I was abused

I had this past friday off and decided to spend it doing some photography in and around Yokohama. What an amazing day it turned out to be though it had nothing to do with any of that photo junk. Mid-day rolled around and my thirst was starting to pick up, but knowing that most Yokohama bars don't open till 5 p.m. I went searching for a good bottle. What sucks about Yokohama is that there isn't a decent bottle shop, uh, closer than Tanakaya - in Tokyo. There is a Queens Isetan in the Yokohama train station and they have more than anybody else; so I headed over. Found a couple things that looked nice but I wasn't in the mood for a pilsner or pale lager so I skipped out on those and decided I'd burn a couple hours waiting for the pubs to open up. I don't see a problem with that. I hadn't been to Craft Beer Bar in a while so I decided I'd check them out again. It's a real nice bar, but I always feel underdressed when I go in there, which makes me pretty uncomfortable. I quickly got over that upon seeing they had the Baird Double IPA on tap! I wanted to try a couple different things while I was there but after that first glorious sip of the Baird I knew where I was staying till my cash ran out. Nice copper orange in color with an aroma of citrus, grapefruit, orange, and a caramel malt background. I love that caramel malt. I dig big time hops in my DIPAs, but not enough breweries give them the malty backbone that IPAs desperately need. The Baird DIPA had a near perfect body making the flavors really stand out. Big grapefruit, citrus hop bite followed by some pine and herbal notes. That malty backbone keeps the hops grounded. Bitter and delicious, I wish they'd bottle this.

'Last' beer of the year

That's a complete lie. Soon I'll be heading up to Tokyo and celebrating the end of 2007 with my fair share of draft Asahi.
Baird's Jubilation Ale 2007 is my last new beer of 2007, though. I'd heard good things from this beer, but it still beat my expectations. As you begin to pour the beer the color strikes of melted caramel with a creamy, firm head standing proudly on top. besides having heard it was a "good" beer I had nothing else to go on. Reports of similarities to Anchor's Our Special Ale were rampant, but so was "yea, but it's different." The wonderfully inviting aroma was full of malty goodness, caramel apples, chcolate, milk, and spicy nutmeg and cinnamon. The caramel apples were something that took me off-guard, but had me yearning for that first sip. The caramel apple takes a back-seat in the flavor of this beer, leaving the sweet malts, milk chocolate, nutmeg and cinnamon with all the glory. The finish arrives with the spices showing themselves to be a powerful player, as well as some saltiness that requires you to go back for more. The smooth and creamy body only enhances the enjoyment of the Jubilation as it is very easily drinkable. At 6.5% alcohol, trying to make a session of this may be a rough (yet tasty) test. I can't think of a better way to send out 2007. I'm looking forward to what 2008 brings me.

How long is your beer's name?

The price for drinking this beer is having to spell out its name.







Hakusekikan Beer’s Tennenhachimitsukoubou Shizen Bakushu. Whew. Wild yeast from Kyushu Honey is used in this one. I’ve had their Shizen Bakushu previously and was looking forward to this one. Smoke and honey, I originally thought it was a straightforward ale with maybe some honey from the yeast, upon further inspection I’m picking up all this smoke, not what I was expecting but I dig it. The smoke adds a little more depth and range in the aroma I can really get into. What looks like a nearly flat witbier actually has nice carbonation, just not much of a head. The spices and banana become more apparent as it warms, so does the sweet yeast…all of which begin to over power the smoke. A touch of honey and some weizen notes round out the aroma. Body is a tad thin, but it’s not distracting and makes for an easy drinking beer. The flavor is where the whole thing get a bit odd. No smoke at all (a little disappointing), the spices mix well as does the light banana/fruity notes. Yeast becomes a player as you go. A bit of honey sweetness is detectable, but not strong. The hops show their presence in the finish and they want to bite you, I can tell. But this little guy doesn’t have any teeth. Interesting beer to say the least; I can’t imagine having more than one t a time, but I’d come back to this one.

Toned down compared to the original Shizen Bakushu. Not as spicy, no tartness to speak of, and less complex overall. Regardless this is another great output from Hakusekikan.
On the web: Hakusekikan Beer

Drinkability

Since today was a day off work for me I spent the first bit of it doing some reading of my favorite beer blogs and forums. RateBeer is always one of my first stops and stumbled across a post that had me thinking the rest of the day. It's not that it was the most thought provoking topic (merely asking what makes a session beer a session beer), but it did make me realize that my tastes- well they are a changing. Out of my first two 'good beers' I ever had one was Stone's Arrogant Bastard coming in at 7.2% abv. (the other, and actually first, was Bell's Porter at 5.2%). I think that Bastard gave me a chip on my shoulder, thinking that if a beer like that got me into the scene than I was destined to be a big beer fanatic and that small beers weren't up to par. The deeper I got the more I searched out strong stouts, barley wines, Imperial IPAs and the like. Anything over 8% was fine with me and If I came across a double digit abv then I was in heaven. To an extent I still do search out the big boys. I do believe they have more intense flavors, which is the main reason I love beer. But, finding a beer that is both tasty and easy drinking is more rewarding to me nowadays. I don't stick to the definition that a session has to be less than 4% alcohol, I'll go all the way to five or even five and a half. A good session beer is a thing of glory. Being able to sit at a pub with some pals downing pint after pint without getting too sloshed is a good feeling (so is waking up without a hangover). Originally I figured small beers had less flavor but I have been corrected time and time again. Not technically a session if we go by the 4% rule but easy and delicious anyhow is Samuel Smiths Oatmeal Stout. A stout as a session? You bet. Not only is it chock full of flavor (roasted malts, chocolate, oats, milk, vanilla, sweet malts, etc.) but it has a bit thinner body than many stouts and goes down real easy. At only 5% you can have a few in an evening and still make coherent sentences. The British seem to own the style, which from my understanding is because people tend to do most of their drinking and socializing at the pubs (whereas Americans socialize at home with a 12 pack and a couple buddies). Most of the milds and bitters that I've run across have a lower abv which makes them perfect session beers. I love porters (and stouts) and originally figured it would be hard to find a good session; wrong again. In line with the Sam Smiths there are plenty of other dark brews that are lower in abv.
Some of my favorites that are under 5.5%:
Fuller's London Porter
Minoh Stout
Baird Black Velvet Dark Lager
Baird Cream Ale
Iveralmond Lia Fail
Paddock Wood Brambling Bitter
On the Web: Stonch's Beer Blog: Session Beers (Looks like I'm just another one who has seen the light. Check out the rest of the blog, it's one of my favorites)