Cascade IPA
Sly Fox Brewing Company

I had this off the tap at BOulevard Tavern in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
A- It's very bubbly, brown in color, clear with great head a lacing.
S- It has a mild hoppy scent to it.
T- Nice, smooth, balanced, hoppy beer. It has a good biting bitter taste to it, but toned down with a little taste of malt in the back of the mouth, perhaps some yeast.

On-Tap...

Served into a pint glass...

A- Opaque amber color with a reddish tint. Creamy white head (one finger), some nice lacing.

S- Fresh hop aroma staying around in the nose for a good few seconds. Huge medicinal pine scent. This one should be a hop bomb...

T- Hop bomb indeed. Grassy, piney, zesty, citrusy. A plethora of hop flavors but overall, quite bitter and strong. Not much malt going on here, but just enough to balance out the hops.

M- Not much going on here, medium bodied and sticky.

D- Very hoppy IPA right here, but easy to drink. Lacks complexity but damn its still good.

I was able to try this Sly Fox on tap during High Street Grill's Sly fox promo on 4/22/2008. It was served to me in a standard Sly Fox pint glass.

This Sly Fox poured a dark amber with the slightest tint of orange along the sides. Sitting on top of this beer was a tall 1 to 1 1/2 inch head of creamy white foam. This head of foam had excellent retention that left behind a small rocky white film and streak after streak of beautiful white lace. It was a treat for the eyes to see such beautiful lace. I thought the aroma was a bit on the mild side. I thought the aroma was going to jump out the glass, but it stayed on the mild side. This aroma featured citrus hops, grapefruit, a small slice of lemon, more citrus fruits, and some pine needles toward the back. The taste is where all of those flavors that were in the aroma, kicked into gear. That means the taste was heavy with dried citrus hops, pine needles, grapefruit, more citrus fruits, pine, and ended with a slight pinch of pine infused alcohol. I would say this one is more medium bodied than full bodied, but it still contained a full flavored hoppy aftertaste of bitter and dry citrus hops, a touch of grapefruit, and lots of pine. This solid hoppy aftertaste will linger on in your mouth for a few minutes. I would love to try this one again in the near future. If you like hoppy and piny beers, then this Sly Fox is a must try.

Thanks to DrJay for hooking me up with yet another installemt of the series. I have been looking forward to the second release and was thrilled when I heard it was Cascade. The pour was a very deep dark amber with literally tons of dripping side glass lace. A good three finger high head formed on the top and this was slow to fade. Crystal clear on the look through with nice carbonation.

The aroma was soo fresh. A crisp clean grass like aroma was the first to great, followed by a pungent pine like smell. A deep resiny like flavor was sure to follow and it did. A touch of musty bread like malt in the backgroiund added a little bit of depth. Really no hint of the alcohol at all on this one as it was easily polished off the same day.

Overall I thought this was a very good IPA. Some may frown that it is a bit one dimensional, but I really like waht they are doinf with it. Defintily a quality ale here and something I would like to revisit in the future.

A: Clear orange with a one finger head that sttled quickly but very nice lacing.

S: pine and citrus dominate with caramel in the background.

T: Strong caramel malt flavor but then the bitter pine and citrus rind flavors kick in. The bitterness definately dominates a very nice underlying malt flavor.

M: On the higher side of medium for body with some oiliness and a long bitter finish that is not as clean and refreshing as I would have liked.

D: Overall this is a good example of avarietal IPA. I expected nothing less. It is some thing that could be ordered all night long if you are into hops.

Enjoyed at the 2006 IPA Project in December. Clear, amber/orange with a thick, creamy head. Superb retention with solid lacing. Refined, almost restrained, aromas of grapefruit and light pine with a bit of tangerine. Solid bitterness offsets the malt sweetness. Hop flavour was strong throughout with plenty of grapefruit and tangerine. Dry with a medium body and creamy texture. Very enjoyable even after a few months of aging.

A nice light orange/amber colour mostly clear with a nice white collar of thick foam. Lacing is decent as well. The aromas are of subdued citrusy cascade hops and a light bready maltiness. The most dissapointing of the lot, this reminds me of SNPA light or something like that. I thought that the Cascade IPA would whoop the Centennials butt, but boy was I wrong. The taste is nice with a gentle maltiness and the same subdued, dying Cascade hops with a low level of bitterness, citrus flavors, and juicy pine. The mouthfeel and drinkability remain good though. These IPA's are all pretty killer, but some of them (clearly( have to be consumed as fresh as humanly possible. Fresh and on cask this is probably a killer version, but for now let's just wait and see how the fresh Glacier IPA turns out!

This one is a light amber color with a very muted, subtle nose. The taste is just not as pronounced as with some of the other IPAs in this experiment. It has a pleasant and certainly hoppy flavor, but it does not come across with a strong assertivness which would enable me to discern more about it.

