GBCB Interview with Chris Poel!

For all of you Baird Beer lovers out there (and I know there are alot), here is your required reading for the weekend. Chris Poel, the soon-to-be-as-of-April-1st lead brewer at Baird Beer, answered our questions and more. We already know that Chris can make beer, but what we really want to know is...

Now you live in Japan. Where are you originally from?

I'm originally from Western Michigan, right on the shore of Lake Michigan. I came to Japan in 1980 after graduating from college (Oakland University in Rochester, just north of Detroit). I came here originally for vacation, to visit my brother and his Japanese wife. That six week vacation turned into a lifetime. Other than a few months in 1981 when I was back in Michigan waiting for a working visa to come through, I've been here ever since. It's not really a vacation any more, but still totally enjoyable.

When did you start homebrewing?

I started homebrewing during Golden Week in 1999, making it almost 10 years. I started mainly because the beer scene in Japan then was total shit and I wanted to drink some of the beers that I enjoyed on trips to the States -- pale ales and IPAs especially. A friend that I ran into when I went to a teachers conference in Seoul convinced me that it was totally possible, even in Japan, and my mom and sister sent me my first gear and recipe kits. My first beer was an IPA. If I went back now and tasted it, I'd probably barf, but at the time, it was the best beer I ever tasted.

Baka Yaro! took 1st at the Real Ale Festival. Is there a story behind that beer? Anything Country Boys all over Japan should know about it?

I wanted to make something that was stronger than my beloved IPAs, something both malty and hoppy, something that would give me a similar flavor and alcohol buzz as Arrogant Bastard. I took ideas from a bunch of strong amber ale and Arrogant Bastard-like homebrew recipes and . . . BakaYaro! was born. I wanted a name that would make my friends laugh and shock Japanese, and BakaYaro! was it.

It's funny that whenever I talk to people about BakaYaro!, they say that it's totally unmarketable, that Japanese will never appreciate such a strong flavorful beer and that they'll totally reject the name. A couple years back, I took two small kegs of beer to a hanami picnic -- a nice light Vienna Honey Ale and BakaYaro! The BakaYaro! was finished within a couple hours -- I took almost half of the Vienna Honey Ale back home with me. Other than one friend and I, the other ten or so people drinking were Japanese. And the crowds at the Tokyo Real Ale Festival shows just how the Japanese feel about such a big strong beer with an outrageous name -- they love it!

What is your best memory that involves beer?

Best memories that involves brewing, well there are two or three. First, I won best of show with my Hop Hourglass JPA (Japan Pale Ale, named by a homebrew shop in the States) in the first homebrew competition that I entered. Second, having BakaYaro! take the People's Choice award has to be on the list. And of course, joining Baird Brewing is at the top of the list. Bryan Baird asked me to help him out 7 or 8 years ago, brewing on his original 30-liter system. Later I also brewed on his 250-liter system, and from April I'll be brewing on his 1000-liter system full time. Besides Bryan, I'm the only one who will have brewed on all three systems.

Best memories that involves drinking beer -- well, that's kind of an oxymoron. My best drinking times were times that I don't really have clear memory of! I suppose if I have to dredge up something, I'd say (1) the National Homebrewers Conference in LA back in 2001 (fantastic people, speakers and beer all around), (2) the Great American Beer Festival back in 2002, and (3) visiting nine craft breweries in six days in California in 2007 (including Anchor and 21st Amendment in San Francisco, Russian River in Santa Rosa, and Stone and Lost Abbey in San Diego).

Finally, my greatest honor drinking beer was when I was in Numazu Taproom on December 24, 2000, when I had the first pint of Baird Beer that anyone besides Bryan and his wife had ever drunk -- Kurofune Porter -- a week before it actually went on sale.

What was the first beer you ever drank?

It was a rotgut beer stolen from my dad. He used to buy the cheapest crap he could find, longneck bottles, Braumeister, not to be confused with Kirin Braumeister, which actually isn't too bad.

The first beer I ever bought -- well, actually had bought for me -- when I was 16 was a Fosters oil can.

The first craftbeer I remember drinking was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I still drink it whenever I go back to the States, and occasionally in Japan too. Great beer.

If you could drink any beer in the world right... now! What would it be?

Arrogant Bastard, on tap at the Stone Brewery in San Diego. I had it there in the summer of 2007 -- truly fantastic. Second choice, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA -- a totally wonderful beer. I'm hoping some day to get to their brewery in Delaware. Third choice, Bell's Two-Hearted Ale -- another major boner in a bottle!

What music do you let the beer listen to while you are brewing?

Hard rock and punk. I just let the iPod do the song choices -- AC/DC, Horror Pops, The Vandals, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring, Of Montreal, whatever. Sometimes I put on a music DVD, like Pearl Jam, The Cure, Neil Young -- love the live atmosphere while I'm jamming away in the kitchen.

For a big final question, WHY do you brew?

Why I brew is fairly simple. First, I do it because I can. And I can do a pretty damn good job of it. Second, I like the satisfaction I get from brewing. I'm into instant gratification, and brewing gives me that. As a teacher, I never really see the effect of my efforts. With beer, I can see what I've done at the end of the brew day, and then I can taste the results a week later.

