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Now, on the subject of needed or not, it primarily revolves around beer gear and paraphernalia but this time out is a beer itself…
…State Fair as beer? There are beers done as gimmicks. Your pickle beer and back in the day hot chilli beers. But this is taking pastry stout to an outer edge and only really helping out the makers of industrial sized vats of lactose. So, the verdict is Not.
Straight outta Jersey comes this Abbey Dubbel from Flying Fish.
It pours dark orange with hints of brown shadows. The head rises and falls quickly. Caramel and raisins are the first aromas that greet the nose alongside some plum notes. The first sip has quite a carbonation kick to it. The scrubbing bubbles push the fruit and malt notes through the tongue. A bit like having trail mix to a certain degree. Quite effervescent along with some vanilla and spice contributions.
I love breweries that really explore their place geographically and Flying Fish literally explores New Jersey with their Exit series. Exit 9 is for Rutgers University!
Here is their description of the brew: “To celebrate Exit 9, we brewed a richly flavored red beer crafter with a variety of domestic and imported malts and a classic American yeast strain. Assertively hopped with Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook and Citra, the bouquet has complex notes of citrus and tropical fruits, with an appropriate bitterness in the finish.”
The citra hop has worked it’s way to the east coast. I have had only a few rice forward brews and none have blown me away or shown something unique. Maybe this will prove different.
Take a read… “we’ve brewed this beer with wild rice. We also used brown and white rice, as well as two malts.
Rice helps the beer ferment dry to better showcase the five different hops we’ve 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.”