Sly Fox Dunkel Lager

[MeridianFC]

Sly Fox Brewing Co.
Royersford, PA
13OG/21IBU/5.3%abv
http://www.slyfoxbeer.com/index.php/front/beer_dunkel

Pretty nifty they give the technical specs on the website so I can appear as if I'm very studious in my presentations. In any case this is my second encounter with the canned seasonal (fall/winter) from Sly Fox. I remember liking it last year but not being wowed. What a difference a year makes. The recollection I have from last year is "it's dark and drinkable". This year the roundness of malt flavor is more present and I even get a hint of the melanoidins. Damn tasty would be my pronouncement. I don't know whether they do decoction mashing or use the specialty malt, in any case it's more true to the Bavarian Dunkel than most domestic versions I've encountered. There might be the barest hint more of hop than one would expect but nothing to detract from it's place firmly in the style. 5.3% is a bit on the high side for a Dunkel too but not out of the ballpark. Having no idea what the recipe was last year I don't know whether they've tweaked it or my taste perception from last year was off, the circumstances I had it in were not ideal, but it strikes me as a rock solid beer, one that will be joining their most excellent Pils in regular rotation even though I have to jump through hoops to get it.

This is a beer meant to be hoisted in a Krug while supping in the out of doors. Would certainly be an excellent accompaniment to grilled sausages, spicy mustard and potato of some stripe.

If this beer was a car it's be a Plymouth Valiant; out of the deep dark past, some see as stodgy others as classic, not about bells and whistles but indestructible. If this beer was a song it'd be "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke; Familiar but not overplayed. Great on each hearing.

This beers season is fall, though it'll play well from fall-spring.

Word of warning: this beer only comes by the case, which is not the bad part, but SF have switched from the two cardboard 12packs in a cardboard tray to the weekender style "suitcase". Do not try to use the punch in handle or you'll be playing 24 can pick up.

Two thumbs up from MeridianFC

[steveh]

5.3% is a bit on the high side for a Dunkel too but not out of the ballpark.

Nah, 4.5 to 5.6 -- sounds like it's right in there, IBUs too (18 to 28). Not sure I can get that around here, though. Too bad.

S.

[beerking]

Meridian, Where do you find SF in NOVA?

[MeridianFC]

Meridian, Where do you find SF in NOVA?

I don't. I get it bootlegged from PA. As I noted in the Mid Atlantic section, I've contacted the SF folks about bringing their beer local but for the time being they're at capacity for their catchment area so they're concentrating on PA, though apparently they've crept into NY/NJ. I wouldn't expect to see SF in DC Metro for at least two more years unless there's a significant change.

Steve, I'll trade you a some SF for some Capital.

[chazwicke]

Their brews are ALWAYS worth traveling for. Last Fall they were gracious enough to keg a special sixtel of their Gold medal rauch for me. The Pikeland Pils is a treat as are most of their other brews. They are a fine outfit.

Beerking - Ray is up in PA for a couple of days attending a breweriana show and meeting with Dick Yuengling about being the guest speaker at next year's Blue Gray show. It's the 75th anniversary of the beer can. If you have his cell phone number, I'll bet he'd swing by a distributor and pick up a case for you.

If you don't have his cell # PM Me.

[steveh]

Steve, I'll trade you a some SF for some Capital.

I'd jump at that... if it wasn't so difficult to find Capital in my area these days. The N. Illinois distro sucks, and many places aren't carrying it because the prices have shot up.

But I'll keep my eyes open.

S.

[jesskidden]

though apparently they've crept into NY/NJ.

They've been in NJ for 2-3 years now, at least. (I know because most of my magazines and other paperwork are stored in 20-30 Pikeland Pils and IPA 12 pack boxes, and I just checked some of the "Best By" dates. I miss those boxes already.)

Sadly, they didn't seem to sell well (based on "best by" dates in some stores) and had become hard to find and I've discussed it with some retailers who suggest a prejudice against cans (either their own, or their customers). I started finding them easier when I hit liquor stores "down the shore" (all the in-laws live down there, so it's one way I'll agree to visit ;) )- I guess because of the whole "boating" aspect. (No beer on the beaches in NJ IIRC).

Fresh Pikeland just hit again in some of my favorite stores closer to home but I was a bit shocked at the price rise- $7.99-$8.99 a six- I had been paying something in the range of $25 a case back a few years ago. It would definitely be my standard pils if I could get it regularly (instead I pick up the occasional Prima, Pilsner Urquell or Jever, depending on what's freshest).

Haven't seen a new batch of the Dunkel, yet, however.

