Flying Fish Brewing Company is a craft brewery based in Somerdale, New Jersey. Founded in 1995 in Cherry Hill Township, it moved to its Somerdale location in 2012. It is today the largest brewery in New Jersey.
History
Flying Fish was established in 1995 as the world’s first virtual microbrewery, something novel that drew a lot of attention. Capitalizing on this early notoriety, founder Gene Muller took Flying Fish into brick and mortar, constructing the first microbrewery in South Jersey. While New Jersey once boasted more than 50 breweries, Flying Fish was the first new brewery built in Southern New Jersey in more than half a century.
Business grew, and Flying Fish now produces a range of beers year-round, along with a variety of seasonal specialties. Flying Fish beers are ten-time medal winners at the Great American Beer Festival, the most of any New Jersey brewery. Success meant expansion, and in 2012, Flying Fish moved from Cherry Hill to its new facility in Somerdale, making it the largest brewery built in the state since prohibition.
The tasting room at Somerdale now offers weekly one-off and barrel aged beers. This facility also boasts many sustainability features to brew the award-winning beer in the most environmentally friendly way possible. Flying Fish is also known for its ties to the community: each year, the company donates more than $100,000 in goods, services and merchandise to local nonprofit causes.
Products
Regular seasonals are the Oktoberfish, Farmhouse Summer Ale, and Grand Cru Winter Reserve. The latter two are bottle-conditioned. Less available (often only in growlers at the brewery) are Big Fish Barleywine, a Coffee Porter, Love Fish (a cherry-infused Belgian Abbey Dubbel available around Valentine's Day), Black Fish, and Imperial Espresso Porter. In January 2012, Flying Fish added Red Fish, a hoppy red ale, to its lineup.
In the summer of 2004, Flying Fish produced a blueberry flavored Abbey Dubbel available only in 1/6 kegs to recipients of the brewery's mailing list.
First in the region to be featured at the Great British Beer Festival, Flying Fish has also been featured at the Oregon Brewers Festival and Canada's Biere de Mondial Festival and has also won several medals at both the Real Ale Festival in Chicago and the World Beer Championships.
Exit series
In 2009, Flying Fish began releasing a series of beers named after New Jersey Turnpike exits, each in styles intended to represent the part of the state served by that exit. New beers in the series are released at variable intervals, usually several months apart, with an extended hiatus as Flying Fish moved into their new facility in 2012. The inaugural release in the series honored the brewery's home exit, Exit 4, in March 2009. The exit series has generated some controversy, as the NJ chapter of MADD has criticized the association of driving and alcohol.
References
External links
- Flying Fish Official Site
