Few, if any, craft beer drinkers in Japan need an introduction to Baird Beer. Itâs widely recognized as one of the best and many craft beer bar operators say as much when asked for an opinion. Their impressive list of awardsâincluding three gold medals at the recent World Beer Cupâis an indication of the esteem in which professional tasters hold the brand. And the extent to which Bryan and Sayuri Baird have expanded their company, though not at the expense of quality, says much for their business acumen as well.
Bryan recently gave us a tour of his small brewery in Numazu, expounding on the virtues of sanitation, discipline and love for the craft. A good line-up of brew, Bryan insists, will take ten, twenty, even thirty years to perfect. It may also require a good team, which is why we wanted to talk to his head brewer, Chris Poel, for some insight to the Baird philosophy.
How did you become associated with Bryan & Sayuri Baird and Baird Brewing?
I first met Bryan and Sayuri in the fall of 2000 after I heard about a new brewery pub in town. I went there a few times before Bryanâs brewing license went through, and we became friends. Just before Christmas that year, I heard that Bryan was serving his own beer, so I went in and found out that his license still hadnât been approved, but that he would be able to start selling his own beer in January. The disappointment must have been very clear in my eyes because after a few minutes, Bryan brought out a nice glass of Kurofune Porter as a sneak preview. One sip and I was hooked.
Later on, Bryan asked me if I was interested in helping out brewing on his original 30-liter system, which was very similar to the homebrewing I was already doing, so it was a natural transition for me. I did that part-time for a year or so, and then when Bryan moved up to his 250-liter system, I helped out some more. I knew then that this was the career that I wanted to pursue, but family obligations (two kids in high school, soon to be college) made it impossible.
And then a couple days before my 50th birthday in December 2008, I got an email from Bryan asking me if I was interested in the lead brewer position starting in April 2009. This time, all signs pointed toward yes. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Among friends and colleagues alike, Bryan is known as a ganko oyaji, or stubborn old man (hence the name of his seasonal), but Iâve heard that you have gotten him to rethink and retweak a few of his recipes and brewing processes. Can you elaborate?
First of all, to succeed in the craft beer business, you have to be a ganko oyaji. Look at the great craft breweries in the United States and inevitably youâll find a highly driven stubborn brewer. Youâll find someone who has a vision and is uncompromising in his or her efforts to achieve that vision. Especially in Japan, where the craft beer industry as a whole is still making a lot of sub-par beers, being a stubborn, meticulous, anal brewer is critical. Bryan and I are very similar in this aspect.
That said, my biggest contribution to Baird Brewing so far has been in the day-to-day operations in the brewery. I come from a teaching background, and Iâm using that experience every day. We have two young Japanese brewers, and I spend a large amount of my time on training them how to brew, making sure they are being meticulous about cleaning and sanitizing, making sure that when theyâre running the brewhouse, every step of the process is done properly and efficiently. But beyond that, Iâm teaching them why theyâre doing what theyâre doing. In other words, Iâm training them to be ganko oyaji. And that is critical to Baird Brewingâs success.
As far as recipes go, Iâve developed a few since Iâve joined Baird, and theyâve been well received. Iâm looking forward to doing more in the coming years.
You are widely known for having invented, or at least developed, the process known as âhop bursting.â Could you please tell us a little more about that?
Back in January of 2005, some homebrewers started talking about experimenting with late hopping — adding all of the hops late in the boil with no traditional bittering addition — on the BrewBoard online homebrewing forum. I adjusted an IPA recipe of mine so that all the hops were boiled for 30 minutes or less, and I wanted a name to distinguish it from the regular recipe. In a fit of creativity, I came up with Hop Burst — thatâs my big claim to fame. But we didnât invent the technique — itâs been around for years. And actually at the same time, other homebrewers were experimenting with late hopping. For homebrewers, itâs an interesting technique to play around with, but itâs not really commercially viable due to the cost of hops and the loss due to absorption that adding such a huge amount of hops would entail.
What do you think makes a good beer?
A lot of people think brewing is a sexy cool job, and I have to admit that running the brewhouse on brew day is a lot of fun. But thatâs only a small fraction of what it takes to make a good beer. Every part of the brewing process, from weighing out the grains and ensuring they are milled properly to water volume and temperature, from transferring and dry hopping beers to boxing them up for shipping, all requires diligence and knowledge and care. If one link in the chain is damaged, the whole process falls apart. The best beers are those produced in a brewery where every step in a beerâs production is taken with a clear vision, where every step is carried out with absolute meticulousness, where no beer leaves the brewery without receiving the brew masterâs stamp of approval. Iâve tasted all too many beers, both in Japan and the States, where the brewer admitted that it wasnât very good, but they released it anyway. Thatâs unacceptable to us, and it should be for every brewer, for every brewery.
Which of your own beers is your best?
