(Contains spoilers for the 2007 Christian Bale/ Hugh Jackman movie “The Prestige”, so go and watch that before reading this if you don’t want the end kind of spoiled, although to be honest you can work it out by the halfway point of the movie. Great movie too. David Bowie’s in it!)
Well, this is awkward. Back in summer I had this beer in the free 0.43 seconds I had between looking after my newborn son and rushing off to my job of making desperate attempts at getting teenagers to like me. I carefully consumed and contemplatively cogitated the offering, and made notes so lucid and insightful (making a change from my usual “brown. tastes like beer. Hope this’ll do when I write it up eight months later”) that I later thought I had written it up as a full article. Only recently, when I was looking through my old articles to give the old ego a nice polish, did I notice that the notional review was nowhere to be found. Well!
Fortunately, as I mentioned, the notes are good enough to write from, so here we go. And the moral of the story is: don’t try to compete with Rob. You’ll lose. I’ve written sixty articles and that’s still less than one percent of his output. (SPOILERS!) I wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually twins living as the same person, a la The Prestige.(/SPOILER)
So, the beer. Baird Numazu Lager is a 5% amber lager. It’s part of their year round line up and as with all Baird beers, it’s unfiltered and bottle conditioned.
Baird Numazu Lager Aroma and Taste
Numazu Lager pours out with the kind of big foamy head that makes Rob as angry as if someone had told him “Marmite tastes like a burnt tramp’s arse” or perhaps “Chemtrails aren’t real” or maybe “You shouldn’t call the waiter over until after you’ve decided what you want to order”.
It’s cloudy (unfiltered, remember! Still, I’m always apprehensive about drinking the bits), and the nose is very delicate. I’m getting a whiff of apricots. Tasting it, it’s slightly dry and grassy, with fruity apricot sweetness and a lightly bitter aftertaste.
Now, the decision to go unfiltered does mean that your mileage may vary on this one. Bottle conditioning means that the flavour will change over the months; if filtered, you can expect to see a general diminishing of the flavour. Unfiltered beers tend to take on a different character though, due to the continuing fermentation process taking place in the bottle. And indeed, it is a bit of a gamble- I’ve had a couple of duff bottles over the years.
This particular bottle had been conditioned for six months before I drank it, and in my opinion I think I hit the sweet spot.
Baird Numazu Lager The Bottom Line
It was 31 degrees on the day I drank this and it was fantastic. If country pubs existed in Japan (a laughable fantasy I know), they would definitely serve Numazu Lager. It’s a satisfying and traditional-tasting lager.
Drink it at the six-month mark for best results, in my opinion. Cheers!
Where to Buy Baird Numazu Lager
Baird Numazu Lager can be bought at all the Baird Taprooms and online at the following places
- Baird Online Stores: Rakuten / Yahoo
- Craftbeers.jp
- Goodbeer
- World Beer Market
