Christmas Ale
Sly Fox Brewing Company in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Spiced Winter|
Score
6.46
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Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
I used to like this one a great deal more but the complexity has diminished with time. +++ Sampled from a 750ml brown bottle this beer poured a slightly hazy ruby-caramel color with a huge tan head that lingered. The aroma was caramel, nutmeg, and strong ginger bread. The flavor was all spice with nutmeg and ginger bread dominating. A bit drier than I would have liked. The ginger bread and nutmeg linger. Medium body. Solid.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
2006 edition, 750 ml bottle, trade with kramer17801. New Year’s Day, new brewer. Due to illness among our planned visitors, I’m obliged to drink this alone (snif!). Had trouble getting the cork out, then it forthed up just to the top of the bottle before I could decant it to a Sam Adams glass. Big head of foam took several minutes to calm down. Lovely amber brown body with committees of bubbles swimming against floaties (bottle-conditioned). Sweet smell of honey and cinnamon, as age has mellowed the malt, I would have thought. Taste has a bit of alcoholic roughness, surprising considering its 5% abv. I think the nutmeg and allspice have kind of taken this one over (2006 label just mentions the above spices, plus cloves). Spice covers a lot of the honey malt taste, leaving little idea as to the backbone of this beer. Perhaps I shouldn’t have cellared it, perhaps the spice would smooth out after another year. I’m actually putting most of this away to finish later.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
12-13-07...growler....Strong cinnamon & nutmeg on the sniff....rich copper color...more red than orange...a hint of foam, beige....On the palate, refreshing body, pretty light....tons of cinnamon & nutmeg with allspice dominate the palate....easy to drink..could see it being great with anything cranberry
Silphium (4308) reviewed Christmas Ale from Sly Fox Brewing Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
2006 vintage. Red-brown body, thick, creamy buff head. This bottle was shaken (thankfully not stirred) in a vehicle for about a week, joining me on trips to the UP’s finest patterned peatlands, cedar swamps, red pine forests, and granite outcrops, and then, finally, to my glass (hotel cup). I think the cork shot through the ceiling, but there was no Mulholland Drive-style yelp from the room above. The aroma is classic holiday fare, with abundant spices; nutmeg is what I pick up the most strongly. Malty body with strong but not overwhelming spices, again including nutmeg; cinnamon also abundant. There is a cider-like quality to this beer due to the spices used. Chewy, creamy mouthfeel. 750 mL is a bit much to drink, but the cork wouldn’t let me save this to share, so I’ll try...
jake65 (5821) reviewed Christmas Ale from Sly Fox Brewing Company 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle: Deep amber pour with a frustratingly immense, forthy beige head. Aroma is a complexity of spices, most noteable are ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Taste is spicey as well with some floral grassey notes, more ginger and cloves, and some bitters. Even a bit tangy. Dry floral and spicey finish. Thanks DocLock.
cheap (9533) reviewed Christmas Ale from Sly Fox Brewing Company 19 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 2 | Overall - 1
My first fox. Got this on tap at the Bocktown Bar in the Robinson Township Mall shopping center complex. Terra the waitress told me it has lots of cloves. Pours brown yellow orange with no red in my glass. Tan head that hangs around for awhile. Has a sweet clove aroma. Yep, lots of cloves in the intital taste bite, perhaps a bit too much spices. There is a noticable lack of sweetness. Has an offensive bitterness to it that I just can’t handle. More like an IPA or imp stout. Finish is medicine bitter that long lingers after you finally swallow it. Some hints of dirt in the finish also.
notalush (7339) reviewed Christmas Ale from Sly Fox Brewing Company 19 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
2006 bottle - foamy, clear copper pour - it’s got the pretty standard Christmas Ale smell we’ve all come to expect, along with some light chocolate and hints of fruit preserves - the carbonation is a little harsh in the mouthfeel - a well developed/balanced spice character, with some peppery hints around the edges - very mild sweetness, with fruit flavors of strawberry and black cherry - there is a very warming quality to this beer that is certainly not from alcohol, but rather, from tthe well-combined spices - gets a little thin near the end, but otherwise I’m really enjoying this.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle Courtesy of Buck Dich Slightly hazy redish brown. Nice durable light beige head and lasting sheets of lacing. Fruity and spicy aroma that is reminecent of its namesake as a Holiday seasonal. Dark fruit flavors and lively carbonation