Saturday, January 23, 2010

Exit 4 in 12 ounce bottles

We first learned about this during a visit to the Cherry Hill brewery in early December, when head brewer Casey Hughes pointed to the list of beers under production at Flying Fish.

A new batch of Exit 4, the award-winning FF beer that launched the Exit Series almost a year ago, was on the board and in the fermenter.

After being sworn to secrecy until an announcement could be made, we were offered a sample of the still-young beer, and Casey said plans were under way to put the American-slanted Belgian trippel in 12-ounce bottles as a year-round offering.

It marks the first time FF has backed up to revisit any of the so-far three brews released in the multiyear special series. (It also marks the first time FF has a release a beer in 12-ounce bottles that doesn't feature clouds on the label.) Sometimes, you just can't move on to the next thing.

Exit 4 in 12-ounce bottles hits the shelves in February. The release party for the Great American Beer Fest gold medal winner is 6 p.m. next Thursday (Jan. 28) at Swift Half Pub in Philadelphia.