And now I'm becoming a pro. It's been my growing dream for five or six years, and as office politics and bureaucratic bullshit became a daily battle at my university, I started moving more and more toward a brewing career. What always held me back, though, was my lack of business skills -- or maybe it's more accurate to say lack of interest in business. By joining Baird Brewing, I can do what I love doing -- making beer -- without having to be too involved with the business side.


Chris, thank you so much for letting our humble beer blog host your beer-flavored words. May you brew well and prosper!

The Drinking hat

I WIN! Officially yours truly is the 5,000th hit on this site. It's a great day. I'd like to thank Nate, myself, and my mom for contributing the majority of the hits. Also props go to our bored friends in Tokyo for always stopping by. I will also not address the rumor that I have a pet chimp that sits at a computer and just hits refresh all day to boost our hits.

I drank the Paradox that Nate so kindly brought me from Tokyo. James, bravo on this one. It was a nice brew and I would have enjoyed another if it had been handy. Thanks Nate, and I think the Paradox swapped for three expired beers sets us even.

I'm headed to the 'hash this evening and will be making the trek to DenPark to drink DenBeer tomorrow. Let's hope it's Den-liscious. OK, that was terrible.

This weekend we have also decided to make Japanese beer helmets. Every man should have a good drinking hat. I have had several over the years. I have used a Russian flight helmet, an old sock-cap, a Stetson Derby hat, an umbrella hat, and many more. If you've got a pic of yourself in a stupid drinking hat, email me and I might post it, or just laugh and make fun of you. Either way, I'll be entertained.

Be on the lookout for this guy. He has a drinking mask with upside down kanji.

Cheers to Friday night!

Asahi Off: The Official Review

Smug little DH, up there on his mountain, posting negative words about a beer he has never even tried. And what's worse, he tells others that they shouldn't drink it either. What's that all about? Well, DH, just to spite you, here is my review of Asahi Off. I wasn't planning on trying it but after I read your 'speculatin', I decided, it's my body, I do what I want!

First thing, Asahi Off sucks. This beer's aroma is cringe worthy, it's got that mystery adjunct syrup smell to it. Hell, they might have thrown some potatoes in too. The taste is worse than the smell. It has no hops and no malt flavor. They didn't even try to pretend with this one. The can says "OFF" and then under that it says "ORIGINAL INGREDIENTS". I think this means Asahi turned off the original ingredients (hops and malt) so you could taste the raw essence of pea peptide and soy protein. Asahi has reached a new low. And now, after a thorough and thoroughly disgusting tasting and review, Good Beer Country Boys can officially say, don't drink Asahi Off. I know what the picture looks like but, I am using my middle finger to steady the glass. I am definitely not flipping Asahi the bird for this filth I have to review to maintain the integrity of the blog.

Asahi Off

If you want to know how Asahi plans to wow you this year, you can read their Group Business Strategy. It annoounces many more crappy Happoshus and such to come, like the Asahi Off that is everywhere on TV these days. This beer was released in February, and may be the worst named beer in history.

"Off" is not a very good name for any product except bugspray. Off bugspray has a great name becuase it tells you what it is good for: keeping bugs off. Asahi Off is a terrible name becuase it tells you what it is: Off Beer, Not beer, beer with an off taste, something's off here, this is off-ful, off-er it to a homeless person, off its rocker, off kilter, buzz off, piss off, F-off.....you get the idea.

The press release tells us that Asahi Off is a "low-carb, low-purine beer." I must be an idiot becuase I didn't know what purine was. Wikipedia tells us: Purine (1) is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound, consisting of a pyrimidine ring fused to an imidazole ring. Purines, including substituted purines and their tautomers, are the most widely distributed kind of nitrogen-containing heterocycle in nature.

Yikes.

As if you needed me to tell you, stay away.

The Three Stooges homebrewing lesson

For your viewing pleasure, check out Larry, Curly, and Moe in Beer Barrel Polecats. To all you homebrewers out there, don't make the same mistake Curly did. Never sell beer to a cop! This is what will happen.

Expired Kure Beer

DH wrote about Kure Beer in Hiroshima on Friday, January 16. That means he visited Kure Beer the weekend before, sometime around January 10 or 11. He bought Miyuki and I Kure's Alt, Weizen, and Kujiro Ale. I received these beer last weekend. He's not the fastest man alive.

This posed a problem not because I am impatient or ungrateful to DH in any way, but because Kure's bottled beer has the weirdest expiration date system. Each bottle is stamped with two dates. All three of my bottles had 06-01-09 and 28-01-09 on them. Apparently, these are the dates between which you may drink the beer. What? Three weeks? It takes longer than that for most beers to get good.

Out of the bottle, the Weizen was cloudy, as a weizen should be, and tasted pretty damn good. The Kujiro Ale (a kolsch) was also cloudy and tasted almost identical, though a bit lighter than the weizen. The Alt was where things took a turn for the worst. Maybe it was because the beer was past its 3 week limit. Maybe it is because DH likes dirty things in his mouth. Maybe it was because a big shovel full of dirt had been pitched with the yeast. However it is explained, the Alt that I drank definitely had a ground taste to it. Miyuki likes to call this a 'bush' taste. What I tasted falls more under the "rained on tumbleweed after a roll through Deadwood" flavor. It was probably better on draft.

