Rye Ale
Swan Lake Beer

Bought a bottle of this from Tanakaya in Mejiro, Tokyo. Poured into a Baird pint glass. Beautiful amber-bronze with a thick frothy white head. Smells of the obvious rye as well as cherry, ethanol, and rutabaga. The smell and the hue both remind me of a barleywine, but seeing it in a pint glass in volume is surprising. The taste is pleasantly toasted and refreshing... not overly powerful in the rye. Even those who don't like rye but enjoy toasted flavors in beer would enjoy this. Overall, a great beer from a wonderful brewer. I will try to get as many different kinds of Swan Lake before I leave Japan.

A nice mellow taste, there's an initial burst of honey-like sweetness that quickly fades, and then the rye flavor really does come through. It's not so sweet or bitter as Swanlake's IPA, but more flavorful than their "golden ale", and there's sort of an kind of appealing roughness to the taste.

Found this gem at Beerbelly in Osaka.

A - Finger and a half of pure white head. Hazy yellow body. Beautiful and extremely stubborn lacing.
S- Simple yet absolutely gorgeous lychee aroma.
T - Very fruity, with nice bitterness and firm rye/malt flavors and a hint of sweetness.
M - Light in body with big flavors very nice.
D - I found this beer very enjoyable, very pretty, almost too pretty. I know I will be ordering this whenever I find it.