Sly Fox "Slugger" Pilsner

What the what? Who produces a pilsner and doesn't filter it? Proper filtration is one of the hallmarks of the style. The one thing that pilsner's were known for whenever they were first invented was that they were the first beer that was clear. Until then, beers were murky or dark, so why are we taking a step back and not filtering this one? Are we expecting that this will change the flavor? I have found with the hazy IPAs that this is not the case. Generally, it's more marketing than anything.

The yellow gold beer is, as expected, hazy. It produces a significant head, but I'm going to put that down to the tall glasses from now on. I run into this problem with my wheat beers and that really tall wheat glass that I have. I have not seen anywhere where someone has explained why the glass that forcing a beverage to release more carbonation is better for some styles of beer than others. The aroma is appropriately malty, but I'm not picking up as significant of lemon highlights that most pilsner's bring to the table.

First sip is really good. I know I didn't smell any lemon, but it is in here. It's not overwhelming the rest of the beverage like it would in an IPA, but it is accenting the malt just about perfectly. The malt has a sweetness added to grains that makes the first part of the beverage very smooth, but it seems to give up toward the end to allow bitterness to seep in and take over. This will be an interesting beer to gulp properly.

Tip-in is sweet grain malt with light lemon spritzed on top. The middle becomes thicker with the grains turning to cracker malt while bitterness seems to grasp from all directions. The finish turns somewhat dry as bitterness collapses onto greens for the trail off.

Bottom Line: Pretty darn good.

3.25/5