing with that culture for 3-4 months at a time. I brewed every weekend usually 2-3 batches, sometime 4. I was all grain brewing in a few short months, and writing my own recipes. Why did I stay in brewing? My very first homebrew was a failure, I put the carboy in a room for the hot water tank, thinking it would stay warm, well it did not. It got so cold that night in Northern Vermont that the yeast” went to sleep” and did not finish fermenting. My Grand Father Nadeau who used to brew at home during prohibition and the great depression tried that first beer of mine, “very malty” he said. That was kind of him not to say anything more. I kept at brewing, I loved it, a little science, a little cooking, room to create pieces of equipment as needed, fire for cooking, it has it all! Best of all, you have a great beer at the end of your efforts, what more could you want? My first recipe that I created was another disaster, I way, way over hopped it, and I couldn’t drink it for a year till the hops calmed down a bit. I wonder how that recipe would do in today’s EXTREME beers? Maybe a good hit, I think I’ll dig that one up and give it a try.

Today I brew based on inspiration, when I have a beer in my mind that I would like to create, I can taste it in my mind and then I go about writing the recipe for it. I’ll order hops and grains that are new to me, smell and chew them, experience what they will bring to the beer and then write the beer on paper, transform it to mathematical numbers and then brew. My favorite part of my week at the brewery is still the fermentation of the beer. I just have to visualize the “living” beer as it moves around in the 50 barrel tanks of stainless steel, unlike a glass carboy when all that life is right there before your eyes. Amazing!

5. Where are your beers available in the US?

VT, MA, CT, NJ, PA, AZ soon FL

6. We've got your back here in Japan, wanna come for a visit?

Love to! Have a few craft beers and get some scuba diving in off the shores of Japan !! Now I just need to get some time off......just getting back to the swing of things after this 6 week MONSTER issue....

Ise Kadoya Brewer of the Year 2009

Narihiro and Ise Kadoya have been racking up on the hardware lately. Of course, to Ise's own Dan Traylor (and GBCB friend) this comes as no surprise. Recently, Ise Kadoya was named the Brewery of the Year for 2009. Congrats go to them for their sucess!!

Kinshachi Weizenbock "Desert Beer"

I haven't written much about Kinshachi Beer lately, even though our good friend Yamaguchi-san (the brewer) makes some tasty brews. Colder weather usually means that his Chocolate Stout is soon to be on the scene, which is always a good thing.

Last weekend in Nagoya, I saw one of his new beers on the shelf at Seijo Ishii. It was a 6.5% Wiezenbock...with an interesting name.

We all know that sometimes Japanese companies don't fully get the English spelling or the pronunciation down. That's ok. If I tried to make a Japanese label, I am sure my kanji would be laughable. Hell, my spoken Japanese is laughable.

This Weizen Bock was a tasty brew, although not the best I have had in Japan. (Gotemba Kogen anyone???????) That being said, I'm not sure if it was good enough to forgive such a English gaff!

Oh what a difference an "S" makes!

Baird Beer & Taproom Events Bulletin 2009 #25

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

An annual autumn rite of passage is the release of a deliciously down-to-earth Baird Beer best characterized by two words: simplicity, sophistication. Country Girl Kabocha Ale marks her 8th annual debut on Friday, October 30 (just in time for Halloween) and this year's version is perhaps the best yet.

*Country Girl Kabocha Ale (ABV 6.0%):

Kabocha is a Japanese pumpkin-like squash the taste of which is elegantly sweet. The kabocha we use is grown in the garden of our carpenter-partner-friend, Nagakura-san. We first cook it in order to gelatinize it, then we add it to our mash where the enzymes from the malt help to further break it down into simple fermentable sugars. Several characterful varieties of malted barley produce a hearty wort that when married to the kabocha yields a flavor partnership of great depth and balance. After fermenatation, re-fermentation and conditioning, the result is an earthy, rustic beer that manages to deliver an extraordinarily sophisticated yet subtle complexity of flavor. It is, to many resident beer enthusiasts, the flavor of fall in Japan!

Country Girl Kabocha Ale will be available on draught at Baird Beer retailing pubs and restaurants throughout Japan (including all of our Taprooms) beginning Friday, October 30. It also we be availabe for purchase in 633 ml bottles through the network of Baird Beer retailing liquor shops in Japan starting the same day.

*Festival of Hops @ Nakameguro Taproom -- Hop Seminar & Tasting (Saturday, November 7 @ 12:30 - 2:30 pm; Saturday, November 14 @ 2:00 - 4:00 pm):

In conjuction with the upcoming Festival of Hops at our Nakameguro Taproom, we will be hosting a hop seminar and tasting on two separate occasions: the Saturday, November 7 seminar which kicks off the festival will be conducted in Japanese while the Saturday, November 14 seminar will be held in English. The content of the seminars and the tastings will otherwise be identical. Details of the seminar and tasting follow:

*Seminar Theme: Hop character in beer

*Seminar Beer Tasting: Eight hop-accented beers in 4 separate blind paired tastings

*Seminar Food: A collection of light beer fare will be served up fresh from the Nakameguro Taproom kitchen

*Seminar Duration: 2 hours

*Seminar Cost: 3,500 yen per person

Each seminar/tasting is limited to 20 indiviudals. Advanced reservations are required. Those who want to hear the discussion in Japanese should sign up for the November 7 seminar; English speakers should opt for the November 14 event. Reservations can be placed by sending an email to the Nakameguro Taproom (nakameguro-tap@bairdbeer.com) or by calling: 03-5768-3025.

Additional details regarding the nine day Festival of Hops will be forthcoming shortly.

Cheers!

Bryan Baird

Baird Brewing Company
Numazu, Japan
www.bairdbeer.com

From Kentucky to Japan, What is up?

So, I won't apologize or make excuses for not posting in forever. However, I will show you pictures of the many wonderful beers I drink in Kentucky. I woke up this morning and decided it was the day to brew Sexual Dracula, the Cherry Imperial Stout I have been dreaming about. Right now that perverse monster is boiling, so it seemed a good time to reconnect.

I worked on Kentucky Ale's bottling line on October 16 and I was paid in beer. I got a case of the Kentucky Light and a case of the Bourbon Barrel Ale. That Bourbon Barrel case alone has got a street value of 60 bucks. Hell yeah. Imagine this picture below times 6 plus another case of a local made kolsch.

I am gonna work there again this Friday and get more beer. Here are some other beers I have been drinking.
Flying Dog's Double Dog Double Pale Ale, Gonzo Imperial Porter, and Kerebos Tripel
Boulevard's Long Strange Tripel and Sixth Glass Quadrupel. Can't even get this in Kentucky, I picked it up in St. Louis.Schafly's Pumpkin Ale, an 8% seasonal that is the best pumpkin ale I have ever imbibed.

Anyway, it is about time to throw in some finishing hops, let the wort cool, and run across the street to Galvin's to find out when I tend bar next. Busy, busy, busy...

Ehime Craft Beer- Arashibori

My lovely bride to be also brought me back one of these from Shikoku. I don't know anything about it, except that the fact that I can't remember how it tasted at all. I want to say it tasted just like every other Japanese beer, and the fact that I can't remember is not a good thing. Of course, the old lady is only so much help, as when I asked her where she bought it she replied: "At a store."

I won't complain.

After drinking a few of these jibeers while waiting on the local train, we caught a local celebrity playing a show at the Toyohashi "House of Crazy". He's good, and if you see Andrew Scott is going to be playing near you, check him out.



As usual, I finished off the night with a sack of Malt's for the train ride home. For us down here far far away from good jibeer....there's almost nothing better!