Sunday Suds: Sly Fox Oktoberfest Lager

Sometimes I feel as if I get carried away when writing tasting notes.  The most enthralling wines and beers can sometimes lead me to fill two or even three pages in my omnipresent moleskine notebook.  There are plenty of other great wines and beers, though, that don't make me think so much as they simply make me want to drink... and enjoy.

Sly Fox Oktoberfest Lager is a perfect example—just about all I could ask for in an American Oktoberfest.  My most recent case purchase, I may just have to head back for another before it's gone for the season (that is, assuming it's not already).  Honestly, I've been enjoying it with such ease that I'm now practically forcing myself to sit here and write something about it.  Hey, I wanted to share the goodness.

A slightly hazy copper/amber color in the glass, it leads off with an easy, draw-you-in, malt-driven roundness before leading on to a dry but gentle, mildly hopped, finish with nuances of mulling spices, whole wheat bread and orange zest.  That's all the tasting note you're getting.  (Well, okay, I'll add this, from the back of the can: OG 13.8° Plato, 25 IBUs, 5.8% alcohol by volume.)  Now get on out there and try some for yourself.

NB: Sly Fox is one of the leading practitioners of canning in the US craft brewing community.  Their cans may be a bitch to photograph without professional equipment, but they're attractive, lightweight, impermeable to light and air, easily recycled, have a smaller carbon footprint than bottled beer, and, thanks to a water based coating that lines the can's interior, don't impart any metallic flavors to their precious contents.  Do yourself a favor, though: pour the contents into your favorite beer glass for full and proper enjoyment.

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Sunday Suds: Sly Fox Route 113 India Pale Ale

With the occasional exception made for limited edition pours or situational necessity, most of my beer exploration and consumption this summer has centered on the broad category know as session beer. Beer writer Lew Bryson and the rest of the crew over at The Session Beer Project™ loosely define the genre to include any beer, in any style, clocking at 4.5% alcohol or lower. I tend to be even more generous, sliding my own scale up to 5%, not because I feel it gets me better beer, just because it offers more in the way of off-premise options while still keeping things on the drinkable — by which I mean more than one can/bottle/pint — end of the spectrum.

That means that all summer long I've been enjoying kolsch, pilsner, sour ale and pale ale, categories that by and large still often make the session beer cut. With the weather turning abruptly autumnal in the last week, though, my hankerings have wandered to the more assertive realm of India Pale Ale, or IPA for short, a stronger, hoppier breed of pale ale originally developed as a means to help beer survive the arduous sea voyage from England to India, where ale was considered a necessity of life by the British colonialists of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

In more modern times, and particularly in the last decade or so, it's IPA that has most widely captured the imagination and experimental spirit of craft brewers in the US, leading to a veritable explosion of heavily hopped ales. It's a style that's particularly popular on the left and right coasts, and one that's been very successful for many of the Philadelphia area's local breweries. Here's one of my current favorites:

Sly Fox Brewing Company "Route 113" India Pale Ale
16.4 OG, 113 IBUs, 7% ABV.
Orange-hued amber, bordering on opaque, with a rich, creamy though modestly proportioned head. For those that care about such things, it laces up the glass quite nicely, too.

Pretty classic IPA aromas, albeit bordering toward the rich end of the spectrum: peach preserves, goldenrod, moist ganja bud, and spiced orange peel. The beer's creamy appearance is echoed in its texture — clean, dense and bready.

Though it's hardly shy, it pulls off its 7% ABV in fine style, with balance, drinkability and depth of flavor. It gets there without relying on the overt sweetness that's often used to counter the natural bitterness coming from high hop levels and without falling into the soapy/weedy trap that the IPA category can present. The fact that head brewer Brian O'Reilly and the rest of the team at Sly Fox are now offering "113" in 12 oz. cans rather than just in 22 oz. bottles is an added bonus. Session beer it's not, but at least one can manage two without being pushed over the top.

