Recently in Sly Fox Category

This is one of Sly Fox's flagship brews, and one of the more popular local pilsners... but can it hold up to Victory's Prima Pils? I have to admit that the pilsener style isn't one of my favorites, though they sometimes do hit the spot.

Sly Fox Pikeland Pils - Pours a clear golden yellow color with tons of loose, large-bubbled head. It's got that distinct earthy, floral hop aroma (Saaz hops?) that I associate with pilseners, which follows through to the taste. The taste is pretty straightforward stuff, pale malts with the light hoppy bitterness that characterizes the pilsener style. Mouthfeel is well carbonated but very light and easy to drink. Overall, maybe better than your average pilsener, but again, this isn't really my favorite style and it certainly hasn't unseated Prima Pils. B-

Beer Nerd Details: 4.9% ABV canned (12 oz). Drank out of a pint glass on 9/2/11.

Sly Fox is still one of the more interesting local brewpubs, and I look forward to trying more of their beer. I've even got a couple cans of their IPA ready to go...

This past weekend's double feature consisted of a pair of rather depressing movies and, of course, two IPAs. After a pretty long stretch of IPA double features that highlighted the variety and distinctiveness of the style, I seem to be experiencing some bad luck with the last two. In the last IPA double feature, I had two great beers that were actually pretty similar. This post covers two middling DIPAs that are, again, pretty similar. Huh.

On the filmic side of things, I started with I Saw the Devil , a rather extreme Korean revenge flick (those Koreans really seem to enjoy vengeance!) Fans of Park Chan-wook's Vengance Trilogy will no doubt enjoy this one. The second film was Black Death, a dour British film set during the bubonic plague. It has its moments, but it's ultimately quite depressing and hard to recommend. I would recommend Director Christopher Smith's previous effort, Triangle, though. It's also depressing, but it features an odd elliptical plot that's quite intriguing (if a bit polarizing).

Depressing films and bitter beer, a match made in heaven?

Breckenridge 471 IPA - Part of Breckenridge's "Small Batch" series, this is a rather straightforward double IPA. I'm not sure what the number 471 signifies, but if you haven't seen Breckenridge's fantastic mockery of big beer advertising, check it out. Interestingly, I've been seeing Heineken ads on TV lately that seem to be doing the same thing. Not sure which brewery got their first, but it's an interesting contrast in breweries and advertising. The Heineken ad is much more polished and pretty, but also somewhat cold, impersonal, and rather boring. Breckenridge's ads are, by contrast, low budget and static, but they amply demonstrate the personable and lovable nature of American craft brewing. And they're much funnier!

But enough about advertising. This beer pours a darkish amber gold color, with about a finger of head. Grassy hops in the nose, with just a hint of sweetness. Taste is surprisingly straightforward. It's not overly sweet or bitter, though both flavors are there. I'm not entirely sure I'd recognize this as a DIPA, though it does get a bit boozier as it warms up. Looking at the hops it's brewed with, I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy it more, but I got less citrus or pine than I would expect. It's a solid beer, with earthy hops and a nice medium to full body, but it's not something that's blowing the doors off the wall either. Whatever that means. B

Beer Nerd Details: 9.2% bottled (12 oz). Drank from a tulip glass on 5/20/11. Hops: Chinook, Centennial, Simcoe, Fuggles. IBUs: 70

Sly Fox Odyssey - I didn't know this until now, but every year since 2004, Sly Fox has celebrated the IPA style with a year long series of single-hopped beers at their brewpub, culminating in an all day festival in December of each year. Every year the number and varieties of hops changes, but it's usually somewhere around 8-10 different hops. To coincide with the festival, they also launch a new beer made from all the hops used that year, called Odyssey. A double IPA with shitloads of hops.

It's a bit darker in color than the 471 - less amber and more brown. The nose is less sweet, but perhaps more hoppy. There's also a bready, almost Belgian aroma poking out, but it's very subtle. The taste is more intense and complex, but very similar. The body is a bit less full, but that makes it a bit more drinkable. Ultimately, I'm getting a very similar feeling with this beer - a solid brew, but not lighting my hair on fire either. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 8.4% bottled (22 oz). Drank from a tulip glass on 5/20/11. Hops: Cascade, Newport, Warrior, Northdown, Vanguard, Palisade, Simcoe, Nugget, Magnum, Challenger*. IBUs: 90

It's unclear how often the Odyssey recipe changes, but in any case, I'm probably more likely to revisit that one than the 471.