[MeridianFC]

The price increase is pretty steep but I've put it down to the general raw goods shortage. I paid slightly over $32/case.

[jesskidden]

The price increase is pretty steep but I've put it down to the general raw goods shortage. I paid slightly over $32/case.

Yeah, well, I was reluctant to put in that "price rise" comment, because, in general, I think beer - even craft beer - is cheap compared to inflation and the rise in prices of other goods (and a review of prices from 20-30 years ago, adjusted for inflation, will "prove" that- if one accepts those "inflation calculators" as valid "proof" of course ;) ). People complain about a craft beer costing $8 a sixpack- under $2 a bottle- geez, what's a can of Coke or a bottle of !@#$ WATER cost from a machine or a "convenience" store?

But, in this case, the Sly Fox beers seem to have increased in price much greater than the comparable beers from, say, Victory. In the two-three years SF have been in NJ, they've gone from $25 a case to the $36-up range. In the same period, Victory's have done a slow creep from $26-30. Since Victory's beers are always in stock, the slow rise is a bit easier to accept ("frog in the slowly heated pot of water" and all that) than the jump in price when Sly Fox beers were finally re-stocked.

[steveh]

I paid slightly over $32/case.

$8.00 a sixpack isn't so bad, just about what Goose Island was at... until a few days ago. Up to $8.50 now. WTH?

The above-mentioned Capital is in the nines, with their seasonal specials well into the tens. :(

S.

[MeridianFC]

I think Sly Fox's relatively diminutive size doesn't help them in these matters. The last figures I could find for Victory had it over three time as big, in sales (BBL), as SF.

Lately other than the really big guys (Sierra Nevada, Sam Adams) and those associated with the really big guys (Red Hook, Widmer) I haven't been seeing too many six packs under $8.

On the subject at hand, I popped another SF Dunkel last night and it was everything it was the night before. I'm really growing to love this beer. I think my next step will be a head to head with Ayinger Dunkel, which I hold to be the best Dunkel one can get in the US at the moment. Ayinger's advantage is tradition, of course, but Sly Fox may be able to fight back with freshness.

[steveh]

Ayinger's advantage is tradition, of course, but Sly Fox may be able to fight back with freshness.

While I agree with that in theory, it's really sort of unfair in practice. Best comparison would be to fly to Bavaria with a sixpack of Sly Fox in the overhead! ;)

Another thing on import/export, I sometimes wonder if my palate is expecting certain flavor & characteristics in an import that really wouldn't be there fresh from the brewery -- and I also wonder if I'm looking down on a local version of the style because I'm not getting that import character. Age, pasteurization all to be taken into account as much as ingredients.

An example of that would be Trader Joe's Winter Doppel next to Salvator. The TJ's seemed much smoother and more mellow than any Salvator I'd had here (and that's not to say Salvator isn't smooth), and I wonder if that can't be attributed to freshness? I wish I'd taken notes when I visited the Salvator Keller, may be able to answer my own question.

S.

[MeridianFC]

Fair points all, but I guess in this case the real world comparison will have to serve since the overwhelming majority of the time I'm supping Altbairisch-Dunkel it's going to be as an imported bottle. So the comparison will not be a pure "how does Ayinger compare to Sly Fox" but "how does the version of Ayinger I can get compare to Sly Fox".

I will concede that when I've had beer fresh in Germany it is often markedly different, for the better, than what gets shipped over here. Luckily I've had Ayinger fresh in Germany so I have some idea of the brew in both formats.

[steveh]

"how does the version of Ayinger I can get compare...

Therein lies the dilemma of which I speak. It's frustrating and only swims my head trying to grasp the concept that there are 2 different beers to compare from the same brewery.

I (think) I want fresh, but maybe I'm so used to the bottled import that I'll think the fresh doesn't taste right... see where I'm going?

Anyone seen Ayinger on tap here in the US? Probably the closest to fresh we'd get... then there's the care taken with the keg... :eek:

Luckily I've had Ayinger fresh in Germany so I have some idea of the brew in both formats.

I have too, it's just been too long ago to remember clearly. :(

S.

[MeridianFC]

I see where you're going but we have to take the scene as written, though many of us or fortunate to have more than one point of reference.

Ayinger beers appear on tap around here from time to time. For some reason Celebrator and the Bräu-Weisse are the ones I see when I see them though have had ABD on draft, though it hadn't been handled well.

Oddly enough in all of this discussion, I've never had any Sly Fox beers on draft!

[chazwicke]

I just spoke with my buddy who is travelling up in PA. H just called me from a brewpub up there and i ordered up a case of the Dunkle should he be able to swing by a distributor. He's up for a breweriana show in Harrisburg this weekend.