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Japanese Microbrews
Baird Brewing Company

Sayuri Baird

< 25, Nov, 2013 >


We’ve featured Japanese microbrews. Sometimes they are called local beers which mean the beer showing the special color of the area. Some of them, however, say they are brewing Craft Beer and it is different from local beer. What on earth does Craft Beer mean? We interviewed with Sayuri Baird; an establisher of Baird Brewing Company which brews Craft Beer in Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan. That explains below.


■ Glad to see you, Mrs. Baird. First, I would like you to introduce yourself, Baird Brewing Company.

Sayuri Baird: The Baird Brewing Company inaugurated business in 2000 as a small brewery-pub in Numazu. Bryan and Sayuri, we are a married couple, manned the small operation by ourselves. Bryan was brewing up Baird Beer in the tiny brewery just like a home brewery size (30L batch size).


■ Your beers are already loved inside and outside since your beers are not common but are Craft Beers. Let me ask. What is Craft Beer?

B: Major companies mass-produce well-balanced beers but without character because they have to appeal it to mass market. On the other hand, micro breweries can make beers with character because their target could be a small niche market. Craft beer does not always mean the size of brewery. There are some stories behind the making craft beer.


■ What do the stories mean?

B: For instance, our seasonal beers include various dramas like reviving old or classic beer styles, using in-season local farm products, and inspired by friends and families.


■ Oh, we have featured your Country Girl inspired by Bryan’s late mother; Sally.

B: Right. The kabocha ale originates in the old fact she had been elected to Miss Pumpkin of a rural town when she was little.


■ Good. Craft beer surely includes stories, as you say. That means craft beers have solid basis which explains why they were brewed. I heard you brew the ale limitedly during autumn since Sally loved fall.

B: It is true she loved autumn so much. That is not all. It also results from her simple but sophisticated and elegant personality. Needless to say, fall is the season of kabocha. We use just the kabocha in season, so that we cannot brew Country Girl all year around. Every year the tastes are a little bit different. I guess it is one of the enjoyments of craft beers.


■ You mean we can taste nature and seasons throughout craft beer?

B: That is a way to enjoy craft beer, I believe.

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