Speak EZ Numazu -”Spazz if you want to!”

The Aun Crew are back again at Speak EZ for another pumping good time. If you are after some good music, good company and great drinks then head down to Speak EZ this Saturday night. Spazz on! 

“Spazz if you want to!” on Saturday, June 6 at 9:00pm.

Event: Spazz if you want to!
      “Aun Crew Presents: Spazz if you want to! A monthly dance/ electronic music night at Speak EZ”
What: Club Party
Host: Traffikin Beatz
Start Time: Saturday, June 6 at 9:00pm
End Time: Sunday, June 7 at 5:00am
Where: Speak EZ

Spazz if you want to! Numazu Dance and Electronica

If you are up for a night of rock’n dance and electronica may I suggest that you get yourself over to the SpeakEZ.

Local Numazu group, The Aun Crew are performing, “Spazz if you want to” for their ninth run at SpeakEZ. Their funky house, techno and, drum and bass will have you on the hitting the floor in no time. Entry is free and the drinks flowing.

Event: Spazz if you want to!
“Aun Crew Presents: Spazz if you want to! A monthly dance/ electronic music night at Speak EZ”
What: Club Party
Host: Speak EZ
Start Time: Saturday, May 2 at 9:00pm
End Time: Sunday, May 3 at 5:00am
Where: Speak EZ To find out how to get there check out the map here

To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=170295170653&mid=5f7d39G3d9d45a4G73e1c6G7

Baird Beer’s Fishmarket Taproom – Numazu

The Fishmarket Taproom and Baird Beer.

In the words of the famed bad boy chef, Anthony Bourdain, this review is going to be an unashamed ‘blow job’ for Baird Beer and their bar the Fishmarket Taproom.

In fact, if anything, I’m a little nervous about writing about this place. I mean how can my rather self absorbed baby dribble reviews ever hope to capture what one experiences at the Fishmarket Taproom? But from my very core I need to write about this place. If just to have some far more astute writer read my crap, mentally vomit and then feel compelled to put into words a place that I struggle to articulate.

My love affair with the Taproom began even before I reached the shores of Japan. My wife and I were honeymooning in Thailand for three months until our work in Japan started. About a month before our arrival in Japan we received the details of our assignment to Numazu. Regular visits to internet cafe’s in search of information on Numazu ensued. However, my wife and I kept returning to the Baird Beer Fishmarket Taproom website.

Thinking about it now with the benefit of hindsight, I realize that all our searching was for us to try and establish some small thread of connection with Numazu. Something that would make us feel at home and shed some of the concerns of our new life ahead. That connection for us was beer.

In tribute to this connection, on our arrival to Numazu the first bar we visited was the Fishmarket Taproom. The love affair was cemented.

Today, a mere 18 months after our arrival in Numazu, our affection for the Taproom has only increased. I know many who share the same love of the well crafted beer, beer inspired food, warm setting and sense of being welcomed into the life of ones family that one gets from visit this place.

Last Saturday, the 7th birthday of Baird Beer and the Taproom, was a sign for me to finally bite the bullet and attempt some sort of review that will always pale to the reality of this amazing place.

Of course the most important part of Baird Beer is the beer. The owner, Brian Baird is a beer master with alchemical skill. His core regular beers, denote individual character and form a standard lineup certain to appeal to any palate. Baird Beer’s core philosophy ‘the experience of flavor’ that is free of interferences, such as extreme cold or carbonation, are displayed by this lineup. This starting line up includes such diverse beers as the Wheat King Ale, Rising Sun Pale Ale, Kurofune Porter, Shimaguni Stout, Red Rose Amber Ale, Teikoku IPA and the Angry Boy Brown Ale.

Of these, my palate is more attuned to the Shimaguni Stout and the Angry Boy Brown Ale, with their contrast of richness and full taste. While my wife prefers the ales.

The beer experience does not end there. Brian’s ever changing seasonal beers are an exploration into the full and purest potential of how beer can taste. With his most recent seasonal batch, Brian has added fresh whole fruits to his beers prior to fermentation. One of the most tantalizing of the new season ‘fruity’ beers is the Strawberry Field Milk Stout. An almost creamy experience with out the chewiness of a dry Guinness, this stouts richness and subtle allusions to chocolate are a enjoyable treat.

However, my favorite of this seasons beers was the 7-Year Ale. It’s dry tingly nature and simple construction pales to its complexity of flavors. It was a beer you really had to sit down and spend some time to enjoy. It’s 7.5% alcohol kick is another reason for you to be seated while you are enjoying this beauty. This beer was quite a surprise. The different flavors assaults your taste buds and you find yourself slowly sinking into a chair and smelling the beer and loosing yourself in it’s taste.

