Philly Beer Week sees FU Sandy return

Flying Fish sales rep Mary Grace
Hodge pours FU Sandy Friday night

FU Sandy, the hurricane fundraiser beer brewed by Flying Fish, made its return at the opening-night festivities of Philly Beer Week Friday.

The next stop for the hybrid wheat-pale ale (6.5% ABV), brewed with experimental hops, is in its home state of New Jersey in a couple of weeks, in draft and bottles.

"It's back; it's strong. It's Jersey strong," says Andy Newell, Flying Fish's director of sales. "We're ready to go. We're really excited to be releasing it in 750 (milliliter) bottles. We wanted to get people excited about it. It's a great opportunity for all the people who didn't have a chance to taste it (previously)."

Philly Beer Week's Opening Tap, the kickoff event for the 10-day beer week, marked the first pour of the brew's second round. FU Sandy was initially released in February in a limited run of 50 barrels. Flying Fish brewed 200 barrels for the second installment of FU Sandy. Fifty barrels will be kegged, while the rest will be bottled.

The initial run raised $45,000 for three charitable organizations doing storm relief work. That figure represents all proceeds from the beer. A portion of the proceeds from the second batch will be steered to aid relief efforts from last October's hurricane-nor'easter hybrid storm.

"It won't be set up like it was before, as a straight-up, 100 percent fundraiser," Andy says. "But we're going to continue to build on the efforts we've made already. We're excited about that as well."