October 21, 2010

• Japan's Finest on Tap
• Hallertau Beer
• Returning Friends
• Our own Travails
• Labour Weekend Trading

Japan's Finest on Tap

It seems a long, long time since we arranged for a supply of one way kegs to be delivered to the Baird Brewery in Numazu, Japan. Merely getting them to the brewery turned into a mission, then came the comparatively fun but slow task of agreeing what to fill them with and waiting while Baird worked through their brewing cycle. Finally it was more waiting as the shipment made the laboriously slow sea journey out here.

But they finally arrived this morning, a matter of hours after the last of our Nøgne Ø kegs was drained. This is fortuitous because it allows us to leave one tap dedicated to beer from whale-hunting nations.*

So the Nøgne Ø tap becomes the Baird Tap for the next month or two. We may decide to have more or fewer than one on tap at a time depending on the rate at which they are consumed. So here, in random order, are the beers represented in the shipment. And for those wondering, we do indeed have more than one of some - Rising Sun and Suruga Bay in particular:

Kurofune Porter
Rising Sun Pale Ale
Red Rose Amber Ale
Angry Boy Brown Ale
Teikoku IPA
Numazu Lager
Suruga Bay Imperial IPA
NZ Cascade Single Hop Ale
NZ Hallertau Aroma Single Hop Ale
Ganko Oyaji Barley Wine

The astute amongst you will note that Baird have been dabbling with New Zealand hops. We'll let on more about these beers in the next week or so.

Hallertau Beer

Hallertau will be nearly as prominent as Baird over the next week or two as we work our way through kegs of Steve Plowman's Stuntman, Statesman and Luxe. Our first ever keg of Stuntman went on a couple of days ago. It joins Renaissance's MPA as one of the few commercial Imperial IPAs made with only New Zealand hops. The Kölsch, Luxe, is on right now too.

Returning Friends

After previous abundant supplies of the Mussel Inn's Captain Cooker, we've been doing it tough over the last month or so. But a new batch is out and we have a keg ready to come on over the weekend.

It has been even longer since we had Twisted Hop's Sauvin Pils, but two kegs of this arrived yesterday too.

Remember to check our real time, web-two-point-oh feed of what's on to help time your imbibing over the coming days. It's at http://hashigozake.co.nz/beerlist.html or (for those doing their browsing on the go) http://hashigozake.co.nz/m_beerlist.html.

Our Own Travails

Regulars have probably been all too aware of the recent fluctuations in the, ahem, flatness of parts of our floor. We thank you for your patience. Our problems will soon be over, we believe. We have a plan to lay a completely new floor on or around the end of the month. Please keep the faith.

Labour Weekend Trading

Labour Weekend will make no difference to our opening hours. I.e. we will open at midday every day and close some time late in the evening. Not only that, we will not be penalising you with a surcharge for being thirsty on a holiday. If we get picketed for this by the executive of the Hospitality Association, please step around them.

Even better - members of SOBA will still benefit from our discount on Sunday and Monday.

*This should not be construed as an endorsement of either whale hunting or the practice of taunting whale hunters.