DH should also be commended for bringing Miyuki and I some Ise no Kune Beer and a 500ml bottle of Ise Kadoya's Brown Ale. I haven't drank those yet. We did drink the Sinto Beer he brought. That stuff is good. I could drink it all night. Not to heavy, not to light, good on hops, tastes all right.

Ise no Kuni Beer

Walking the streets of Ise I was happy to see Ise Kadoya's beer (especially Sinto Beer) in many of the shops. Often times I am surprised by how many local jibeers (microbrews) are not available even in the towns where they are made! Sinto Beer was for sale just about everywhere, even from street vendors! I also saw one street vendor who was selling Ise Kadoya's Pale Ale on tap for 500 yen a cup.
I wanted to buy several of Ise Kadoya's bottled beers, but the 900 yen price tag kept me from buying too many. Of course I had to get one to bring back and let Nate drink. But, 900 yen is pretty steep for a 500ml beer. Contrast that to London Pub Towser ( My mind has been changed--thanks Tokyo friends!) where a 20 oz. (592ml) of Real Ale costs 1000 yen from a hand tap...and it's hard to justify spending that much on a bottled brew. Plus, we were heading to Biyagura brewpub to drink it on tap later.

We walked the streets a bit more and came up an interesting find at Takahashi Liquor Shop, near Ise Shrine. Inside the store I immeditely noticed a new jibeer that I wasn't familiar with. Staring us in the face were a 100% organic Helles and Dunkel made by Ise no Kuni Beer. We asked the man at the shop (Takahashi-san?) where the brewery was, and he said that it wasn't too far away. While he was saying this he was taking a picture of me, my girlfriend, our beers, and his finger.

These beers were only 380 yen a pop and considering the fact that we could get two for less than one Ise Kadoya Brew, we couldn't pass them up. The Dunkel was ok, not too great and not too bad--very oridnary. The Helles however, was quite good. Helles style beers are not my favorite, but this was one excellent. Add to it that Helles is a much cooler name than Dunkel, and you have a winner.

The website listed on the bottle says www.ji-beer.co.jp. (Not to be confised by our new name!) If you go to that site, you can't find any of these particular bottles there. Maybe they were old ones that we bought and they recently changed the labels? Don't know for sure--but I do know that you can buy some 100% organic malt from their site!

I can't find anything on the web about Ise no Kuni Beer in English, and quite possibly this is it. The beer was good, but it paled in comparison to Ise Kadoya's beers later that afternoon.

Anyone else have any info to share about this mysterious brew???

www.jibeer.com

Ok, so we are trying to get some new things going here. For one, you might have noticed that I ponied up the cash and now we are blogging at none other than www.jibeer.com. I also bought www.goodbeercountryboys.com but I don't think its redirected to here just quite yet. Anyways, as usual we should have a ton more jibeer info coming this week, and I am quitting messing with this webpage crap for a bit. It frustrates the hell out of me, and it makes me want to drink a beer.

Anyways, you can now email me at: DH@jibeer.com , and Nate at Nate@jibeer.com

I think we have the only beer blog on the net that actually costs US money. But, I don't care. I like talking about beer and meeting other people who like to do the same. And that is worth it.

Ise Kadoya Microbrewery-Part II

Of course by now you know that I went to Ise Kadoya's brewpub, Biyagura, to drink the brew last weekend. What a great trip it was. I wrote a bit about the beers and food here, and I was lucky to meet the master-brewer when we finished our food and beers.

The master-brewer at Ise Kadoya is Masakazu Nakanishi-san, and he joined them in 1999. He is great at what he does and makes some tasty brew. You can read more about him and his bio from Ise Kadoya's English site. I got the chance to ask Masakazu a few questions, and here is what he had to say (by way of my lovely girlfriend):

Masakazu, when did you start making beer here?

We started making beer in 1997, and I joined the company in 1999. The company had been making mochi, miso, and soy sauce for over 400 years prior to our venture into beer.

Why did you get into ji-beer?

All of us here have always been interested in flavorful beer, and it being that the company was already making miso and soy sauce, it was an easy transition.

Currently ji-beer only has less than a 1% market share in the Japanese beer market. What can we (brewers and drinkers!) do to promote ji-beer in Japan?

We can continue to make good beer. One main thing is to increase our production and where our beers are sold. Actually, just yesterday we started exporting our beer to America. We are sending 20,000 bottles to New York that will be available on the East Coast--at first.

The Good Beer Country Boys were at The Real Ale Festival last month and we will be at the Grande Biere Festival in March, will you be coming?

We were at The Real Ale Festival, and while we will not be attending the Grande Biere Festival, we will be sending our beers.

Last and most importantly, what is your favorite style of beer?

My favorite beer that we brew is our Brown Ale. [DH agrees] I really like the taste of roasted malt, and I really like many American amber ales!


Many thanks to Masakazu Nakanishi-san for taking time to answer a few of my questions! You have got to check out Ise Kadoya's site--it's written in perfect English (a rarity here in Japan) and has tons of interesting information. For example, it seems that Ise Kadoya is the ONLY brewery in Japan that imports all of its brewing ingredients from America.

