Sly Fox Odyssey

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Pours out in a clear amber colour with a small white foam. Dryish aroma of resin and grass with dense and rsticky undertones of mandarin and mango. Nearly full-bodied with bitter and dryish notes of grass and grapefruit with sugary undertones of canned mandarin and apricots. Peppery, bitter and warming finish of grass, grapefruit and canned apricots. A really dry and bitter DIPA with a simplistic dense and sticky sweet malt-character.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours with a golden-orange body topped by a medium thick to thick head with lots of lacing. It’s bitter and hoppy with a slight pine note, grassy notes and a a bit of undelying malt as well as a slight medicinal note. Full bodied, smooth and a touch dry.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Pours with an ever so lightly hazy, rich amber hue that shows bright, reddish copper color when held up to the light. The head starts out a fat-two-fingers in height, is fairly dense in consistency and is a light tan color. Quite hoppy in the nose, there is a nice mix of fruity notes (definitely the dominant character with sweet citrus and apricot notes) and sharper pine-like / herbal notes. Underneath this though is a nice, low level of malt character; while rooting around in the nose, malt aromatics of toasted grain, caramelized malt sugars and biscuit malt can at times play quite a substantial role in the aroma. Interestingly enough the fruity hop character that was so noticeable at first becomes washed out quite quickly; only bits of the vibrant hoppiness that was in this beer soon after popping the cap are left. Faint notes of butterscotch are also found in the nose.

Sharply bitter up front, with a continued hop bitterness through to a biting finish. The bitterness in the finish actually becomes more aggressive and sharp after the beer has completely left the mouth, it even picks up astringent menthol-like flavors. A hint of diacetyl seems to be noticeable, though at a very low level. The hop character leans more towards the bitter, astringent side of things, but there is a low level of tangerine, lychee and sweet orange peel flavors here. This has a reasonably substantial body to it, and some definite malt backbone in the form of sweetness, so I am a bit surprised that the fruity side of the hops are not more apparent here. There is lots of malt though; flavors of soda crackers, biscuits, fresh bread crust and some caramelized grain character.

This is certainly a substantially hoppy beer, unfortunately (for me at least) it is show casing the harsh, astringent side of the hop. This really needs at the very least a lot more citrus type hops in the recipe. It would seriously help to bring balance to the hop focus of this brew. I do like the substantial, yet clearly secondary, malt character here, which would again really help to showcase some of those great citrus type hops if those were added to the bill. A decent beer, but I find it is even a bit too unbalanced for my hop head side.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottled. Amber colour, small white head. Aroma is zest, fruity hops and some slight caramel. Flavour is pretty much the same with hops growing to be both really bitter and quite grassy in the finish.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Thanks to slob for this bottle! Poured an orangey-amber color, ok initial head, thin covering after a few, lacing ok. The aroma was resinous and piney, not much going on. The flavor was bitter, lots of bittering hops, piney and resinous notes, not much citrus. The mouthfeel was moderate to light. Overall, a decent beer, but nothing to write home about. Thanks, Bert, for sharing!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Someone in PA needs to make a sacrifice to the Beer Gods for this disappointment. A weak aroma of grapefruity hops with little to no malt character. Flavor was equally lacking, with some grassy hops and malt astringency. The flavor of this beer really drops out on the palate, leaving you with a strange cold watery beer. Not very good, but not the worst.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Cask... Poured a hazyamber color with a thin, off white head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of pine, citrus, caramel malt, and light spices. Taste was full of citrus fruits, pine resin, and caramel malt, lightly dry, bitter finish, with a touch of alcohol as well. More enjoyable than last years, perhaps its a higher percentage of noble hops this year. These IPA project parties really suck the tastebuds out of you.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Sly Fox Odyssey - poured an orange colored body with a off white head. Noticed more of a piney aroma than the varietals. The taste was mostly hoppy with a slightly piney finish. Not that great. I expected more.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Cask at the SF IPA event. Hazy orangish is color with a tan head. A little too cluttered up with hops. I couldn’t get the real flavors. Fresh hops in the aroma. Mostly hop flavor and bitterness. Too much though. No malt character whatsoever. Ok beer.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 5

140 IBU’s? You gotta be kidding me. This could have been the most dissapointing beer of all at the IPA Project. Some hoppiness without any real malt backing. Shared a pitcher and didn’t even finish my pint.