Swig in Japan

Sapporo make an "all malt" beer called Yebisu, which I hadn't noticed before. It's a crisp light-gold lager, very fizzy at first, settling to a gentle sparkle. It's not as full-flavoured as one might expect with all that malt (there is hops and some barley too), but it's a lot tastier than just about any far-eastern lager I've encountered yet. There's a zesty fruitiness about it, with hints of banana, tempered by bitter hops. A complex light beer, all in all -- something of an oddity, that.