We did find out that only the Brown Ale, Pale Ale, and Stout are brewed at Ise Kadoya. Their Sinto Beer and the Kumano Koda Ale (the only one I didn't try--limited availability) are brewed at a brewery in Nigata-ken.*

If you are in the area, you have to visit this joint for some great beers and great food. It seems that on Wednesdays in March (maybe more according to a fella down in Ise) they have an all you can drink speical that costs only 1000yen for one hour. That is the best deal I have seen in Japan.

All in all, this was a great trip with great beer, and we got to meet great people. I can't wait to meet up with Masakazu-san again--and this time we will have to talk over a few pints!!

* We speculate that they maybe use Echigo Beer's brewing and canning facility? Anyone out there verify this?

T.Y. Harbor's Tennoz Ale

T. Y. Harbor Brewing, home of Tennoz Ale, in Tokyo is impressive upon first glance. It is in a large building sitting near a body of water spanned by a walking bridge and a decent view. Inside there are 5 large brewing tanks, all with the Tennoz logo, lined up behind a bar. This room leads into another the size of a German beer hall, but the similarity ends there. Large modern art dominates the walls and many people wear leather for fashion. T. Y. Harbor is the place to be for some people. I am not some people.

There food may be good but Miyuki and I will never know because we only ordered beer. We started with a sampler to see if they were brewing anything worth a full glass. They weren't. The wheat ale looked like it had been filtered. Why would you filter a wheat ale? So you can make it taste closer to funk water apparently. The pale ale was a more bitter version of the wheat ale with no body at all to speak of. The English description of it read "...our flagship beer, and one that keeps many customers coming back." Yeah, I'm sure. The brewer's choice tasted like they had thrown a handful of caramel malt in the pale ale fermentor. The description of their amber ale said it was lightly carbonated which, in this beer's case, means flat. All of these beers had the same funk water taste. I don't know if it was from over cleaning, or chemicals, or what, but the taste sticks to your tongue. Not a good thing.

They had a dark beer that was not included in the sampler. We ordered a small glass of that so we would be able to write Tennoz Ale off completely. This dark beer feature a dark malty taste followed by funk water. On the way out, we looked over the railing into the harbor. When you have funk water flavor in your mouth and you are staring into some murky shit, you don't get the best feeling in the world.

T.Y. Harbor is hip. It's cool. It tells a girl that you are a high roller. Who drinks Big 4 when Ji-Biru rolls like this? You do.

I will go back to Tokyo. I will not go back to T.Y. Harbor Brewing.

Great Beer and Bourbon Pics

These pics were taken by a friend of mine who has new photoblog up. The pictures speak for themselves. Check him out.

Light Beer Reading?

To be as informed as possible, all Japanese beer lovers should read The 2007-2012 Outlook for Craft Beer in Japan. This amazing document was put together by ICON Group International in 2006.

I tried to read the description of the report, but I got bored after two lines. What a crock.

Oh yeah, and to buy a copy of it will cost you a cool 63,755.03 yen. If you buy that, I have a great condo here in Toei with a lovely mountain view I'll sub-let to you....

Here comes the fun vacuum!!!!!

Well, it seems the US Government is back at it again. Nate likes to use the term "fun vacuum" for just this occasion. Nate first used this term to describe someone we both used to know who was great at turning something fun into a real life version of "Les Mis." Seriously. If this guy was around, he could ruin a good time more than George Lucas ruined the latest Indiana Jones movie. What is a fun vacuum? Just read on.....Here's comes the US Government and its fun vaccuum!

"IS SOMEONE HAVING A GOOD TIME HERE????!!! LET US SUCK UP ALL THE FUN!!"

In a time when the economy is in the crapper, people are losing faith in just about everything , and the government has a bad enough rep as it is...you think they could lay off the little man for a while.

Read this for the full story, but basically Big Big Secret Service won't let the Sixpoint Brewery sell a beer named after Obama.

Ise Kadoya Brewing Part I

Ise Kadoya Brewing is a place that has tradtion, and I like that. Tradition is good. I drink bourbon because it is a Kentucky tradition--and because it is good. Traditional things are nice, because they mean something. Narihiro Suzuki is the managing director of Ise Kadoya, and his family has been in business for a while...a long while...to the tune of just about 430 years.

I won't go into great detail about the history of Ise Kadoya, you can read that here. What I will tell you is that they expanded into the beer business (they had a couple HUNDRED years already down in the miso, soy sauce and mochi business!!) in 1997. They recieved their first award in 2000, and their first international award in 2003. Since then friends, go ahead and call them ACE--cause they have been racking up the hardware. They have won many awards from competitions in Japan and around the globe. These boys know how to make some beer. (And of course Narihiro's wife Chika helps too...)

The brewery and restaurant (Biyagura) are really easy to find, and for those of you who are against walking long distances (my girlfriend) you can take a cab to there from Isejingu for about 1200 yen. Not bad at all. Great atmosphere inside with a little shop where you can buy a few beers to go. Around Isejingu you can find Sinto Beer everywhere and their other specialty brews at a few shops.

The food at Biyagura was great. I had the fried chicken set (Country Boy right?!) and Michi had a miso-pork dish. They both were great. We started with a beer sampler set comprised of: Sinto Beer, Stout, Sweet Chocolate Stout (seasonal-from Noboribetsu Craft Beer Factory in Hokkaido), Brown Ale, and Pale Ale. They all were very good, but my favorite by far was the brown ale. The Sweet Chocolate Stout was lovely as well, and I finished my meal with one of those for dessert.

