Raiden Black Rye IPA
Fuggles Beer

Opaque brown-black color. Head was a tan color with mostly fine bubbles. The head quickly dropped down to a thin skiff but did not leave any lacing. Couldn't see any bubbles rising.

Smells of hops, mild sweet florals, light malt, and a bit of barnyard which faded. Swirling the glass kicked up the barnyard again and something a little minty.

Flavor of some darker malts and hops, with a medium-high bitter level. The hops and bitters pop out in the aftertaste. Much milder flavor than I expected. The rye didn't stand out. Thankfully the barnyard scent didn't show up in the taste.

Low carbonation, but it did foam up into some larger bubbles. Medium-heavy body.

Generally this tastes like an average IPA with a more roasted malt. Doesn't seem all that relevant for the winter season, as it could fit in well with the summer IPAs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

650ml bottle, part of this brewery's apparent 'kisetsu' series, which means 'season' in Japanese. Ok, then. Also, rye is not in the list of ingredients on the label, strangely.

This beer pours a clear, very dark brown colour, with nuanced cola highlights, and one fat finger of puffy, finely foamy, and mildly bubbly tan head, which leaves some approaching thunderstorm lace around the glass as things slowly subside.

It smells of strong, if mixed fruity notes - orange and grapefruit, sure, but with additional juicy tropicals - earthy yeast, grainy and lightly roasted pale and caramel malt, a twinge of that phenolic band-aid thing, some bittersweet cocoa, and further green leafy, weedy, and resinous pine hop bitters. The taste is big and fruity up front - sort of a blend between domestic citrus and more heady Mediterranean dark figs and the like - with some generic toasted caramel and wanly spicy wheat malt, a retreating edgy yeastiness, faded stale chocolate, and more weak herbal, leafy, and piney hoppiness.

The bubbles are pretty laid-back in their plainly lounging frothiness, the body an adequate medium weight, and kind of clammy in its attempt at any kind of smoothness. It finishes well off-dry, the fruity and malty characters starting to run off with it.

Definitely a fruity affair, with the bittering counter agents barely holding up their end of the tacit bargain. The roast blows off fairly quickly, the purported rye seems to merely exist in the title, and that weird yeastiness lends credence only to the overall Japanese-influenced brewing perception here.

 

6.4% abv, 75 ibu, 650ml bottle.
A - dark redish brown with light brown head, lacing.
S - fruity, citrus, spice, chocolate, dried date, fig, longan, raisin tartness, roasted malt, brown sugar.
T - well carbonated, medium body, complex, not as refreshing as regular ipa, sweet upfront, rye spice, dark malt chocolate & coffee characters came out, balanced out with long lasting bitterness.
O - great brew offered by F&W, interesting favors, yet complex. like porter with citrus (refreshing fruit) and the high bitterness. keeping beer weird! and indeed! weird but delish!

I picked this up because I was fascinated by the name, though I do like darker IPAs. This beer pours black and without lustre. About one finger of tan head kicks up and slowly retreats to the edges, leaving small archipelagos of foam behind. The smell is rich, but difficult to place. Roasted malt and pine dominate the first impressions. Though I like dark beer, I found this to be almost scorched - I thought of burned toast many times while finishing it off. This one leaves a resinous hop aftertaste, so if that's your thing, enjoy!