Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

Spring is the season for fresh starts. So it is that a new beginning has dawned for an annually produced Baird Brewmaster's Select Series Seasonal brew -- Bureiko Jikan Golden Ale. The inspiration for this stealthily strong beer always has been the Belgian tradition. Heretofore, however, we have brewed Bureiko Jikan with our house ale yeast. This year, in an effort to move closer to the inspirational roots of Bureiko, we have fermented it with a true Belgian yeast strain (one originally derived from the Chimay brewery). The result is, we think, spectacular!

Bureiko Jikan Golden Ale (ABV 7.0%) is hued in opulent tones of gold and innocently introduces itself with a virgin-white head of tightly latticed foam. Fruity yeast-derived aromatics redolent of ripe pears and juicy-fruit
gum waft from the glass. An herbal, earthy character stemming from the use (including dry hopping) of four varieties of low alpha, fine aroma hops (Glacier, East Kent Golding, Fuggle, Sterling) ties in wonderfully with the fruit notes. Lingering in the long taste is a malty flavor reminiscent of homemade biscuits smattered in freshly harvested honey (almost entirely pale malt varieties were used -- Maris Otter, Vienna and German Wheat). Fifteen percent of the fermentable extract is provided in the form not of malt but Japanese candy sugar. This leads to a highly attenuated beer that finishes dry and warm.

Bureiko Jikan Golden Ale is now pouring from the taps of the Fishmarket Taproom. It also will be available at fine retailers of Baird Beer throughout Japan in both bottle- and keg-conditioned form.

The new beginnings don't end with our Golden Ale, however. We also have brewed for the first time an apple ale made possible through the generous donation of Yamanashi prefecture red apples by our friends at the wonderful Kofu city pub, Four Hearts Cafe.

Yamanashi Apple Ale (ABV 5.9%) is a brilliant hazy golden color and sports a billowy white head of foam. A subtle waft of tart apples immediately greets the olfactory senses. This aroma stems entirely from the use of freshly, and coarsely, grated red apples added to the wort kettle at the end of wort boiling. No aroma hops have been added nor is any real fruit character derived from the yeast (our standard house strain) or the fermentation regime (conducted cool and slow). In the mouth, a pleasantly tart cider-like flavor is accentuated beautifully by the effervescence of a vigorous natural carbonation. The beer is dry and highly attenuated as a result of low mashing temperatures, the exclusive use of pale malts (Maris Otter, German Pils, Wheat and Carahell) and a touch of Japanese candy sugar. At 25 IBUs the hop bitterness is low but this is compensated for by the tartness of the apples.

Yamanashi Apple Ale also is now being served on draught at The Taproom. It will be available in both bottle- and keg-conditioned form at a limited number of Baird Beer retailers in Japan (including Four Hearts Cafe in Kofu). This is a small batch production beer and thus supplies are extremely limited.

Cheers!

Bryan Baird