In terms of IPA double features, this surely won't be the last, and I can guarantee that the next one will feature more distinct varieties of the style. In fact, it may even be a triple feature!

* Again, it's a little unclear if they change the Odyssey recipe from year to year, but according to their website, it was first brewed in 2006, and so I listed the hops from that year.

Today is Star Wars day! And Beer Club! Due to schedules and various other factors, this month's beer club was a rather small gathering, but there were still some great beers to be had, as well as some wine and even homemade hard cider.



The theme this month was local brews, but as you can see from the picture, there were really only 4 beers on the docket this month (again, this was due to the fact that less people came and not because of any difficulty finding local beers). For reference, here's what we had:

• Dogfish Head ApriHop - A fellow beer clubber had visited Dogfish Head's brewpub earlier in the week and got themselves a growler of ApriHop. It survived the trip reasonably well, though the brew was a bit light on the carbonation. It was still quite good though. It was quite a pleasant IPA, with a ton of fruity citrus character (apparently from Apricots added during the brewing process). B+
• Dogfish Head Hellhound On My Ale - A play on famed blues guitarist Robert Johnson (who, legend has it, sold his soul to the Devil to create the amazing music he did), this was actually the first beer of the evening, and I don't know if it was because I'd had a particularly long day, but this was amazing. It tasted like a very refreshing pale ale, along the lines of, say, Dale's Pale Ale. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found out that it was a 10% ABV double IPA with 100 IBUs. Astounding! The alcohol was incredibly well hidden, and despite the high IBUs, it wasn't overwhelmingly bitter (again, I thought of it more as a regular pale ale rather than an IPA and would never have guessed that it was a DIPA). Very sweet with lots of citrusy hop character and a nice bitter kick. There's something else here that I can't quite place, but in the end, it's a very complex and yet well balanced beer. As it warmed, the alcohol seemed to become a bit more prominent, but it was still a triumph of a beer. A-
• Sly Fox Saison Vos - My contribution for the evening was a pretty well crafted saison from local Sly Fox brewery. Nice clear pour with lots of head, a spicy Belgian yeast aroma, and that sweet and spicy taste with a harsh mouthfeel that I've come to love about saisons. There's a bit of a bite to this beer that isn't particularly pronounced, but which adds a welcome bit of complexity. If my upcoming saison homebrew turns out this well, I'd be over the moon. B+
• Yards Brawler - Labeled as a "Pugelist Style Ale", this one is probably more accurately described by the Beer Advocate style of English Dark Mild Ale. I've actually had this a few times before, and I've always thought of it as a solid if unremarkable beer. Tasting it after the above was a bit of a letdown though. It's a bit thin and subtle, but it would make a good session beer and would probably stand out better if it didn't have to compete with the likes of Dogfish Head or Sly Fox. A tentative B-

And that just about covers it for the beer. I had a couple of the wines (including a Chaddsford Spiced Apple Wine that sounded and smelled great, but the taste was quite off for me - would have wanted some sort of carbonation there) and the hard cider, but none of those really stood out as much as the beers.

Despite the small session, good times were had by all that managed to attend, and I'd count it as yet another success. As usual, I'm already looking forward to the next meeting!

If you happen to mention Royersford, PA to me, two things immediately come to mind. First is their distinctive fire horn (seriously, that's a badass horn). Second is Sly Fox, a brew pub and micro brewery that's been steadily expanding. They're one of the few craft breweries with a canning line, something they started doing long before it became trendy, though they also have a bottling line for big beers like the one I had recently:

Sly Fox Incubus - Pours a hazy yellow gold color with a white, fluffy head. Smells of spicy Belgian yeast (cloves, etc...). Maybe a little fruitiness in the nose as well. Taste is pretty straightforward. Sweet and spicy like the nose, and some booziness as well. In fact, that sticky alcohol flavor lingers a bit in the aftertaste. Coming in at 10.3% ABV, it's a bit too strong, even for a tripel. Highly carbonated with a bit of a bite, it's nevertheless pretty easy to drink. All in all, it's a pretty straightforward Belgian tripel style beer. It's one of my favorite styles, so I do really enjoy this, but on the other hand, there's nothing particularly complex about it. A solid effort. B

Beer Nerd Details: 10.3% ABV bottled (750 ml, caged and corked bottle). Drank from a Goblet.

I've got a couple other Sly Fox beers in my fridge, and perhaps someday a trip out to the brew pub for some dinner and beer someday.