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A Burger and a Beer: Standard Tap

Though the Electric Factory awkwardly straddles the no-man’s land between Chinatown, the Loft District and Northern Liberties, it lies within easy if less than picturesque walking distance to any of those neighborhoods. So when I decided to check out Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds last week, I struck out for a bite to eat first in Northern Liberties. Standard Tap beckoned. It’s a bastion of Philly’s gastropub scene for a reason, turning out solid dishes from all corners of its chalkboard menu. This night, though, I was hankering for a burger and a beer.

The Standard Burger may just be one of the most solid burgers in town. A standard setter, if you will. (Go ahead. Roll your eyes.) It may not win awards for ingenuity, in the vein of the bleu cheese infused burger at Good Dog, or reach out and grab your attention, like the topping of long hot peppers at Royal Tavern. But it's really, really sound, anchored by what’s most important – high quality beef that’s tender from not being over-handled, juicy and flavorful from adept cooking. In the comparisons above, I hardly meant to write-off the Standard’s toppings: sautéed mushrooms and onions, an ample lettuce leaf, a thick slice of beefsteak tomato (that was actually ripe and fresh unlike the pallid, wannabe tomatoes at most burger joints) and just the right amount of melted Monterey jack. The burger even shows off the talent of the chefs in the kitchen – and reflects the Tap’s vegetarian friendly menu – as the toppings are tasty in and of themselves and would work just as well on a veggie burger as on the omnivore option. Even the fries merit a mention, fried to a golden crisp, well-seasoned and cut medium so there’s a nice crunch to the exterior balanced by a wee bit of meatiness at center.

When I spotted Sly Fox IPA slotted into one of Standard’s two hand pumps, I looked no further. The more I drink from Sly Fox the more I’m impressed by the fine balance of their beers. This is really complete IPA, with a perfect hop/malt balance, fresh, floral aromas, no cattiness and a really sunny feel with just the right bitter edge on the finish. The beer’s creaminess when issued from the beer engine just adds to its appeal. And it’s also a righteous pairing with the burger. Get in there and grab a pint while the getting’s still good.

Standard Tap 901 N. 2nd Street (at Poplar) Philadelphia, PA 19123 [map] (215) 238-0630

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Sly Fox versus The World

Few things in life are as disappointing as stale beer. Luckily, the only thing running the risk of becoming stale in the context of the recent Sly Fox dinner at Chick’s Café is this here write-up, which is finally seeing the light of day over two weeks after the fact. In this case, I’d like to think of it more as aged and considered.

Sly Fox brewmaster, Brian O'Reilly.
Jonny Medlinsky, beer meister and event coordinator at Chick’s, has been putting on a really swell series of beer and beverage tastings over the last year. The latest rendition, held on Tuesday, June 24, featured guest speaker Brian O’Reilly, brewmaster at Phoenixville, PA’s Sly Fox Brewery. Brian’s initial take when approached with Jonny’s idea for the class was one of trepidation. Sly Fox versus the world? A daunting proposal to be sure, one that he eventually embraced in coming up with his final presentation – “Inspirations and Interpretations of Sly Fox” – in which his own brews were matched up with their old world forebears.

The great thing about comparative tastings like this, at least when the urge to make it a competitive tasting is repressed, is the educational opportunity afforded to the attendees. Call it palate training, if you will. Of course, when the brewer behind one of the lineups is at the helm, there’s always the possibility of a favorable showing. As an added bonus, each round was paired with a dish prepared by Chick’s Chef, Jim Piano. Here’s what was served.

• Aperitif: Sly Fox Grisette
  Poured solo. This is O’Reilly’s take on a rather obscure style of French farmhouse ale brewed especially as an end of day refresher for the miners (as opposed to the farmers) in France’s Hainaut Province. Peppery, lightly spicy, bright and refreshing.
  
