New Jersey Beer Passport stop 1 - Flying Fish Brewery, Cherry Hill

I got my New Jersey Beer Passport this past Saturday. The idea behind this passport is to visit each of the craft breweries/brewpubs in New Jersey, and get your "passport" stamped by each business. After receiving 12 stamps, you qualify for a prize. I'm shooting for all 16. For more information on the New Jersey Beer Passport, visit here. I'll use this space to give my own (rather unrefined yet strong) opinions and reviews of the brews I sample as I visit breweries and brewpubs around the Garden State.

My visit to Flying Fish was actually the second stop on my quest for a passport. I had gone to the River Horse Brewery in Lambertville in September to get my passport and a stamp, but they were out of passports. Oh darn, guess I'll have to go back and drink more beer!

But anyway, the Flying Fish Brewery puts on a fairly decent tour for being a small brewery. They only run tours on Saturday afternoons, but it's a pretty nice setup. You go in to the brewery, ask questions, get to see their operation, and then (best part) taste their beer! Well, we did the beer tasting part first, because we got there while they were running another tour, so we spent time in the gift shop sampling their brews.

They have about 4 or 5 brews available at any given time. The four I sampled were their flagship Extra Pale Ale, their ESB ale, their Grand Cru Winter Reserve, and a Belgian Style Dubbel. They also had HopFish, a very good IPA, available to sample, but I had a sixer of that in my fridge, so I was more interested in tasting what I didn't have.

Grand Cru Winter Reserve - Fairly light in color, which was somewhat of a surprise to me, as most of the "winter" styled beers I've come across are darker and heavier. Very smooth, nice blend of hops and malts. I picked up a fruity taste, which the Flying Fish website attributes to the temperature the beer ferments at, not any actual fruit in the beer. Still, I like my winter beers to be a bit heavier and have a little more body. 6.5/10.

Extra Pale Ale - Yellow in color, as was to be expected. Has a very good smell to it. The aromas of malt and hops are immediately distinctive, which is important to get the flavor right in any sort of light-colored beer. Very well balanced, with a light, sweet start but a good, bitter finish. This brew is probably the one most readily available in a bar setting, and is also available at Citizen's Bank Park and is one of my favorite beers to drink there. 9/10.

ESB Ale - A pretty good offering in the ESB category. Darker than the EPA, with a good blend of malts bringing the color to a copper hue. Fine smelling. The taste is a little on the light side. Neither the first Flying Fish I'd reach for (give me their IPA) nor the first ESB I'd go for (Red Hook, please), still a good beer to have every once in a while. 7/10.

Dubbel - Very, very good brew. Strong smell, very thick head when poured. It is very complex in its flavors, and leaves more of a sweet aftertaste than a bitter one. This is pretty interesting to me, because I don't get much of a sweet taste at the start of the beer. 9/10.

HopFish IPA - Excellent IPA. I am a huge IPA fan, and am always looking for different brewers' takes on this classic English style. This one brings a very strong hop character to the table. The malts used do a lot to bring a nice start to this beer, but the hops definitely take over to provide that strong, bitter kick that is a hallmark of this style of brew. Perhaps a bit too sweet for some IPA enthusiasts, I still like the range of flavors this brew provides, and at time of sampling, this is my favorite brew produced by this fine Cherry Hill brewery. 9.5/10