Flying Fish Exit 8

No, LightFare is not dead, I just have an infant and I spend all my time taking photos of her.  This blog post also happens to be almost as delayed as the beer.  Flying Fish intended to release Exit 8 Chestnut Brown Ale around when we all roast chestnuts: December, but some issues with their bottle supplier delayed the release multiple times until March.  I finally got my hand on a bottle a few weeks after the release and opened it a few weeks after that. Here is the description from the website :

"To celebrate Exit 8, one of our big farming areas, we’ve brewed a beer that uses a lost local ingredient: chestnuts–and a popular current one: local honey. This full-bodied hybrid Belgian-style brown ale brings forward a nutty character from the chestnuts, accented by the flavors of honey, roasted barley and oat flakes. There’s a nice spiciness from the Mt. Rainier hops while Chinooks add a touch of pine. Fuggles and Columbus round out the hop profile."

Exit 8 rolls in at 8.3% alcohol and is no slouch in the bitterness department, however the roasted malt and nut flavor dominates the pallet.  I don't sense much impact from the honey, except a thicker mouthfeel than I expect from a brown ale.  Exit 8 feels more like a stout and would pair nice with meaty comfort food: steak, meatloaf, roast port, etc.

Flying Fish Exit 9

Making their next exit of the NJ Turnpike, the Flying Fish beer bus rolls off at Exit 9 and into the campus of Rutgers University. In 1869, Rutgers beat Princeton in the first ever college football game. To differentiate the teams, Rutgers players wore scarlet hats and handkerchiefs which in 1900 became the school's official color and eventually led to their current nickname of the Scarlet Knights. To celebrate Rutgers' red heritage Casey and the boys made Exit 9 a "Hoppy Scarlet Ale" and they aren't kidding about either part. Exit 9 is hoppy and scarlet.

Exit 9 pours bright red with a slightly tan head that dissipates almost immediately. Hopped with four different hops (Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook, and Citra) Exit 9 smells amazing; floral and citrusy, it practically begs you to drink it. On the pallet, however, the hops pummel the tongue with bitterness. Rolling in at a staggering 9% ABV, Exit 9 makes no attempt to hide it's alcohol either. The first taste is bitter and hot. Fortunately Exit 9 aslo has a strong backup of malt which smooths out the bitterness before you finish your sip. I really enjoy pairing wine and beer with food and the side label of the Exit 9 bottle recommends paring with sharp cheddar cheese, which I did. WOW!!! I've never had a beer's flavor change so much. The beer is good on it's own, but for my money, I might never drink Exit 9 without cheddar again.

Overall, Exit 9 is a really good beer, but not for everyone. I liked it; friend Angel liked it; Pop and Wifey did not. But Pop did like it more with cheese.

Enjoy!

P.S. Instead of my FF pint glass, I pulled out the Phillies glass since I plan on drinking Exit 9 when I watch the opening day game where one of these guys will be pitching.

Apple-Apple Martini

It's fall in New Jersey, which means apples are in season. While some people like to make apple pies, apple crisps, or even baked apples, but I prefer to drink my apples. No, not apple cider; gimme some apple-cinnamon infused vodka.

Infused vodka drinks were all the rage a few years ago, a trend started by the Capital Grille and their Stoli Doli. I make a few different infusions throughout the year, depending on what Jersey Fresh fruit the farmer's market sells, but I prefer apple to the rest.

Since I am a martini drinker, I like it shaken over ice and served up, but on the rocks tastes great also. The cinnamon can be a little bitter so I add apple pucker to sweeten the martini and add some color. Garnishes are optional, but a cinnamon stick or floated slice of a Granny Smith Apple look awesome. Also, rimming the glass with cinnamon sugar also adds a nice touch.

Ingredients

• Vodka
• Red delicious apples
• Cinnamon sticks
• Apple Pucker

Tools

• Jar for infusing vodka
• Apple slicer
• Martini shaker

Making the Infusion


The first thing necessary in making the infusion is a container to make it in. Any vessel will do, but Infused-Vodka.com sells some fancy glass for making and serving flavored vodka. I own two, a 100oz verona and a 204oz verona. The recipe amounts below are for the 204 oz container, which makes about a gallon of vodka. Quality ingredients are always important when cooking and are just as important in flavoring the vodka. The better the apple, the better tasting the infusion. Red delicious apples are my favorite to eat, so I get the best ones I can. Cut them with an apple slicer and fill your infusion jar with them. My infusion jar takes about five pounds of apples to fill. Like all spices, cinnamon loses flavor over time, so make sure it is fresh. After some testing, I settled on three cinnamon sticks. More than three, and the infusion was very bitter, less than three and the infusion didn't have enough flavor. The vodka, however, doesn't need to be the highest quality. The apples filter the vodka during the infusion time, so there is no need for the best stuff. I'm not recommending Popov, but there is no need for Grey Goose. I typically buy Smirnoff, and use almost two 1.75L bottles to fill my infusion jar. The infusion process takes a week for the flavors to be fully extracted from the fruit, and you'll notice the vodka turns reddish brown, and the apples will lose their color. The apples on top will react with the air at the top of the container and will turn brown, but it doesn't impact the taste. Also after the first day, the apples will absorb some of the vodka, so you have to add some more to re-fill the jar.

Making the Martini

After the week wait, you can serve directly from the infusion jar, or empty the jar into a bottle for serving. I make my apple-apple martinis with much more apple cinnamon vodka than apple pucker. Since I don't measure the amounts, I estimate the ratio to be about nine parts apple-cinnamon to one part pucker. It's really about cutting any bitterness from the cinammon, without masking the taste. Shake over ice, pour into a martini glass, and enjoy.

Feel free to experiment with different apples, different amounts of cinnamon, and different mixers. Let us know about the results in the comments.

Soakin' the Mugs

Saturday marks the beginning of the college football season, followed quickly by the start of the NFL season. Of course that means drunk-fests tailgating. While the Red Solo Cup is the tailgating standard, I prefer to drink out of something a little more personalized, and eco-friendly: the pewter mug. Some people don't like mugs because they taste like metal, but that's because pewter mugs used for drinking beer need to be seasoned by soaking them in beer. The soak is similar to treating cast iron pans, the beer fills in any nooks and crannies in the pewter and prevents the metallic taste. Since the beer the mugs are soaked in gets thrown away, it doesn't make any sense to use good beer for the soaking. Actually my friends and I like to brag about how bad a beer we can find for the soak. Over the years, I have used Mickey's Malt Liquor, Coors Light, and Natural Light. This year's choice was Schmidt, rolling in at a whopping $5 per 12 pack. Here's the details:

Ingredients

• Cheap Beer

Tools

• Mugs
• Appropriate sized container

I own multiple mugs: one for college games, one for NFL games, and wifey has one she really doesn't use, but I soak anyway, so I need a fairly large container and used a 16 quart cooler. Wash out the mugs and set them in the container and fill will beer until the mugs are completely covered. It took me an entire case of beer because the one mug I have is so tall. I let the mugs sit overnight before removing and rinsing. The next part is key: after removing the mugs, just rinse them. Do NOT use soap, it will remove the coating and render the process useless. So stop killing the environment one cup at a time, get a mug or two and get soaking.