Bottle #3: You From Jersey? What Exit?

Sometimes less is not enough and only more is more. That seems to be the case with “Baltimore Beer Week” — and our coverage of it here at Scribbleskiff. There are so beery many things to do (and to discuss) during this celebration that the organizers thought the “week,” which runs from October 7-17, needed an additional four days.

Following suit, this blog’s staff realized that a single post wouldn’t do justice to the scale of this second-annual event. As a result, and as mentioned previously here, we will be honoring Beer Week over several days, offering one brief review of a new brew each day (just like this one). Selections will be based on the long list of breweries supporting the 11-day Bawlmer benefit (see who the sponsors are here), or will at least be something that you might find at a bar or store in this region. As always, we’ll be choosing a unique or unusual offering, and we’ll provide some suggestions for pairing our picks with food for your enhanced pleasure. Enjoy!

• Exit 16, Flying Fish Brewing Co. As the ombibulous poet Charles Bukowski once quipped, “Sometimes the best entrance is an exit.” And that is certainly the case with this Cherry Hill, N.J.-based brewery’s new “Exit Series” of beers. As the brewery’s entrance into the “big beer” market — in terms of size, strength, and flavor — the Exit line is “a multi-year brewing experiment to brew a series of beers as diverse as the great state of New Jersey,” according to the Web site. Each release is named for a different exit on the Turnpike and is related in some way to its surrounding area. Exit 16, the fourth in the series, honors among other things the Hackensack Meadowlands and its once-common food source, wild rice, which serves as the ale’s main grain, along with with organic brown and white rice, and fosters a dry finish. Two types of malt, and a generous dose of five different hops, including a dry-hopped stage, drive this devil into Double IPA status (8.2% alc/vol). The result is an abundance of aromas and flavors, from citrus and pine to caramel and honey, that’s both sweet and refreshing. It was wildly delicious with a meal of spicy beef tacos, refried beans, hot salsa and, of course, Spanish rice. Anyone ready for more?

As always, tell us what you think. Have you attended any Baltimore Beer Week events? Are there other new beers, or beer and food pairings, that you think everyone should try? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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