The Baird Beer website does a much better job than me in describing their beers. I have actually tried to reduce my descriptions of the beers in favor of Brian’s so I recommend that you check out his site.

Finally, moving away from the beers and onto the wonders of the Fishmarket Taproom. The Taproom’s earthy design with it’s tree trunk stools and enormous trunk base tables seemingly embedded into the floorboards provide a sense of closeness and openness with the beers. Feeling such a primary closeness to nature really makes you want to know more about what you are drinking, whether by taste or from the staffs extensive knowledge.

The large bay windows opening out to views of the fish markets also add that primary sense of ease and earthy peace.

The in-house chef is a blessing. The menu has been carefully designed to support the flavors of the beers with the addition of recognizable bar fair with top taste.

Last but not least, is the family that make the Fishmarket Taproom and Baird Beer so great. It seems that Brian spends as much time and care choosing his staff as he does making his beer. These wonderful people know their beer, are passionate about their beer and are so welcoming in showing you their world that you immediately feel to be part of the family. The added touch of Brian’s family regularly in attendance chatting to the patrons really makes you feel at home here.

Baird Beer’s Fishmarket Taproom is an awesome place where the full diversity of beer can be explored with great food and relaxing family environs. Happy 7th Birthday.

Location In the Fishmarket area. 19-4 Senbonminato-Cho, Numazu 410-0845. For further details check out
Hours Monday, Wednesday through Friday;5pm-12am. Saturday and Sunday, Holidays, Noon-12am. Closed Tuesday.
Style Bar – well…Taproom
English Menus Yes
Gaijin Friendly Yes
Contact Phone/Fax 055-963-2628. Website: www.bairdbeer.com

Blankey’s Bar -Numazu

Blankey’s

There is just something about ascending into the pits of a dim lit bar sitting down on a stool and peering through the smoky haze at the multitudes of quality whiskey on offer.

Perhaps it is because it saves a couple of flights of stairs on the way down to a much warmer pit of sin. Perhaps it is because it generally hurts less to fall up stairs than down them. But most likely its because you know you are going to be met with a friendly face of a barman who knows what you want and lets you enjoy it how you want to.

Blankey’s is my kind of place. It authentic. It a has a musk about it that is enticingly wrong and so very right.

I sit, slouch or sprawl on the bar stool resting heavily on the age stained wooded bar top, a Glenmorangie Scotch rests loosely in my hands I am happy. The occasional conversation with the barmen or the odd stranger and the mood set by this dark subterranean cavern is enough to send my mind back to my forefathers. Their quiet talk and big laughs mere echoes reverberating in the memory of the old wood of the bar.

For the more adventurous liquor lovers you can pour over their large range of spirits or allow these guys to show their true talents by asking them to create a cocktail for you.

Blankey’s is a naughty experience. Something warranting the occasional indulgence.

Location: Blankey’s is located in the Nakamise about 70 meters south of the Northern Enterance.
Stlye: Bar
English Menu’s:No but the staff speak some English.
Gaijin Friendly: Yes

Beer and Water Bancho aka Sakura

Beer and Water Bancho or Sakura is a new addition to the Numazu Bar scene. This small bar seating about 14 caught my attention with it displays of Harley Davidson motorcycles in and outside the bar.

This bars specialty is imported beer and, oddly, boutique water. As strange as the mix is, the bottle strewn bar featuring about 50 different varieties of beer from all over the world is not a bad place for a drink. Especially if you are missing an ale from home.

The staff are friendly and the big screen TV in the back usually playing American action on silent while some good tunes are playing adds some motion art to the place.

A note of warning however, the small bowl of nibblies you get with you first bear will be charged to you at 200yen and tax isn’t included in the menu prices. This came as a bit of a surprise to us at the end when we had to pay. The nibblies were not worth the cost.

Apart from that not a bad place to have a beer and you will usually find foreigner there to chat with too if you are inclined.

Location: South exit of the under pass running under railway lines. This is the first underpass west of Numazu Station.

Style: Beer bar

English menu: yes

Picture menu: yes

Gaijin friendly: very

Hours: 5pm til late

Gold Rush, Numazu

Gold Rush, Numazu

Location: South side. Follow the main street south that travels under the rail tracks (this is the main street to the west of the station.) and keep going until you reach the red sails. check here for a map http://www.mapbuilder.net/users/burpwind/42289
Style: Hip Hop night club.
Menu: mostly club spirit mixes and some beers. Average cost around 500yen
Gaijin Friendly: Appears to, though we were in a large group 7/10, for now.
Rating: 6/10
Cost: The night we went Ladies go in free and the Guy paid 1000yen entry that included a free drink. Not bad.

