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.

Flying Fish Exit 13

Flying Fish brewery released their latest exit beer this month, and this time they take us to the City of Elizabeth via Exit 13. Casey, Flying Fish's head brewer, designs the exit beers to match the season they get released and he came up with a full bodied stout to keep us warm for the upcoming winter months. Here is the description from Flying Fish's website:

"For our sixth stop on our journey to celebrate New Jersey, we travel to Exit 13. This exit is probably best known for it’s view of the Newark airport, but it is also home to the Port of Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, one of the busiest in the world. Elizabeth was also New Jersey’s original capitol. Many food products come through the port, including the Belgian chocolate we’re using for what we’re calling an import/ export stout.

This fuller “export style” stout gives a sturdy base for the rich chocolate flavor. More than 600 pounds of Belcolade chocolate went into this brew. A mix of imported and domestic malts are highlighted by roastiness from dark wheat. An Irish ale yeast and Pacific Northwest hops combine to create an excellent dessert beer as well as one to share in the cool weather with friends."

The first indication of the weight of the beer shows as you pour it. The beer flows dark and thick, almost like ink. When the liquid hits the glass a large bubbled, dark brown head forms and hangs around for a while. The chocolate really came through on the nose, but the dark wheat and malt featured more in taste. I enjoyed the balance of the hops and the 7.5% alcohol really warmed me up. Serve on the warmer side ~50 degrees for best flavor.

FF put together a video of the Exit 13 bottling line which can be found here.

Flying Fish Exit 6

The next stop on Flying Fish Brewery's trek up and down the New Jersey Turnpike is Exit 6 Wallonian Rye. Flying Fish released the beer last month and should still be widely available for purchase. Here is the description from the Exit Series site:

For our fifth stop, we journey to Exit 6. This part of Burlington County was settled by Dutch Walloons (now Belgians) whose first order of business was to build a fort–and then a tavern. The area has always had a rich agricultural heritage and we’re using locally grown rye as an appreciation of our farmers past and present.

Exit 6 starts out as a deceptively simple recipe–pale malt augmented by 20 percent rye, fermented with a classic Belgian yeast. But then it gets interesting with the hops: English East Kent Goldings, Slovenian Styrian Goldings and Japanese Sorachi Ace.

The result is a rich saffron color with a spicy character from the rye and lemony citrus notes from the unique Sorachi Ace hops.

The beer poured with a beautiful golden color with a small head which dissipated unsurprisingly quickly considering Exit 6 is 7.5% ABV. The beers I poured for Wifey and I stayed rather cloudy, I'm not sure if that was because of the rye or if my pour included most of the yeast used in bottle conditioning.

For taste, I did get a light citrus taste, but didn't get any of the spiciness Flying Fish described above. The most distinguishing taste characteristic we both found was a slightly sour finish. Again, not sure if that comes across normally with the beer or if my yeasty pour brought the sour to the table. Overall a good beer, and one which should pair well with summer foods.

Update August 1, 2010

I tried another bottle today and got a better pour, without any yeast sediment in the glass. The beer still had a cloudy, medium straw color and a slightly sour taste. While I like it, some people may not. I took a photo of today's pour, below, and you can see the coudiness. Also, I poured the beer so the top of the head reached the top of the glass, and I took the shot below about 90sec after the pour, so you can see how quickly the head dissipates.

Flying Fish Exit 16 - Hop Heads Rejoice

Wifey and I go to at least three "beerfests" each year and consequently we drink more craft beer than macro-brews anymore. Cherry Hill, NJ (local to me) based Flying Fish brewery's beers fill most of my pint glasses, especially since they stated making their Exit Series beers. As a Jersey native, I love the concept of the exit series: "a multi-year brewing experiment to brew a series of beers as diverse as the great state of New Jersey. These big beers–in size as well as flavor–will celebrate each exit of the state-long artery that connects us." Flying Fish brews one batch of each beer and releases them in wine sized (750ml, 25.9oz) bottles and that's it. Well, it was supposed to be it, but Flying Flying fish recently re-released the first one, Exit 4 (an American Trippel and Flying Fish's nearest exit), in 12oz bottles (nice). There's no word on if Exit 11 (Hoppy American wheat and the best beer I've ever had) or Exit 1 (Bayshore Oyster Stout and brewed with 100 NJ oysters), will also see the 12oz treatment. Please guys, more Exit 11.
The liquor store near us Canals of Berlin received their shipment of the fourth and newest release, Exit 16 (Wild Rice Double IPA), today and we bought some to try. The Exit 16 website gives the brewers notes:

"Although usually identified with landfills and pipelines, the Hackensack Meadowlands is an amazingly diverse ecosystem providing vital animal and plant habitat. In a nod to a once common food plant here, we've brewed this beer with wild rice. We also added organic brown and white rice, as well as pils and pale malts.
'Rice helps the beer ferment dry to better showcase the five different hops we added. Lots and lots of them. We then dry-hopped this Double IPA with even more-generous additions of Chinook and Citra hops to create a nose that hints at tangerine, mango, papaya and pine. This beer pairs extremely well with spicy foods and all kinds of seafood. And of course, it's quite enjoyable all by itself."

All the rice and hops yield a formidable beer at 8.4% alcohol by volume. The beer carries a deep straw color typical of an IPA. For a beer with a higher ABV the head holds nicely. The aroma hints of citrus and light tropical fruits. The citrus continues through to the taste, but only for a moment; then the hops takeover. After a second or two on the tongue the beer gets really bitter, but that's expected from a double IPA, and the bitterness lasts for a looooong finish. While double IPAs aren't my cup of tea, Exit 16 is a really good beer.