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.

Kuttered Krimpet Sundae

Pitches and catchers reported to spring training today, and in honor of Phightin' Phillies and the Phearsom Phoursom I took two more Philly favorites and created a closer that could give 2008 Brad Lidge a run for his money. Local peeps know how much TastyKake supports the local teams, especially the Phils, and Breryers has been a Philly legend for over 100 years.  I've been trying to do my part to keep the Tasty Baking Company from going under so I always have Butterscotch Krimpets around (the jelly ones aren't so great), and with Wifey pregnant, we always have ice cream too. Combining two of my favorite desserts seemed like a great idea, but I wanted to add a little texture, so I cut open and toasted the Krimpets. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ingredients

• Two Pack Butterscotch Krimpets
• 1/4 tsp Butter
• Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream (or maybe butter pecan)
• Butterscotch Topping

Tools

• Cutting board
• Serrated knife
• Small non-stick frying pan
• Ice cream scoop

Instructions
Cut the Krimpets in half vertically, trying to not separate the iced side. Heat a small (8") non-stick frying pan over medium heat and melt a small amount of butter in it. Wipe out the melted butter with a paper towel, leaving a thin layer of butter (it's plenty). Place the krimpets in the pan cut side down until the bottom browns slightly (about a minute). Move the toasted Krimpets to a plate and top with two scoops of Breyers ice cream and drizzle with butterscotch topping.

Enjoy!

(Not) Chef Mark's Guacamole

Next week is the [REDACTED] and whether you are a cheese head, waive a yellow towel, or like most of us whose team didn’t make the [REDACTED] you can probably agree that every [REDACTED] party needs some guacamole. Unfortunately the [REDACTED] is played in January February and not between May and November, otherwise I would just go to the Collingswood Farmers Market and buy the best guacamole ever. When the farmer’s market is open Chef Mark Smith, chef/owner of the Tortilla Press in Collingswood and the Tortilla Press Cantina in Pennsauken spends his Saturday mornings cooking breakfast and selling his hand-made tortilla chips, salsa, and the world’s best guacamole.

Since I can’t go to the farmer’s market, and I’m not sure if Mark does take-out, I “stole” his recipe. After a painstaking process involving a centrifuge, a trip to the Fermilab particle accelerator and a few calls to this guy, I developed this recipe for a passable facsimile of the best guacamole ever.

Ingredients

• Hass Avocados
• Plum Tomatoes
• Fresh Cilantro
• Vidalia Onion
• Jalapenos
• Limes (juiced)
• Salt

I base the amounts of the ingredients on the number of avocado’s with an N-1 approach. For 4 avocados it use 3 tomatoes, jalapenos and limes. The onion, cilantro, and seasonings I mix to taste.

Avocado ripeness: Hass avocados are grown year round in California and distributed nationwide. You can tell how ripe an avocado is from both its color and firmness. Ripe avocadoes are purplish-black and firm, yet giving. If you squeeze the avocado in your hand it will almost feel like it has a soft layer right under the skin. Green avocados need to ripen and mushy ones or ones with soft spots are over-ripe.

Tools

• Citrus reamer
• Knives
• Cutting board
• Mixing bowl and spoons
• Potato Masher
• Liquid Measuring cup

Instructions

Dice or chop the onion. Remove the stems and seeds from the tomatoes and jalapenos then dice. Clean, dry and chop the cilantro and set all the chopped ingredients

Avocados brown quickly when exposed to air, but mixing with a little acid prevents the browning. My technique is to juice the limes into a measuring cup and pour a couple tablespoons of lime juice into the mixing bowl before touching the avocados. For the first three avocados, peel and mash each one into the bowl with the lime juice before moving on to the next one. Add a little lime juice (1/4-1/2 tsp) with each avocado. Depending on how chunky you like your guacamole, you can chop instead of mashing all or part the last avocado. My preference is to chop half the last avocado.

Fold as much of diced tomatoes, jalapenos and onion as desired. Add about a tablespoon of the chopped cilanto and about a teaspoon of salt.

Refrigerate the guacamole for about an hour to let the flavors build, then adjust the lime juice, salt and cilantro to taste.

Enjoy!

Other notes: I think the NFL is stupid for not being so restrictive with [REDACTED] and forcing people to use the term “Big Game” instead, especially considering the creation of the term [REDACTED] is disputed.

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.