Shuzenji Heritage Helles

• Alcohol Content (by volume): 5.0%
• Starting Gravity (degree plato): 11.5
• Finishing Gravity (degree plato): 2.6
• Bitterness Units (IBU): 18
• Color (SRM): 4.0

Water: Soft, Cleanly Flavorful, Local

• Malted Grain: Floor-malted Pils, Munich, Caragold
• Un-malted Grain: Roast Barley
• Sugar: Japanese Korizato (Rock Candy)
• Hops: Whole Flower Cones (no pellets or extracts) – Various Varieties
• Yeast: House North American Lager Strain

Our brewery is located in the Odaira valley of Shuzenji. It’s an idyllic natural environment.

The label captures the beauty of our surroundings in a depiction of the southern view as enjoyed from our third-floor Brewery Gardens beer deck.

Shuzenji is a place strongly associated with Japan’s long and rich cultural heritage. Baird Brewing has created in Japan a special beer heritage of its own which we are bringing to and basing forever more in Shuzenji.

Helles (meaning pale) Lager is one of the great heritage beer styles of Bavaria, a region strongly connected with Germany’s profound cultural beer heritage. Shuzenji Heritage Helles is a celebration of this idea of heritage. It’s a clean and roundly balanced golden Lager of eminent drinkability.

One special feature of our brewing of Shuzenji Heritage Helles is the incorporation of a decoction mash regime.

Decoction mashing is the traditional German practice of removing a portion of the mash during the temperature rest and boiling it in a separate vessel and then returning it to the main mash in order to bump the temperature up to the next rest level.

We decoct twice during the mashing of Shuzenji Heritage Helles. This intensive treatment of the mash grain contributes a wonderful depth of malt flavor to the finished brew. Prost!

"Heritage is such an important thing. It ties us to the past helping us to understand the present and giving context to the future.

Shuzenji Heritage Helles is a celebration of this idea of heritage."