After we ate we talked with master brewer Masakazu Nakanishi for quite a while. I'll post what he had to say tomorrow!

Enjoy your evenings...

Bad Brewdog, Good Boy!

This weekend we opened up the two illegal immigrants from Brewdog. James hasn't emailed me back so I still don't know how these beers snuck into Japan.

The Punk IPA pours a golden color with a nice creamy head. The aroma of this beer suggests a hop monster, but the taste doesn't pound your tongue into submission. It's like a doberman, teeth barred, lunging for your throat, that ends up licking your face. This beer is dry hopped to hell giving it an amazing aroma and the taste is very well balanced. Punk IPA clocks in at 6% alcohol and the lighter body reflects this. DH said that if you were a high school sports star and IPA's were cheerleaders, Punk IPA would not be the ugliest or the prettiest of the squad. Punk would be the cool girl that can hang with guys but is also down for a little play behind closed doors.

At roughly 450 yen, this beer is a deal. Most of your hit or miss Ji-Birus are going to set you back more than this. I bought this at Tanakaya near Meijiro Station in Tokyo and you probably won't find it at many other liquor stores, if any at all. Buy this beer.

"James, you dirty bastard!" These were the first words out of DH's mouth after tasting Storm, Brewdog's 8% Islay Whiskey Cask Aged IPA. Miyuki said that Storm tasted like 'tatami', as in the traditional flooring in a Japanese house. She added that tatami is not meant to be eaten or drank. Michi just made a really horrible face and quickly handed the beer back, not that any of us were too eager to take it. Our Peruvian friend, Eduardo, whose sunny disposition and broken English lets him describe everything as 'beautiful', tried this beer. He said, "It is...ah, it is...very very very...differente?" If Eduardo can't commit to "beautiful" and has to settle for "differente", you know something is wrong.

Storm IPA is not lacking in taste. It is an IPA aged in a scotch cask. The hoppy, flowery taste is there and so is the peat smoke flavor. Together these tastes go over like Al Sharpton at a Klan rally. The bottle says "Drinking this beer is like being caught in the eye of a force 12 North Atlantic Storm." I agree. The real question, however, is which sucks more? There is no mention of this beer on the Brewdog website, which hopefully means they axed it and have no future plans to produce more. I paid 915 yen for the worst beer I have ever drank.

In conclusion, Paradox is pure bliss, Punk puts out, and Storm...well, why don't you find out for yourself?

Ise Beer Reviews Coming Soon!

Well, the weekend is over--and what a good one it was. Friday night me and the old lady headed down to Tahara, where we met up with Nate for a couple relaxing brews. Saturday morning we were up at 5am to catch the first bus to Irago and the first ferry to Toba. From there we made our way to Ise, where we drank Sinto beer before touring the Shine. After the Shrine, and Ise Kuni Organic beer, we hailed a cab and headed to Biyagura to visit Ise Kadoya Brewery. At Ise Kadoya we talked to Masakazu Nakanishi, brewmaster of their excellent beers!! I will be posting about all of these beers and happenings this week, as soon as the work I get paid to do is finished! Until then, check out Ise Kadoya's English site, which is the best English site of any Japanese brewer hands down.




Masakazu Nakanishi is truly a badass--a real man among boys. I will tell you more about him and what he had to say this week, but for now, I'll let him tell you in his own words:

With almost 12 years of brewing experience, I have been Ise Kadoya's brewery manager since 1999. There are two greatly important tasks given to me as a brewer. The first is to create a mash that captures the essence of the malt—not too rough or unclear but rather well-defined and the second is the handling the yeast, the amount, timing, and to know when to leave well enough alone. This is easy to WRITE, but much more difficult to DO since beers are living, growing entities. But I know that if I can create the best environment for this to happen, my ultimate job is to simply step aside and let the natural process of fermentation take over and do the work by itself.*



*From Ise Kadoya's site

It's Friday now, Friday night come!

It's true that the older you get the quicker time passes. These weeks are just flying by, and that's ok with me--as long as the weekends just creep along. Speaking of getting older, a big Happy Birthday today goes out to my sister!!! (Actually the 19th, but she's still in the US)
I'm heading to Tahara tonight to meet up with Nate, catch up a bit, and hopefully knock back a few good brews. I'm thinking I'm going to pick up some Nest brews from the Atsumi foods, and I'm sure we will drink a few homebrews as well.
Tomorrow I'll be headed to Ise and Biyagura to hopefully drink all of their brews and talk to the master brewer. Of course, now that I have twitter--you can sit in front of your computer and track my every move. Or, you could not be a such a huge nerd and actually go outside and drink some good beer with real people.
It's a sad site at my apartment as I drank all of the brews in the fridge last night. There's not a cold brew to be found anywhere in my apartment. I'll have to remedy that right quick.
After lunch I'm headed to elementary school to teach the kiddies, and try to have a little fun in the process. As soon as that's done, I'll be on the hunt for a brew.

