Sly Fox Christmas Ale

Brewed by Sly Fox Brewhouse
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Royersford and Phoenixville, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle. Large uncontrolable head. Aroma was very spicey. Nutmeg, cinnamon,clove, and other various christmas spices. The taste was kind of sweet with the spices dominating. Smooth and creamy mouthful. O.K. beer but can’t drink too much of it as the spices will become sickening.

2005 vintage sampled in June of 2006: Pours a transparent amber mahogany with a large, nicely-lacing, light tan head. Big bubble gum and cinnamon spice character rule the aroma. Body starts with a lightly sweet toasty caramel maltiness and some big holiday spice notes and decent bittersweet balance. Very drinkable and enjoyable holiday brew.

2006 vintage. Courtesy of foureyedgeek. Has a rich, warming Christmas cookie aroma, with notes of nutmeg and cinammon, ginger and allspice. Tart acidity with plum and raisin fruitiness. Rich and creamy with a touch of soy sauce. Nice aroma. Dark brown cloudy with tan lacing head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Great taste, like a Christmas cookie with spicy notes of nutmeg and cinammon and allspice. Light bitterness at the end but mainly and sweet nutty with a bit of chalky dryness. Sweet after. Mild alcohol notes - a nice Xmas beer.

Bottle. Pours redish/amber, with a very large tan head. Aroma is sweet, with malt, spices, sugar, and gingerbread. Flavor is spices, gingerbread, malt, and sugar. Interesting.

Courtesy boboski. Poured a dark amber and i got a big head because I probably used the wrong glass for this one. Once it settled, there are strong aromas of spices, nutmeg, cloves, and gingerbread. Tastes very similar to the semll but they might have over did it with the spices some. Still a pretty good brew, but if it had been a little more mellow I think they would have hit the jackpot. The gingerbread, and light cinnamon and nutmeg were very enjoyable as I like beers similar to this one, but they might have done too much.

2006. Hazy amber pour with hues of orange and red. Well retained khaki head, thick lacing that looks like sea foam. Aroma is at first akin to massive fresh ginger bread, awesome prelude. Also some earthy hops in a meek appearance, caraway, nutmeg, slightly sweet malts, cinnamon teddy grahams, half & half, small evergreen nuances. Boldly spiced flavor is very sweet up front. Spruce, cinnamon, and a lot less gingerbread, which was really just an illusion provided by a deftly wrought combination of the aforementioned aromatic spices, or perhaps just an outcome I rather enjoyed. The carbonation in the mouthfeel is way too fizzy and heavy, but syrupy sugars balance that out somewhat. The finish is semi-sweet and of commendable length and mellow character. Just the right amount of sugar and yeast in this beer. Pretty decent. I want to lay one down for a few years to monitor progress, but my experiences with older Sly Fox beers have been nothing short of horrific.

25 oz bottle, 2006 vintage. Pours a mostly clear reddish amber colored body under a fizzy off-white head with decent retention due to heavy carbonation. Aroma is sweet and heavily spiced. Alot of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, with lighter notes of caramel and toffee malt. Flavor hits you over the head with cinnamon and nutmeg from front to back. Minimal toffee malt mid-swallow and a little yeast on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with too much fizzy prickly carbonation. Texture is fairly thin and watery. Overall, too heavily spiced for me, and the mouthfeel was really annoying. Maybe if this sits a while it will mellow an those fronts.

Poured a clear copper to ruby color with a nice initial head. Good retention. All downhill from there. Tons of ginger in the aroma, and ginger starts to turn me off. Man, the flavor was all ginger, totally reminded me of Great Lakes’ Christmas Ale, and that isn’t a good thing. Ginger, cardamum (bottle didn’t mention it, though), cinammon, a big spicey mess, no idea what the malt base tasted like. Mouthfeel wasn’t bad, slightly acidic, boy the flavor was a mess. Too much spice.