Now it took me about 4 months to realize why there were so many snack bars in this country and none of the buggers were serving fish and chips. For those of you not in the know, the snack bar is for the working man or woman who would like to have a little taste of something on the side while still going home to the three course meal of family life. But I digress. From initial appearances Gold Rush looked like another of Numazu’s many snack bars but it wasn’t long before I was informed by a friend that the place was indeed a night club. The occasional drunken stumble home from town past the club also reveal the heavy beats emanating from the ground floor. Over the ensuing months I was confident to have a good look at the notice board out the front without appearing like a dirty young (though my wife informs me, “old”) man. The club appeared to have quite a diverse line up featuring traveling DJ’s and some locals. I just needed an excuse.

The excuse came a few weeks ago when we were celebrating a friends birthday party. There was a group of about 7 or 8 of us and the birthday girl wanted to have a dance. My wife mentioned Gold Rush and we were off.

We made our way up the stairs and into a sort of a lounge bar. We all got a lot of stares on our arrival but this is not too uncommon in Japan. The patronage was made up predominately of girls with the odd splattering of guys uncomfortably trying to look cool. Now even on the main street of Nakamise women dress in some racy gear. Now, if you can imagine the raciness magnified three or four time then you will get a pretty good image of what the girls were wearing at the club (fhew! Difficult passage to write if I wanted to sleep in bed and not on the couch), As for the fellas, the standard pair of oversized baggy pants that hang just that little too far below the buttock as to look uncool, by Australian hip hop culture standards anyway. But, ladies there appeared to be some handsome guys out there for you.

So we lined up to get our drinks as the patrons returned to their conversations, makeup administration and vacant stares. As we were getting our drinks we were discussing the fact that there did not appear to be a dance floor. However, the birthday girl did notice a set of thin stairs near the bar and went to investigate. With birthday girl luck she managed to find that spiral staircase down to the nightclub area.

Once we all got our drinks we were off down stairs. The spiral staircase was an interesting touch to the club. I was the only entry point to the dance floor and the stairs were quite difficult to negotiate in the relative dark. I can imagine it would be a great test of sobriety for those poor inebriated sods who were destined to be trapped on the dance floor until they developed coordination enough to climb the their way back up and out.

Everything down here on the dance floor was black. Taking up one wall was the dj box and on the other were the majority of dancers standing there looking at the DJ’s or in some cases going out on a limb and moving side to side to the music. However, the birthday party ignored the status quo and jumped straight into dancing. I was surprised at how terrible a dancer I have become and wished to return to my early 20’s for some rhythm lessons. I certainly didn’t fit into the dancing scene anymore but I was determined to give it a crack and make the most out of the night. Just as I was getting into the music I began to feel the beginning of the ill fated monster of excessive pit sweat and my self confidence began to crumble. I made the decision to ditch the shirt and stick with the singlet I had on underneath. I new I was gonna cop some serious teasing after but it would be far better than swimming in a shirt drenched from the pits down. (Okay I know this is a gross segway but this night pushed me to find a solution to the problem and an internet search and subsequent purchase later I was all set.). Okay enough of the gross.

The night went on and the girls in our party began to drag some of the local boys out on the dance floor. This was mostly against their will but gaijin women are strong. I think they managed to get one or two guys to dance while the others acted like little teenagers running away at the first approach. It really was pathetic. I thought I was having confidence problems.

Admittedly, the music was really quite good for the club. They didn’t abuse the gangsta rap stuff too much like they do have a tendency to do in Australia and most of the rhythms and mixes were good to dance to.

I was time to head somewhere else so we wound our way back upstairs with a few glimpses at the refinance of the dance floor. Which now consisted of two big guys standing in the center bopping ever so slightly while staring at the dj’s.

Numazu’s Gold Rush is worth a visit. While there is quality music there was little dancing happening in the club that night. However, we did see some young dancers practicing their choreographed moves outside the club on our way out. When it comes to people watching it’s not a bad place there is some interesting fashion and equally amusing mate seeking behaviour. While I think it would be quite safe to go their alone I can guarantee you will not get a dance. Although these guys and gals all have the images of hip clubbers they still retain their Japanese shyness for good or ill.

cheers
Scott