Beautious sunset orange hued pint pour that is only days fresh from me growler, under a full foamy hoppy head mountain that settles to a khaki two finger cake like coating, that was lacking any lace, possibly due to oils…matters not!

Strong resinous hops aroma. Piney cascade hops are deftly strong enough to bury any palpable malts. As soon as some warmth sets in, delicate malts arose.

Acidic hops first meet me tongue, then the dry face-pucker inducing grapefruit rind signature cascade bitterness strikes a crashing blow. Some sweetness sneaks out, but cascade hops do not deliver the juicy fruitiness, rather the bone dry bitterness. Aftertase is a lingering arid as the dessert sand dryness with hops resins lingering quite heartily.

Standard mouth feel and foamy sizzle of a quality IPA.

Drinkability??? Three growlers came home full of cascade one hop: One for me, one each for two friends. They are all empty!

Last swigs: Scents are reminiscent of another local: Troegs Hop Back. Great dry IPA. I would personally prefer a bit of a floral 2nd hop to offset Forget about the West Coast thing. East Coast in a big way here. Brian O’Reilly is a top notch brewer. I know that if he wanted to make an overall IPA 5/5 he would. This is part of a single hop project. Awesome!

Beer is good. Happy IPA brewing.

Had this fifth in a series of single-hopped IPAs being released as Anniversary IPAs by Sly Fox. The ones that I have been able to taste have all been great. (I missed one.) This one poured a medium amber color with a rather large off-white head and plenty of lacing. The aroma was of hops as could be anticipated but there was a fruitiness that was unanticipated, either dates or currants. The taste is primarily hops but not overwhelmingly so. There are fruit flavors and the undertone of sweet malt as well. This is not as crisp and clean in the mouth as some of the other single hops, and should probably therefore be more drinkable. But in comparison to the other single hops that I've tried from Sly Fox this is not as drinkable. Still very good from a brewer for whom my respect continues to grow.

A beautiful looking beer with a deep and clear amber tea appearance and topped with a small creamy film. The aroma is pleasant with decent amount of buttery malts and some butterscotch. Peeking through are hints of citrusy notes like bitter lemon and grapefruit - being an exclusive Cascade IPA, you know they’re there but they aren’t really pronounced like in other IPAs. The taste is pretty well blended with a solid body of sweet malts and a pleasantly puckering bitterness. A grapefruit rind bitterness stays on the tongue long in the finish. Strong and bold, yet drinkable. In my opinion, they haven’t topped their Amarillo yet, but this isn’t too shabby.

This pours a dark copper, crystal clear with a medium tan head and light lacing down the glass. The smell is strong of flowery, citrus and piney hops with sweet malts and caramel. The carbonation level on this is perfect and the taste is great. It's very bitter and hoppy but this is well balanced with a solid malt backbone ---- a signature of Sly Fox for me is a grassy, natural taste and this has loads of it. The mouthfeel is crisp, dry, bitter and then finally smooths out in the very end with a long, lingering aftertaste. I think the drinkability factor on this is pretty good at 7%, but it's not quite as high as the Centennial IPA I have had. This IPA is a little sharper in my opinion and would pair well with some nice cheddar... time to go shopping.

It pours a clear dark copper with a thin head and some okay lacing. Grapefruit is prevelant in the aroma and there is some pine as well. There is a bit of malt, but it is mostly hops. Citrus with a touch of pine in the taste and a big lingering bitter finish. A great addition to the IPA project.

Copper / orange in color with a 1" head. Some light lacing developed. The aroma was very floral with malt and citrus tones. The flavor sported a nice balance of malt and biting bitterness, with the citrus tones lightly following behind.

The mouthfeel was mildly crisp with a slight dry finish. The bitterness lasted very long on the tongue after swallowing. Carbonation levels were perfect. Medium bodied. Great drinkability as this could easily be a session beer for any hophead.

1/2 gallon growler.

Dead-clear oranged amber - like all of the Sly Fox ales, amazing clarity and shine. Thick stain all around from thick messy lace.

Smells of some grapefruit, rosy esters, and tons of twigs and hay. Occasional scents of whole-leaf hops.

Tons of hop effects: paper soft graininess, light pepper, vegetal/floral chewy bits, and plenty of grapefruit-like body. But is it really grapefruit? Not as much as you'd think. Finish goes on forever, humming with a softly drying yet complex bitterness and rough hop essence. Its a low-laying flavor with oil slick all over, hard to describe. Full-bodied, almost too much so, but felt soft like a cask ale.

Another good addition to the Sly Fox's IPA project. Didn't turn out like I expected (a grapefruit bonanza), but was instead like their East Kent IPA, fascinating to say the least and eminently drinkable, though a bit filling. Tasted even better the second day from my growler and was a great match for a plowman's lunch of Tallegio cheese, pepperoni, ciabatta rolls, and fresh fruit.