For me, the best beer is the one in my hand. We currently make nine regular beers, and each of them is brewed to achieve a certain flavor and aroma profile. All of them have their place in the beer world, and all have their fans — as do the numerous seasonals we come out with. That said, I do love the hoppier beers — pale ales, IPAs, amber ales — and thatâs what I usually use as my âcalibration beerâ when I go to a new brewery. If they make a good pale ale, Iâll go ahead and try some of their other beers. If the pale ale is sub-par, then I move on to a different breweryâs beer.
You work in a brewery, which involves sampling beers daily. Do you make a conscious effort to take a âday offâ or have a âbeer free dayâ?
Itâs true, I do sample beers every day. When beers are fermenting, one of the best judges of how fermentation is progressing is to taste. Once fermentation is over and the beer is conditioning, having a taste regularly becomes even more important. And once the workday finishes, nothing restores a brewerâs vigor more than a nice pint of beer. Do I make a conscious effort to take a break from drinking? Not really. But my body lets me know when it needs a break, and other than the sampling in the brewery, I listen to my body. Whether thatâs a day, two days, a week, thatâs something that just happens, not something I plan.
From the perspective of a brewer (not, say, a business owner), what are some of the challenges you think brewers in Japan face?
What the Japanese craft beer world needs is more good beer — as the back cover of the first issue of Japan Beer Times proclaimed, âBad beer is the enemy.â That may sound arrogant, but itâs the simple truth. There are too many breweries in Japan where the âbrew masterâ was chosen for nebulous reasons, such as âHey, Taro-kun, you drink beer a lot, how would you like to brew?â They receive training from the equipment manufacturer on how to use the equipment, and at the end of the training, they get a couple recipes, and handshake and now theyâre brewers. Thatâs like teaching someone how to use the stove and oven, handing them a few recipesânow he or she is a chef? Not good enough. What Japan needs is more brewers who go to brewing school, apprentice at established craft breweries, and then return to Japan with their newfound knowledge. Unfortunately going overseas is the only option, since there are no brewing schools in Japan. But once a critical mass is reached, those brewers will be able to start teaching and training the next generation of Japanese brewers.
Can you please tell us a little about how you source your ingredients? Iâve heard, for example, some ingredients come straight from Numazu.
A large majority of our fruits and vegetables come from the family orchards of our good friend (and owner/partner) Nagakura-san, aka The Carpenter. Thatâs where we get our mikan, natsumikan, yuzu, kabocha, green tea, and more. Other local ingredients come our way through friends and customers. When we get something in, we work it into a recipe and get brewing!
Is there any undiscovered territory in brewing?
Thereâs always some new ingredient, process, or technology on the horizon, but what that might be, I donât have a clue. Weâre always on the lookout for something unique or original that we can use to enhance a beer. Weâll never add something to a beer as a gimmick, only if we think it will complement and add to the beer, not take over the beer.
Where did you learn to brew?
I started homebrewing in 1999 and quickly fell in love with the whole process — and the end result, of course. Through books, magazines, the internet, and working for Bryan in the early days, I refined my brewing skills and attention to detail. Bryan was especially helpful in teaching me recipe formulation, and that was one part of my homebrewing that I was especially proud of. Homebrewers are always coming up with far-fetched ideas, so picking those that really do enhance the brewing process can sometimes be tricky. Having a mentor look me in the eye and tell me that an idea was crazy gave me an appreciation of the basic techniques that all good brewing is grounded in.
What is the hardest thing to grasp/master when learning to brew?
This is a really hard question because I was shoved into an intense situation from my first day at Baird. I started April 1, 2009, and three weeks later, Bryan was heading to the States for the Craft Brewers Conference. So basically, I had to learn everything within that three weeks so I could keep things going while he was gone. Specifically, that meant relearning our small 250-liter system, getting up to par on our big 1000-liter system, becoming comfortable with sanitizing and cleaning the tanks, and a whole lot more. The stress and pressure was huge, but I survived. In that first month in the brewery, I lost almost 10 kilos — and it was the best experience of my life. Whenever a similar challenge presents itself now, Iâm excited. And instead of merely surviving, Iâm starting to kick ass!
Where do you envision the Japan craft beer industry being in, say, ten years?
Itâs hard to predict the future, but I see a lot of parallels between the Japanese craft beer world now and the US 15 or 20 years ago. Back then in the States, you had a lot of pretenders starting breweries with nothing but a dream, with little or no knowledge to back them up. And quite frankly, a lot of the beer was sub-standard. Thatâs the same situation that Japan is in now — lots of gimmick beers, lots of people getting into the market for all the wrong reasons, lots of brewers who arenât educated enough to make a serous run at success — and the resulting beer is often uninspiring. I truly hope that within the next decade, more and more Japanese brewers start breweries for the right reasons — making good beer with high-quality ingredients in a way that brings character and distinction to the beer. Is it possible? I think so. But, as I mentioned before, Japanese brewers will have to make the sacrifice and go overseas in order to do it right. I truly hope this will happen — ganbare!
Please check the next issue (summer) for features on
Isekadoya, Hakkaisan and Helios.
This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.
