A little longer wait for Sandy bottles

Boxes of labels for FU Sandy bottles

 

















Think July, not June.

Flying Fish has put out out an update on the bottle release of its wheat-pale ale, FU Sandy, pushing back the date a little bit.

The 6.5% ABV brew that initially appeared in February as storm-relief fundraiser made a draft return last week (notably at the start of Philly Beer Week), but it's going to take a couple weeks longer for the 750 milliliter bottles.

The beer is due to be bottled in a week. However, such schedules can be subject to change. Additionally, the brewery's handling of the 750s is a two-stage process: They get the labels put on a day or so after they've been filled.

There are a few other circumstances related to doing business in New Jersey to factor in. The upshot is, the beer's bottle release is now the beginning of July.

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."

FU Sandy coming back for another round

 After raising $45,000 that was spread among a trio of hurricane-relief charities, Flying Fish Brewing's wheat-pale ale released last winter will make a reprise.

The upcoming second round of FU Sandy will be bottle and draft.

 Kegs of Sandy are being targeted for around the start of Philly Beer Week (May 31-June 9); 750 milliliter bottles are planned for release sometime in June. 

Like the initial draft-only installment of FU Sandy, the 6.2% ABV beer will again do charitable work. 

The Somerdale brewery plans to dedicate a portion of the proceeds toward rebuilding from the hurricane-nor'easter hybrid that ravaged the Jersey coastline last Oct. 29.

The brewery steered all proceeds of the first run of 86 kegs of FU Sandy to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund; chapters of Habitat for Humanity (Southern Ocean County, plus coastal and northeast Monmouth County) and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

The beer was well-received when it was released in mid-February, generating a lot of requests to bring it back. 

And Flying Fish listened.

A 50-50 balance of two-row pale malt and American white wheat, the beer is hopped with ADHA 483, an experimental hop donated by the American Dwarf Hop Association. FU Sandy was an inaugural use for the hop in a beer.

Funds Unleashed, Sandy; take that

On a day when another coastal storm is buffeting the Jersey shore with 40 mph winds and 60 mph gusts, there's this comforting news: The beneficiaries of the Flying Fish FU Sandy beer have been announced:

• Habitat for Humanity – chapters in Southern Ocean County, Coastal and Northeast Monmouth County
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey
• Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund

Sales of FU Sandy, a wheat-pale ale mashup beer brewed with experimental hops, generated $45,000; the cut for each relief organization is $15,000 (Habitat will divvy its share amongst the three chapters.)

In the case of the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey fund, the relief organization chaired by New Jersey first lady Mary Pat Christie, Flying Fish's contribution is the second shot of cash raised by the state's craft beer industry to aid the state's rebound from the Oct. 29 storm. 

Last month, East Coast Beer Company announced it made a $4,000 contribution to the fund. That donation was raised from case sales of the Point Pleasant Beach company's Beach Haus beers.

As for Flying Fish, FU Sandy was the first new brew to come out of the brewery's new home in Somerdale. It's pretty much gone from the bars now (most of the tappings of the stores and bars' single kegs happened Feb. 16), but there are a few places yet to put it on: High Street Grill in Mount Holly (March 14), The Shepherd & The Knucklehead in Haledon (March 21), and the Atlantic City beer festival (April 4-5).

Flying Fish continues to raise money for Superstorm Sandy relief via sales of glassware and T-shirts.

And then FU Sandy poured

FU Sandy tap

Yep, FU, Sandy

It doesn't take long to kick a freshly tapped keg when it's pouring for a good cause. 

Bars and packaged goods stores with growler stations were doing just that Saturday, selling pints and jugs of the hybrid wheat-pale ale, FU Sandy.

Flying Fish brewed FU Sandy, its first new beer for 2013, to help raise money for hurricane relief. And has been noted since the announcement in December, the brewery will steer all proceeds from the beer to a Jersey-based charity to be chosen from suggestions offered by Twitter and Facebook followers of the brewery. 

All 86 kegs of Sandy are long gone from the Somderdale brewery, dispatched into the hands of the bars and stores that got one each; many of those establishments followed the brewery's request to tap the beer on Saturday, but some did so the day before; others will feature FU Sandy at later dates. Check here for the the list. (Glassware and shirts will continue to be available.)

Denise at the Office pours Sandy

Whatever the case, when the beer was tapped, business was brisk, with lines for growler fills. 

At Spirits Unlimited, a Sandy line

At The Pour House, the keg kicked around 2 p.m. The bar in Westmont in Camden County put the Facebook shout-out up around noon. The Pour House's faithful promptly did the rest.

Then there was the Passion Vines store in Somers Point, an Atlantic County shore town not far from where the center of the storm made landfall but did considerably less damage (that's because it's the northeast quadrants of hurricanes that are the worst: storm surge and sheering winds).

