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IT'S SUMMERTIME AND
THE BEER IS FINE
The nice thing about July and August, aside from the fact that all the April...and May...and June...showers have (hopefully) gone away, is that the days are long and warm and that a Very Good Beer moves up to a Very Excellent Beer courtesy of the summer ambiance.

Beer is good anytime, anywhere, but let's face it, a fine Lager, tasty Ale or here-again, too-soon-gone-again Seasonal just seems extra special on a perfect summer day.

And when it comes to enjoying all that, have we got the place(s) for you!
These are the days and nights that our popular terraces at both pubs were designed for, the perfect spots for alfresco drinking and dining.

Our brewing team will present an array of appealing seasonal brews to supplement our most popular summer standards, Pikeland Pils and Royal Weisse, including Grisette (the "little sister" to our world-class Saison Vos), Dunkel Weisse (a dark wheat beer), the very popular Whitehorse Wit and the tart & refreshing Berliner Weisse.

There are specials at both locations throughout the week, including a prime rib dinner on Wednesdays at Royersford and a pasta dinner at Phoenixville on Thursdays. Plus growler refills of select beers are only $6 every Tuesday at Royersford. How can you resist?

Come and visit us, for a leisurely lunch, a satisfying warm weather dinner or just a few pints with friends. And be sure to keep an eye out for Sly Fox wherever you are. We'll be pouring at just about every major beer event in the region in coming weeks and featured at lots of taverns and restaurants.

Check out what is going on at both locations...

Brewmaster Brian O'Reilly's father-in-law, Pete Dabback, lives just 6.2 miles from his teaching job at Spring Ford High School. An enviable commute to be sure, but Pete makes those of us who love exercise and cycling even more green as he pedals his way to work and home every day.

In fact, Pete's love of biking got him an invite to the Ommegang Tour to upstate New York last year and that 350-mile ride, plus his intimate connections to the brewery, prompted O'Reilly to commission a one-of-a-kind bike jersey. "It was a bit of a coincidence," says O'Reilly, who also enjoys cycling. "A Philadelphia company, GoCycling, approached us to develop a bike jersey around the same time we wanted to do one, so we went with it."

The new Sly Fox cycling jersey, designed by Sly Fox's advertising agency Virtual Farm Creative, is currently in production and should be completed and available for retail sale through GoCycling by this year's Ommegang Tour to Cooperstown, New York. The tour, culminating at the Belgium Comes to Cooperstown weekend at Ommegang Brewery, is scheduled to depart Philadelphia on July 25, 2009.

ROAD WARRIOR
These days, Corey Reid, a familiar face behind the bar at Sly Fox Phoenixville for over 11 years, is as likely to have a steering wheel in his hands as he is a tap handle.

When Corey became Sly Fox's second sales representative to the trade (as announced in our January Newsletter), he committed to spending a good deal of time on the road, visiting wholesalers and retailers who carry Sly Fox, or should be carrying Sly Fox, to help them and encourage them in any way he can.

Suzanne Woods, Philadelphia's fabled "Beer Lass," became the first Sly Fox sales rep in July 2006 and covers the city of Philadelphia, the surrounding five-county area and New Jersey, the brewery's largest market area. Corey is responsible for "everything else," which means Central Pennsylvania (where sales have shown a signifcant increase since he took on the job) and New York. A lot of the focus of late has been on the latter, particularly upstate New York, although an anticipated move by Sly Fox back into the Pittsburgh market will likely change that somewhat.

He says what he's seen in the Empire State after six months on the job has been surprising. "I knew we were pretty well established in New York City because of all the work Brian [head brewer Brian O'Reilly] has done, but I didn't expect to see the brand embraced as rapidly as it has been in the rest of the state. There is really a great beer culture up there and they really like their beer. They put Philadelphia to shame when it comes to cask beer, for example. They really understand it and want the real thing. When we get our program fully running later this year, that's going to be an incredible market."

Reid works at Phoenixville Mondays and Tuesdays, then leaves for New York at 5am on Wednesdays to spend the next three days traveling with wholesaler reps. The plan is for him to return Friday nights to begin a weekend of bartending shifts but more and more often, especially now that summer is here, he finds himself staying for all or part of the weekend to represent Sly Fox at beer events.

"Sales aren't where I want them yet," he says, "but you can see them growing. The big thing right now is to get the beer on the shelves at retailers. We don't have the money for a big advertising campaign, so the beer itself, especially those suitcase packages for the cans, is our major Point of Sale promotion."



On the First Friday of every month, Incubus Tripel goes on tap at Noon, only in Phoenixville.	On the Second Friday of the month, a new Varietal Pale Ale is released at both the Phoenixville and Royersford pubs.	On the Third Friday of the month, a firkin of cask ale goes onto one of the hand pumps in Phoenixville at Noon.