  
• Round One: Sly Fox Saison Vos and Brasserie Dupont Saison Dupont (Belgium)
  If you read this blog with any frequency, you already know that I tend to be and old world guy, so it’s not meant lightly when I say that this was the only match up of the evening where I felt that the old world wine came out on top. When it comes to farmhouse ales, I want there to be a little wild, funky character, something that Dupont’s Saison delivers along with citrusy, lively flavors and a spicy yeast influence. Sly Fox Vos was tasty but just a little too squeaky clean in the context of Saison. These were matched up with a selection of cheeses and a few slices of salami from Agrumi Artisan Meats (made by Mario Batali’s father). One of the most successful food pairings of the night.
  
  Adam Gertler, former co-owner of Philly's The Smoked Joint (now defunct) and cast member of The Next Food Network Star, made a guest appearance to demonstrate his recipe for smoked beef short ribs.
  
• Round Two: Sly Fox Pikeland Pils and Jever Pils (Germany)
  Both true to type and both delicious, the Sly Fox entry was light and assertively dry, Jever’s more assertively hoppy with a resulting bitter snap on the finish. I’d put this one in the draw category, adding only that I really enjoyed the Pikeland Pils. (Now to go shopping for a case.) Sly Fox is one of the craft brewing world’s current first and foremost adopters of the lined aluminum can; their Pils was poured from 12 ounce cans. Neither was quite up to the task of marrying with the assertive, Omega-3 driven flavors of pan-seared mackerel, though I’d give the edge to Jever Pils in the context of the food pairing.
  
  
• Round Three: Sly Fox Royal Weisse and Schneider Weisse Original (Germany)
  Because of the importance of wheat to baking and bread making, it was once illegal for anyone in Germany, aside from members of the royal family, to brew wheat bear. Sly Fox’s Royal Weisse is named in homage to that thankfully distant memory. Both it and the Schneider Weisse are brewed in a traditional style, with sweeter, darker malts relative to today’s more common trend toward pale, light, add-a-lemon wheat beers. Both very complete beers, surprisingly fruity in aroma. Solid pairing with a duck confit salad.
  
  Gertler did a little guest cheffing as well. Adam's ribs, served with the Irish stouts in Round Four, were parched but intensely smoky.
  
• Round Four: Sly Fox O’Reilly Stout and Guinness Stout (Ireland)
  Dry Irish Stout – Guinness is certainly the banner example – is one of those beverages that often leads one’s eyes to fool one’s palate. People have been conditioned to automatically think sweet when they see rosé wine. Likewise, people see black stout and expect richness and heaviness. That power of suggestion makes many continue to believe what their eyes told them even after tasting. The thing is, stouts done in this style, though dark in color and flavor, are actually quite light in body and, counter-intuitively, low in alcohol. (Ever wonder why you can drink Guinness all night?) As pleasing as a properly poured pint of Guinness can be, O’Reilly Stout delivered a more complex and compelling nose, driven by roasted barley, and finished on a crisper, higher note. Good stuff. Regrettably, both were way under-matched to the powerful flavor of smoked beef short ribs, where a porter or India brown ale would have been a better choice.
  
  
• Round Five: Sly Fox Ichor (2005 & 2007) and St. Bernardus 12 (Belgium)
  Sly Fox’s Ichor is an Abbot style Quadruple ale. The 2005, the first year in which Ichor was bottled, had developed very winy, port-like aromas along with a sweetness and depth which made for pretty hedonistic enjoyment. As good as it was, the 2007 was more finely attenuated and better balanced. The 2007 may not age as well as the 2005, as it lacks the preserving sweetness of it its older sibling, but it was the best of the three beers. Absolutely dead-on with a chocolate banana ganache tart with caramelized bananas. For me, it was the match of the night. The St. Bernardus was jaundiced in comparison, though I’m not sure it was a pristine bottle.

Suzie Woods, brand ambassador for Sly Fox and Beer Lass blogger, poured Sly Fox's Renard d'Or, a Belgian style golden ale, from Jeroboam. Only 200 bottles were produced.
If you’re in the Philly area and up for a taste, Sly Fox operates brewpubs in both Phoenixville and Royersford, PA. If you’d like to be informed of future tastings at Chick’s, just send an e-mail to chickscafe (at) gmail dot com and let them know you learned about them here.

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