Until then friends, have a great weekend. Enjoy a cold brew with a buddy and do something exciting. Make a 'beer bucket list' of the top places that you want to drink beer before you die. Tonight Nate and I will put together the definitive list of the places where every man must drink beer before he croaks. Of course, we are open to suggestions. Comment below.

Sam Adams fruitiness and other expensive beers

My friend Lance called and woke me up the other day. He was getting ready to start his work day in Kentucky and I was getting to hit the sack. Usually I get calls on my internet phone in the morning when my friends are finishing the American workday, but Lance's news couldn't wait. Sam Adams just released a Blackberry Witbier and it wasn't too bad.

Is this good news? I'll admit, I was all about some Sam Adams in college, but never a fan of their flavored offerings. Sam Adams Cherry Wheat tastes like you squirted some cherry flavor in a Sam Adams Wheat right before drinking. Complete flavor separation. Just thinking about their Cranberry Lambic pisses me off. It's not even a lambic. Talk about misinforming the public.

Lance is a HUGE fan of Sam Adams and this is not unjustified. The Boston Lager is a standard and their Black Lager is great. I told him that I didn't know what to think about a Sam Adams Blackberry beer but that I had seen a Sam Adams in Tokyo that he had never drank. He said, "Oh yeah? What?" I said, "Utopias." He said, "Oh," because he knows what Utopias is. He then declared that one day he would buy a bottle and drink it.

Would you spend 17200 yen on a bottle of Utopias? Have you ever drank it? My answers are no and no. What about Descutes Abyss for 5250 yen? TimE told me that he had drank it and that he had another in his fridge. I think that is what he said. Anyway, I've heard that it is great. But, at 5250 yen, is it 5 Paradox's good? Is it 2 bottles of Blanton's Single Barrel good? It is hard to justify that size chunk of change.

Brewdoggin' it, Paradox style!

Using the advice given by some of you that read this blog, Miyuki and I went to Tanakaya near Meijiro station when we were in Tokyo. Tanakaya is amazing. If you live in Tokyo and know of this liquor store, there is no excuse to go anywhere else. Tanakaya has everything that matters at the best prices in Tokyo. Seriously.

While there, I got three bottles of Brewdog's Paradox, their Storm IPA, and Punk IPA. When DH interviewed Brewdog's James Watt a bit ago, James, referring to Japan, said, "So far we only have Paradox in the market..." If that is true James, how did I buy Punk and Storm then? I sent you an email so you could clear this Paradox up for me. Ha.

I found the beer shelves in Tanakaya and started the visual search for Paradox.. only to find six or seven different bottles. I didn't know this beforehand, but Brewdog labels the Paradox according to what type of scotch barrel it rested in. This is pure product and marketing genius. There I was, expecting to purchase one bottle of Paradox for 1120 yen, but I buy three for three times that price! Yes, Paradox is expensive but I am a sucker for beers in uncharted territories. With beer on one side and scotch on the other, Paradox has a got a leg in each pasture, scootin' its butt down the fence.

The first Brewdog went down deliciously a few hundred feet from Tanakaya, in front of the station. It was the Paradox Speyside aged in a 1987 Macallan Sherry cask. This beer was everything a great 10% imperial stout should be, but with a rich dark fruitiness that hovered around the fringes. With the scotch barrel aging, I was expecting a strong alcohol feeling in my nose, but it never came. This beer was big enough that it soaked up the barrel and added it to the flavor rather than dumping it on top.

The dumping-on-top seperate flavor taste is the biggest problem I find with barrel aged beers nowadays. BBC Brewing is Louisville, KY makes the Jefferson County Bourbon Barrel Reserve Stout, and I don't drink it for this reason. If I want seperate flavors I'll drop shot some Blanton's into a Tokyo Black!

At the Real Ale Festival, I drank some Paradox Isle of Arron and it was delicious but surprisingly different. There was definitely more scotch in the nose and the dark fruitiness was not there. I have a bottle of the Arron that is going to DH to drink. The third bottle I have is the Paradox 1966 Dundass Cask. I don't know much scotch lingo, but the year 1966 excites me. It makes this beer sound cool. And I can't wait to drink it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Amanohashidate Golden Ale

So we might need to revisit Hakusekikan Beer. I drank the Amanohashidate Golden Ale the other night after work, and it was great. I didn't smell any funk (like Nathan mentioned before) and I thought it had a good full malt taste. This beer style is much better suited for summer, but I enjoyed it throughly. I found all of Hakusekikan's brews available in Nagoya, and I think the next time Nate and I are up there--we are going to have to give them all another go round. I call dibbs on not buying The Super Vintage.

And FYI to all the Japanese TV lovers out there....Your's truly was on Chukyo TV (中京テレビ）on Tuesday night with my girlfriend being interviewed at Shutaro's sake brewery in Toyohashi. The name of the sake brewery is Iseyashuzo, and I need to check the kanji....（伊勢屋酒？）Anyway, if you were lucky enough to catch me on TV, you would have been wowed by my amazing Japanese skills as I talked about how delicious this sake was and what a helluva guy Shutaro is. Of course, that was what I wanted to say.

Friends, the weekend draws nigh. I updated the site today so I can send updates (via Softbank and Twitter) so you can know what I am doing just about every hour of every day. I know there are many of you who will sleep better now that you can track my every move. If you look on the left of the page, you can see my updates......it probably says something like "thinking about beer", "drinking a beer", "talking about beer", or "pretending I am working." Believe it or not, that is pretty much sums up my day.

