Judge’s Review: 85 Rating – Place to Imagine – Apple Pie by Social Fox Brewing

Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer | Seasonal | USA

By Rick Franckhauser

Judges Rating: 85
Aroma: 19
Appearance: 6
Flavor: 34
Mouthfeel: 9
Overall Impression: 17

Place to Imagine – Apple Pie by Social Fox Brewing was judged as BJCP category 29C, Specialty Fruit Beer, with category 28D, Straight Sour Beer as a base. The aroma presents an initial low level of cinnamon and clove spice. This is followed by a hint of caramel apple. Cider-like with an impression of sweetness and dark sugar. There is also a very faint hint of a tart unripe apple. Everything is nice, but I wanted it all to be a little more prominent. The beer is an amber-orange color with a slight haze. A foamy white head drops quickly, leaving barely a ring, but it can be roused back to a slight cap. Some tiny bubbles are noted throughout.
The flavor reads a little more like a lightly caramel candy-coated green apple than apple pie. The spice is also noted mid-palate. The tartness does help to balance the sweetness and ends up being more dominated by sourness overall, while remaining rounded. There is a hard cider aspect to the beer but it manages to maintain some notes of biscuit malt. Notes of vanilla come through into the finish and carries into the aftertaste, which also adds an additional impression of sweetness. The beer is medium-light in body and has a moderately high level of carbonation leaving a slight prickling on the tongue. A touch of tannin effect is noted with perhaps a little minerality coating the mouth.
Over the years I have grown a little leery of beers that attempt to compare themselves to baked goods. Typically, they tend to either miss the mark or exaggerate the target and often end up being cloyingly sweet or overly spiced. Social Fox has managed to provide a nice balance of tart apple, spice and sweetness. I would have liked something a little more reminiscent of pie crust, maybe some graham cracker, a little toasty or doughy malt, a little less tartness and probably slightly less spice overall. While I found it a little more reminiscent of a caramel-coated green apple, than apple pie, it was still and enjoyable fall seasonal ale.