Dear Taproom Friend & Baird Beer Enthusiast:

It has become a Baird Beer tradition to greet the dawn of each new year with a special “First Brewed” (Hatsujozo) seasonal specialty beer.  At the stroke of midnight on the evening of December 31, we — along with a host of other Baird Beer retailing pubs/restaurants in Japan — pour this commemorative Hatsujozo and share it with our fellow beer enthusiasts in a toast to the New Year.  

New Baird Beer Seasonal Release: 

*Hatsujozo 2012 Strong Belgian Gold (ABV 8%):

This year’s “First Brewed” is a take on a Belgian-style strong golden ale:  a base-malt grist (Maris Otter, Pils, Munich, Sour) buttressed by a mammoth addition of Japanese korizato sugar that yields a strong 17.3 Plato wort; a moderate hopping regimen (30 IBU) that is conducted in five separate additions and combines nine different hop varieties (Motueka, Tradition, Perle, Vanguard, Glacier, Sterling, Hersbrucker, Saaz, Tettnanger); warm fermentation with our house Belgian ale yeast; and secondary fermentation and natural carbonation in package with the same Belgian ale strain.  2012 promises great things; Hatsujozo 2012 Strong Belgian Gold is the first it will deliver!

Hatsujozo 2012 is available this year exclusively in kegs.  It is meant to be enjoyed at a fine pub or restaurant on draught and in the company of friends, family, colleagues and all the great people we count as beer enthusiasts. 

Kampai to 2012!

Bryan Baird

P.S. Please join as at one of our Taproom pubs (Numazu Fishmarket, Nakameguro or Bashamichi) for fun and festive countdown parties on Saturday, December 31.  We will be pouring complimentary glasses of Hatsujozo 2012 to all patrons for our New Year toast.