The Beer Drinker's Manifesto....as told by a Country Boy

To many of us, beer is more than a drink. It's much more than the sum of its parts: grain, water, hops, and yeast traditionally. It is more than a thirst quencher, more than a beverage, more than a cola or lemonade. It is not simply something that we like to drink. It is not only the compliment to good foods.

Beer is our culture. And in short, beer is our life.

Beer to us is our hobby, our obsession and our passion. It is our stress reliever, our fun enhancer, and our comfort blanket. We plan our holidays around beer, festivals around beer, weekends around beer. We drink beer when we watch the Superbowl, when we grill at our houses, and when we have a terrible day. We drink to celebrate the birth of our best friend's firstborn, and to mourn the death of our best friend's dad. We drink beer with our closest of cronies who know all of our secrets, and we drink beer when we make new friends that will be with us the rest of our lives. We drink beer while we relive old memories of a time when we were younger and enjoyed more beer than we should have. The same beer that we use to celebrate a job promotion comforts us when we are kicked to the curb. In the best of times and in the worst of times, beer is always there.

Beer has been with man longer than the dog, and it will be with man as he buries another trusted four-legged friend. In summer we drink fruity beers that help us beat the heat. In winter we drink dark brews that shield us from the cold windy nights. In the spring we brew beer to help us celebrate the coming of warmer days, and in the fall we make glorious concoctions that prepare us for the harvest and the cold that lurks just around the corner.

Beer is more than a drink. Beer is the 'living' embodiment of our hopes and dreams.

The Soon to be Most Hated Man in Oregon

So, I wrote a post last week stating how Kentuckians might be paying more for beer in the upcoming months. I also tried to take a look at how beers are taxed here. It looks like I shouldn't be complaining--because Oregon has gone and outdone us. This squirrely looking granolite is proposing a 1900% increase in taxes on beer in Oregon. I didn't miss-type that. An increase of 1900% percent. Now, its true that Oregon's current taxes on beer are among the lowest in the nation, and they haven't been raised since before I was born--but come on. Shame on you Ben. You should know better.

Did anyone stop and think that the low taxes on beer in Oregon may be one of the reasons that they are making so much good beer there?

It's true that these are tough times for everyone, even beer drinkers and brewers. And if you see Rep. Ben Cannon*, please tell him that beer drinkers everywhere are not happy with him...to say the least.

*You can email Mr. Cannon here rep.bencannon@state.or.us and tell him what a turd sniffer he is.

Tokyo Real Ale Festival

Big news first. Baird Beer dominated the festival. Between a Bryan Baird beer and a Chris Poel creation, they took first and second place. Bryan's beer, Ganko Oyaji Barleywine, took second and was topped only by Chris Poel's Baka Yaro, which also turned out to be the most popular catch phrase of the event. Chris accepted the award with a loud "Baka Yaro!" and was answered back with a "Baka Yaro!" times a couple hundred. That's Chris and Bryan on the stage. I don't think Bryan Baird felt too bad about taking second, considering that Chris is the new lead brewer for Bryan's namesake brewery. According to Chris, he will officially take over down in Numazu starting April 1st. I talked to Bryan about his company and the success of his beer versus other Japanese brewers and he said that you have to brew what you want to brew. That sounds like a plan to me. Especially if the beer you brew is as good as what Bryan is making in Numazu.

Miyuki and I were working hard, hand pumping Baka Yaro, Loco's Vamp 6 and Yokozuna Ale, and Yoho's ESB for the hundreds of festival attendees. The Baka Yaro was the first beer in the festival to sell out, hence the number 1 spot it took. That is what happens when you make a delicious beer and give it a marketing-genius name that translates to "Stupid-Ass."

It's hard for me to describe the tastes of each of these beers here, as there was so many and so many that were very delicious. Beers of note that I can remember include the Baird Beer, Yokozuna ale, that won last year's WanCup, Iwate Kura's IPA, Ezo's Rogue brewed Imperial Chocolate Stout, and many others. I am drinking right now and my head isn't in proper working condition. Please name your favorites in the comments if you are reading this.Miyuki and I met many great friends of good beer including Tom from St. Louis, Bryan Baird, Chris Poel, Mr. Fujiura, the Japanese Beer Evangelist, and Dr. Simon Clippingdale, who I heard (from a little bird) is the GREATEST homebrewer in Japan. No pressure there.

Also, a big THANK YOU to Tim Eustace and Mark Meli, who write comments on this site sometimes and introduced Miyuki and I to good people, good beer, and good times in Tokyo.

What's the best way to open a bottle of beer?

If you read this site often, you probably remember Nate's post about the sweet belts that we both have that have built in bottle-openers on the back side of them. Pretty sweet. But what if you are out and about and have nothing (seemingly!) that can open your beer? Are you just out of luck?
Men, being the improvising geniuses that we are, of course have invented thousands of ways to open a beer bottle in the absence of a specific tool. It seems that in every part of the globe, people have their own 'secret' way to open a brew. I remember when I was just a young lad touring the Bosnian countryside, I was amazed at how all of the local men used their lighters to open their 'klipatchas' of Sarajevsko Pivo. I thought they were the coolest dudes ever. Since then I have learned the secret zen art of 'leverage', and I know that basically any flat surface (paper!) can be used to open a beer.

