The Celebration Ale was flowing and foaming down in Yokohama last month, and for a very good reason. Baird Brewing, one of our favorite small-scale craft-beer producers in all of Japan, has been marking its 10th year in business. And it's done it in style, by opening its newest and best pub to date.

The Bashamichi Taproom is the fourth in the growing stable of Baird venues, and the third in the greater Tokyo region (the original Taproom is in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, where all the beer is brewed). But this new venture is very different to any of those that came before.

Instead of being hidden away on an upper floor inside some anonymous edifice — as the Naka-Meguro branch is — this Taproom occupies the whole of a freestanding three-story building. Built 40 years ago, the premises have a character all their own.