NJ Craft Brewer Creates Beer For Sandy Relief [AUDIO]

New Jersey's largest craft beer-maker, Somerdale-based Flying Fish Brewing Company, has launched their own campaign to contribute to the Sandy relief.

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Founder Gene Muller says his company has been built on being Jersey-centric and keeping a local focus.

"Seeing the devastation, we wanted to do something," Muller explained, "So, we figured lets do what we do best, which is make a beer."

The beer is called Forever Unloved Sandy, or F.U. Sandy, as it has been dubbed.

Flying Fish brewed the beer on donated time and resources, and convinced their distributors to waive their fees for the delivery phase. Thus, every facet of the beer-making process was donated. In an effort maximize the fundraising effort even more, Muller did something that has not been done. He charged bars and restaurants five hundred dollars a keg for Forever Unloved Sandy.

The response has been overwhelming.

"The people rallied around. We produced 86 kegs and they're all sold out already," said Muller.

F.U. Sandy ships today to bars and restaurants around the state. Muller estimates over fifty thousand dollars will be raised for Sandy recovery.

"We're going to pick Jersey-based charities, people who have boots on the ground in the state. We want to keep the money coming from the state and keep it in the state," he said.

As for the beer itself, an experimental hop was used for the first time in a beer, which yielded a summery beer, half-wheat and half-pale, packing a mango-tropical taste with some punch.

In addition to just keg sales, Muller says events will be held at many of the bars and restaurants carrying F.U. Sandy to promote the effort. Those events are listed on Flying Fish's website, Facebook and Twitter pages. The company also plans to take suggestions through social media for grassroots charities in New Jersey to donate the money to.

"We're all about being part of our community, and this is a way that we can contribute and step up and help restore some of the devastation from Sandy."

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