Being a Kentucky Boy, I can open a bottle using my teeth, but try to only do it on special occasions since I like my teeth and it is not the most practical of ways, especially if you have to open multiple bottles. I also don't reccomend using the edge of a table (Kentucky people see tailgate, rock, or concrete block) since I almost lost two fingers doing that at a campout. The latch on the inside ledge of most car and truck doors is perfect for opening beers, but doesn't have that cool factor that I am looking for. So......


My question to you is: What is the coolest way to open a bottle of brew?*

From now on, I'm showering in beer....

Life is funny. There is no doubt about that. It was just this morning that I was wondering to myself, "Self, you haven't paid a water bill since you moved into your new apartment! Maybe your paperwork got lost in the mail and you are getting your water free!!!"

No kidding, another teacher who lives in my apartment building just walked up to me and said, "DH-you owe me money for eight month's worth of water bills." That's about $250 for those of you out there who don't know, and that my friends, puts a damper on the afternoon.*

In other news, Kentucky Ale finally has their new website up, after working on it for the last 10 years. Check out what they are doing here.

Anyone who has been watching Japanese TV has certainly seen Ichiro promoting Kirin's New Ichiban Shibori due to come out next month. The world waits.

This weekend's plan has changed slightly, and I might be heading to Ise to drink the holy Sinto beer...I'll keep you posted.

I'm going home early to enjoy a brew from Kyoto...I'll be back tonight.


*but not too much--Like I learned long ag0---money comes and money goes. I will be happy either way!**




**As long as I have a beer.***



***more than one is preferable.

What I got for Valentine's Day

This is the beer that Miyuki bought me for Valentine's Day. From left to right, that is Kinsachi's Imperial Chocolate Stout, Sanktegallen's Orange Chocolate Stout, Imperial Chocolate Stout, and Sweet Vanilla Stout, Hitachino Nest's XH, Valentine Expresso Stout, and Commemorative Ale. These beers came with a catch, though. We have to drink them together. Nothing I can't handle. She also got me a bottle of Evan Williams 12 year. That is the red label bottle that is not sold in America. It just adds to my always expanding and contracting collection of bourbon (I buy alot, drink alot). I'm sitting on 11 bottles now but it has been as high as 16 and as low as 0 (sad times).
What did you get for Valentine's Day?

Where do I start?

I drank so much good beer in Tokyo. It is ridiculous the quality and amount of beer I consumed in such a short period of time. Thinking now, I wish I could isolate all the beer I drank, lower my intake, and stretch that beer out over the next two weeks. But, you gotta get it while the gettin's good, right? This is a sticky note line graph of the amount of good beer I consumed the past 4 days. Notice how it peaks on Feb 15. That was the day of the Real Ale Festival.

Besides the good beer, I met many friends of good beer that will, from now on, be collectively called The Japan Beer All-Stars. Individually, they will be called their own names and/or nicknames when I can't remember their names. For example, I don't remember the name of one Japanese homebrewer I met, but I do remember him in my face shouting "Smoked Weizen!" about 30 times. He was using a loud voice and repetition to emphasize the beer he would enter into the WanCup 2009, a double secret probation brewing competition. His name is Smoked Weizen.

Where to start when so many amazing things happened? The beginning. Miyuki and I arrived in Tokyo and met our friends Tomoko and Kawano-san. Tomoko is a proffesional translator that loves the good beer and Kawano-san is a 12 year homebrewing veteran. Kawano-san took us to his 3-times-a-week watering hole, Bulldog. Bulldog is this great bar in the Ginza area. They have Ji-Biru and West Coast Ale on tap. Miyuki ordered a Baird Mikan Ale and then excused herself to the bathroom as an excuse to run across the street to Tokyu Hands to buy Friendship Valentine Beer for our friends. I kept her beer company while not neglecting my own Bear Republic Racer 5, a delicious IPA from California.

Miyuki ran to Tokyu Hands because earlier we had seen a 10% Imperial Chocolate Stout made by Rogue in Oregon and imported and sold by Ezo Beer in Japan. We paid 788 yen for each of these but it was worth it. They had it on tap at the Real Ale Festival. Damn, it is good.

Anyway, Miyuki comes back and gifts are exchanged. There are beers flying everywhere and Charlie Papazian books, and Flying Dog's Canis Major series, and then we get down to business. Bulldog has great food as well as beer! There we are - eating, drinking, talking beer, and having a great time. If you are reading this blog, you know the song, if not the whole album or catalog. This went on for a good chunk of time. Between everything that was consumed, the real rockstar of the night was a West Coast Beer. Speakeasy's Prohibition Amber Ale is amazing, balancing a rich malty base with a full hop profile that would be welcome in many an IPA.

More to come about beer in Tokyo. Thank you Tomoko and Kuwano-san for the great time at Bulldog!



P.S. Somewhere at a food market in Tokyo I took this picture of the new Ginga Kogen Pale Ale can design. Ginga Kogen, you can shape a turd like a brownie and it will look better, but it will still taste like shit. Stick to weizen and white ale and drop this crap.