Howdy, Chris here.
April was the start of Baird Brewing’s thirteenth brew year, and we started off with . . . a non-brew day. Imagine that. The month was dominated by big-batch brewing, mainly because of a big order from our US importer, The Shelton Brothers. But we did manage to get in some seasonal brews and small batch brews.
1st: No brewing on April Fools Day. It just seemed safer that way.
2nd: BelDub-1.13 We started the new brewing year with a batch of Belgian Dubble.
3rd: EuroSpAle-1.13 (sb) Whenever we get a chance, we brew a small batch handpump ale. This time was a European Spring ale, light with European hops (duh).
4th: BA-1.13 The first regular beer of the year was an Angry Boy Brown Ale. For me personally it was a nostalgic moment; my first brewday after I joined Baird was an Angry Boy.
5th: HJA-1.13 (sb) Harajuku Taproom asked for more Harajuku Ale, and we were happy to brew it.
6th: WA-1.13 Wheat King is starting to sell more now that the weather is getting warmer, so we’re starting to brew more of it.
7th: I-1.13 Teikoku IPA for the first time this brewing year.
8th: DS-1.13 Today was the first Shimaguni Stout of the year.
9th: SessAle-1.13 Single-Take Session Ale for the first time this year.
10th: No brewing, time to catch our breath.
11th: BA-2.13 And Angry Boy surges into the lead with the second batch already this brewing year.
12th & 13th: PA-1.13 ((batch a & b): We brewed a double batch of Rising Sun Pale Ale. And boy to we need it. Our stockpile is dangerously low.
14th: I-2.13 Teikoku IPA looks like it’s battling hard for the most brewed beer of the month.
15th: BelSPA-1.13 Special beer, the last brew for May’s Hop Madness Month, a strong pale ale using our Belgian yeast.
16th: NMLager-1.13 (sb) Harajuku Taproom is coming up on its third anniversary in late summer, so we brewed an anniversary beer using some of the Natsumikan we got from The Carpenter. This Natsumikan Lager will have a long time to age and condition in the tank and in kegs before release.
17th: NL-1.13 (a batch) (sb) At the end of last week, we started building up a new pitch of our lager yeast, and today it was going well enough to add ~220 liters to it, the first of a three-step Numazu Lager brew.
18th: NL-1.13 (b batch) (sb) & P-1.13 Double brew day, our first of this brewing year. We continued building up the new lager yeast with another small batch of Numazu Lager, while the big system saw some Kurofune Porter action.
19th: NL-1.13 (c batch) & ASRA-1.13 (sb) Once again, we fired up both brewhouses. On the big system we finished the Numazu Lager brew, and on the small system, we made a handpump American Style Red Ale.
20th: AA-1.13 Red Rose Amber Ale, first batch of the year.
21st: IIPA-1.13 Suruga Bay Imperial IPA, first batch of the new brewing year.
22nd: NMA-1.13 (a batch) Our annual Shizuoka Natsumikan Ale, first batch today.
23rd: NMA-1.13 (b batch) We brewed a double batch of Natsumikan, but not having a large tank open, they went into two separate tanks. We’re thinking of blending them at kegging/bottling; if they taste the same, we won’t have to bother with that.
24th: Big Brewhouse cleaning day along with packaging.
25th: No brewing, just transferring and packaging.
26th: BA-3.13 Why do we need so much Angry Boy? Because we’re selling a lot, both in Japan and exports.
27th: PA-2.13 More Rising Sun. Hopefully we won’t run out again for a long time.
28th: IIPA-2.13 We tend to have trouble keeping Suruga Bay in stock, so the only answer is to brew it more often!
29th: BelTrip-1.13 To keep our Belgian yeast going, we brewed a big Belgian Tripel.
30th: Finished the month the same way we started: no brewing.
And that was our month. No signs of slowing down, no relief of the bottlenecks that we’re running into more and more. But with creative tank and space management, we should be fine through the summer.
Cheers,
Chris
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