Over in Toms River, in central Ocean County, two kegs of FU Sandy were flowing across the street from each other: at the Office Lounge & Restaurant and the growler station inside Spirits Unlimited, in a plaza across busy Route 37, within sight of the Office's parking lot. 

Both locations were symbolically fitting, given that Ocean County's barrier islands got shredded by Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29th and the hurricane-nor'easter's full-moon high tide.

A lot of repair work is taking place up and down the coast (such as Belmar's boardwalk repair getting under way last month), and there's been plenty of progress. But the tracks of the Star Jet roller coaster rising from the surf in Seaside Heights still make you think you're staring at the ruins of a civilization. Rebuilding the boardwalk reminds you otherwise. 

FU Sandy growler

A fill for the cause

Perhaps its fitting to also take a moment and remember those still displaced from their homes ruined by Sandy. In either case, that's where FU Sandy comes in, a little help and a resonant name.

And at the Office, a lot of people were saying "FU Sandy," promising to kick the keg before the afternoon was done. By 3 o'clock, the bar had already run out of the commemorative pint glasses that were also for sale.  

Located just off the Garden State Parkway's exit 82, the Office is a Toms River fixture. It's within walking distance of the county courthouse, a proximity that makes it the Ocean County Bar's bar. It's a place that's a bit ahead of its time, too.

Back in the mid-1980s, long before it featured the respectable craft beer lineup that it has today – and well before New Jersey had its wave of craft breweries – you could get Bass ale in bottles, a huge contrast to what was the norm then. 

Office beers include Jersey beers

The Office is also known for its signature quirk of handing cash-paying patrons $2 bills and 50-cent pieces back as change (nowadays dollar coins, too).

Thomas Jefferson looked up from a 2 in the stack of bills parked in front of Anthony Petrocelli, an Office regular who sipped a pint of FU Sandy in a logoed glass, one of two he would later take home. 

A phys-ed teacher in Asbury Park, Anthony lives in Toms River (his uncle is Rico Petrocelli, Bo-Sox shortstop and third baseman: two homers in Game Six of '67 Series, a .308 hitter in that classic Reds-Red Sox '75 matchup).

Anthony's sister, Aurora, a banker and new mom, also lives in Toms River, only she can't return to her home on the east side of town. The storm surge that rode over Barnegat Bay sent 4 feet of water through her place. An uncle of Anthony's with property in Point Pleasant Beach to the north is in the same displaced situation. 

Anthony Petrocelli: FU Sandy 

So Saturday afternoon found him at his regular bar, for reasons well beyond thirst and college basketball on the bar's TVs.

"A friend of mine works here, and she told me they were getting a keg of FU Sandy," Anthony says. "So I said I'm going to come here and have a beer or two, get a couple glasses, give her one, I'll take one, and help support all the victims." 

Drink up, and fix the shore

Here's how you can put your beer dollar to a good cause:

Flying Fish plans to release a wheat-pale ale next month to raise money for hurricane relief efforts.

The beer, F.U. Sandy (the FU stands for forever unloved, and perhaps what else you're thinking), will be the first new brew coming out of Flying Fish since it moved to Somerdale from its founding location of Cherry Hill last year.

The brewery describes the beer as a 50-50 balance of two-row pale malt and American white wheat, hopped with ADHA 483, an experimental hop donated by the American Dwarf Hop Association. F.U. Sandy is an inaugural use for the hop in a beer, the brewery says.

The 100-keg production run will be draft only, but Flying Fish left the door open for something further, saying on its website "we'll see what happens."

OK, that said, here's the really important part: The brewery forecasts raising $50,000 to be steered to a New Jersey-based, grassroots charity dedicated to storm relief. The brewery is taking nominations on which charity and you can send yours via email: info@flyingfish.com.

Now, $50,000 may not sound like a lot of money (it is for a comparatively small company) when the damage from the Oct. 29th superstorm – a hurricane that swallowed a nor'easter and went on a major tear – rivals the entire state budget and that Long Beach Island alone got shredded to the tune of $1 billion.

But it is this: It's private industry contributing, and it's an example for other businesses that can to follow. Furthermore, at a time when holdouts in the U.S. House of Representatives suggest the private sector play a role (which it has – $400 million raised from relief drives/events, including the 12-12-12 concert) and prefer to play politics, stalling votes on aid, trying to blow up the aid package, and just generally and needlessly screwing things up, every little bit helps. (See The Daily Show's Jon Stewart size things up here.  And here. The rants are the both second segments in the show.)

Also, there is a serious problem at play here: The House finally approved $50 billion in aid; the Senate approved $60 billion by a far more bipartisan vote; the two versions have to be reconciled before they can get anywhere near a presidential pen for signing. And last week saw evidence of further skirmishes over the aid package, so this could get drawn out even more. Meanwhile, the Star Jet roller coaster sits in the drink.

So, by all means, fill your growlers, raise a pint and raise some money. Because it really matters.