Sly Fox Black Raspberry Reserve

Brewed by Sly Fox Brewhouse
Style: Fruit Beer
Royersford and Phoenixville, Pennsylvania USA

Draft in Pheonixville. pours a clean deep ruby body with a foamy pink head and some little red floaties. The aroma is sweet and tart rasberries and sugar. Flavor starts with a weird asstringancy that goes away after a while followed by a sweet rasberry flavor and some alcohol flavor in the finish.

This fruit beer pours a raspberry red color form a 750 ml bottle. Medium sized pinkish foamy head. Aroma is raspberries and sweet. A medium to light bodied fruit beer. The malts are fruity and wheaty. The hops are earthy. This beer is very sweet and artificial tasting. There is a pronounced seltzer and soapy taste. The raspberry flavors are very sweet and seem a little artificial tasting, more like they used raspberry syrup than real fruit. Did not really enjoy this one. Mouthfeel is a full. Finish is crisp. Aftertaste is sweet.

Man, this beer was all over the place. I gave it high marks for the appearance because man, it just looked stunning in my glass. Absolutely beautiful I thought. A rich, purpleish/red color, with a nice light pink foamy head, the kind that you’d get from pouring a 7-Up. Aroma is raspberries. Yep, just raspberries. Mouthfeel had that mineral water/club soda kind of feel to it. Flavors had that extract, fake raspberry taste to it. Almost saccharine like. Kinda like a watered down framboise mixed with a wheat beer. Not the best. But looks damned good in my glass.

Bottle split with Tronraner. pours a dark pink color with a full-on pink head. Aroma = black raspberries. Flavor =black raspberries. I’m struggling to get anything else here. I suppose something like Alka Seltzer turns up in the finish. This is a date rapists wet dream at 8%. Best thing I can say is that it isn’t necessarily soda pop-like or overly sweet.

750 mL bottle, from secret santa, shared with NachlamSie. Bottle gushed upon opening. Pours purplish mahogany with mauve head (yes, mauve). The aroma is very direct raspberries, and really not much else. The flavor is, well, raspberries, along with a pretty strong carbonic element. Too much carbonation, I must say. It just fizzles off the palate without leaving much impression. But I gotta say, not a bit of that alcohol is noticeable. Hmm.

Slight ring of head though otherwise flat looking though of a lovely raspberry hue and also blessed by a lovely raspberry aroma. Rather flat body, but excellent raspberry flavor with minimal, if any sourness, but perfectly balanced to as to be not too sweet.

My rating reflects bottle and draft......Pitcher at brewpub (Phoenxville location)....looks like dark cranberry juice, with a dirty pale pink head (non-lasting)....very light and refreshing, yet thin...raspberry flavor very light....mild raspberry aromas as well...the alcohol is amazingly hidden!...raspberry preserves in the mouth but liquid jello form...no complexity throughout, very level, with its one level.....Bottle...circa 2005-2006....explosive entrance....this thing really wanted to be un-corked...dark reddish brown/magenta with dirty pink foam....pure raspberries on the sniff, a touch of alcohol....sweet almost lambic-like....finishes flat, but with some distinct raspberries in the mouth...one dimensional....fulfilling creaminess, good but may be entering past prime...slightly sour finish...---recommended food paring...turkey---

750mL Bottle: Ruddy purple appearance w/ a light pink head that dissipates quickly. Muddled berry aroma w/ a slight hint of yeast. Slight berry flavor up front, a little sour too. Creamy mouthfeel. I was expecting more out of this beer, but who knows how old this bottle is. So that could be a factor.