Baird Single-Take Session Ale

Debuting Live (Christmas Day)

December 23, 2010

Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

As you know, we have been spending a good part of 2010 celebrating and commemorating the 10-year anniversary of both the Taproom business and Baird Beer. On Christmas day we continue in this vein with the debut release of the 10th beer in our year-round portfolio: Single-Take Session Ale.

Single-Take Session Ale (ABV 4.7%):

Artistically, one of my real inspirations as a brewer has been great music performed by legendary musicians. Truly characterful music, of any genre, possesses the power to transport listeners to places of bliss and sorrow and soulful reflection that are otherwise difficult for listeners to access independently. Beer of great character is similar in its potential affect on imbibers. Over the years I have been struck by the fact that artisans of enduringly meaningful music tend to approach their craft much as do craftsmen of artisanal beer — with an internal rather than external measuring stick; with authenticity and personal integrity trumping commercialism and mass popularity as motivating forces; and with the intrinsic value of the artistic effort placed ahead of the profit motive.

Rock legend Bob Dylan tops my list of inspirational musicians of this ilk, but Neil Young is not far behind. In fact, it is Neil Young and his preference for raw, in-the-moment and often un-rehearsed ’single-take’ recording sessions that provide immediate inspiration for the naming and label design of Single-Take Session Ale. At Baird Beer, we brew in “single-take” batches, if you will: i.e. we take minimally processed ingredients yearly as they are, brew with them with as much simplicity and as little processing as possible, and depend on the intelligence of our philosophy and the acumen of our skill to yield an outstanding result. The “single-take” approach, pursued properly, produces beer, and music, that is of consistent high quality but not of uniform quality. This distinction between consistent excellence and uniform excellence is a vital and often misapprehended one. We strive always to be excellent, but we don’t desire that excellence to taste precisely the same in every bottle of every batch of every brand. That, to us, is “single-take” brewing. Done correctly, it rocks!

In the beer world, a “session” beer would be considered an ale or lager that is of low-to-moderate original gravity and final alcohol content that can be consumed pleasurably in fairly substantial quantity over the entire duration of the imbibing session. In the bigger is bolder is better world of craft beer, sadly, session beers have become few and far between. From a brewing perspective, session beers arguably are more challenging to craft for the simple reason that the brewer needs to obtain character in the beer while employing smaller amounts of ingredients than normal. When the conception is good and the brewing implementation outstanding, though, there are few if any beverages in this world more sublimely satisfying than a session beer.

The concept for our Single-Take Session Ale is this: a moderate gravity (11.7 P) Belgian-yeast fermented ale that enjoys lots of hop-flavor and hop-aroma character without exhibiting much hop-bitterness (only 20 IBUs). We want Single-Take to deliver a complex yet balanced flavor explosion that is bright and sprite and never fatiguing. A deft grist combination of floor-malted barley (Maris Otter and Bohemian Pilsner), wheat and rye provide the perfect stage upon which our whole hop actors (German Tettnanger, Czech Saaz, American Santiam and Amarillo) get to sparkle. Our Belgian yeast strain holds the entire flavor performance together with its firm, spicy and tart directorial oversight.

In the glass, Single-Take shows in the hazy hue of orange-gold underneath a snow-white head of pint-lacing foam. The aroma is succulent, like the scent of a softly perfumed elegant woman. A burst of honey-dewed, juicy-fruit flavor follows the olfactory experience in a performance prolonged by the bubbly effervescence provided by natural secondary-fermentation derived CO2 carbonation. And then … puff… the finish manages to be both instantly vanishing and yet persistently exhilarating.

Single-Take Session Ale makes its debut on Christmas day, Saturday, December 25 throughout Japan. In the spirit of Santa Claus, we will be offering Single-Take at a 100 yen discount at our Taproom pubs all day on Christmas. Consumer purchases of bottles (360 ml) direct from the brewery can be made through our online E-Shop.

Merry Christmas!

Bryan Baird