British Pale Ale | Sly Fox Brewing Company

3.73/5  rDev -5.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 4

Clear, tawny amber beer topped by a thin, white head. Good retention accompanied by rings of lace at each sip. Very nice! Biscuity malt aroma with delicate citrus/pine hops (seems like EKG). Well attenuated malt flavour with moderate bitterness. Light hop and fruit flavours lead into a growing bitterness in the finish. Lightish body and carbonation, on the dry side, and just a bit too crisp. A solid beer, but seemed a little over-attenuated. A little more fruit character would be nice too. But these are really minor complaints - this is a really good session ale.

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4.05/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Served in a pint glass in Phoenixville. When the beer came to me it had a slight head, a ring around the end of the pint glass. The color was a nice vibrant amber color. The aroma was subtle, a touch of hops but not overpowering like a big American IPA can be at times. This was pleasant and provided a good mix with the malty tones in the nose. The taste is also well balanced. I bit of hop kick but manageable and it meshs well with the earthy tastes and toffee taste throughout. The body is medium with nice carbonation and very drinkable.

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3.98/5  rDev +0.8%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Presented as a pale amber color beer with modest white head. Smell was minimal with a light malty character and a slight trace of hops. Taste was was also minmal, but enjoyable, with the light maltiness and hopiiness balancing each other nicely. Finishes light and refreshing. The perfect session beer.

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4.05/5  rDev +2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5

Poured a really nice clear amber/copper color. Had a smallish head, but you could tell right away the head would probably not last, big watery bubbles that fizzled out quick, as did the head, but I did not care, a lot of British draught ales pour with virtually no head.

Aroma was balanced, sweet bready malts followed by some easy grassy hops, pretty subdued overall, but still nice. Taste was really clean, a bit malty, extremely drinkable. Soft flavors of white bread, light toffee and fairly soft but clean herbal bite towards the end, balanced the beer out quite well. Diacetyl levels were fairly low, but they were there, and I liked it, in the background adding an additional layer of flavor. Carbonation was mid-range and mouthfeel was a bit lean and light, a tad bit more "chew" would have done good things for this ale.

Overall - A fine and balanced drinking ale. I think the Fox really hit their mark in going after the British style which I think all too many breweries attempt, but ultimately come up a bit short on. For me, there is more to it then a basic pale but use EKG or Fuggles in place of Cascades. SF nailed it. Marris otter malts, Ringwood yeast and British hops really come together to create a really nice change of pace pale ale to compliment their Phoenix pale. This would be a stone cold killer on cask.

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