Laughing Ass Brewing Company logoWhere we brew, drink, travel for and blog about beer.
November 30, 2005

Real beer on a flight (and free too)!

Real beer on a flight (and free too)!

I took my first flight on the Delta Shuttle today, and was pleasantly surprised to see good beer on board.

The Shuttle is Delta’s hourly business-oriented product that serves Boston, New York and Washington DC. The seats are all leather, have nice spacing, and make for a comfy and quick ride. A small snack (cheeses, crackers and a bite-sized chocolate bar) and free beer are also included in the fare.

Sam Adams and Bud Light are the two brewed offerings on board — and Sam is served from bottles, which I’ve never seen for an on-board beer. It might cause a little more trash, but I am glad to know there is a good beer option when I need one.

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Filed under: by Patrick @ 3:30 pm
November 25, 2005

Happy Stoutgiving!

Happy Stoutgiving!

During our brew session today, Sean and I decided to have a tasting session with stouts we had brewed recently. (l to r: Mystery Stout, Sean’s 2004 Imperial Stout, and my recently bottled Imperial Stout from October 2005)

This was an interesting process, as it allowed us to not only critique each beer on its own, but contrast it with a similar brew for further comparison.

The Mystery Stout, being born from a hodge-podge of ingredients, including a can of malt extract, was easily identifiable by the molasses notes in the aroma and body of the beer. Not entirely unpleasant, but also a bit underwhelming stacked against the two imperials.

Sean’s Imperial was notable for its toffee and dark malt notes and dry finish. The heat of its 8 percent+ ABV was evident as the dry finish dissipated.

My Imperial was the most curious of the three. The nose was dominated by a pleasant and surprising smokiness that gave way to chocolate and mocha in the mouth. Since I used no smoked malt in this beer, this must be due to the mix of malts used and some yeasty magic. This beer also had a residual sucrose sweetness that must be attributed to the fact that this bottle was the last of our bottling run — a partial fill with a full bottle’s allcoation of priming sugar. It was a pleasant surprise, and a shame that I won’t run across that again.

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Filed under: by Patrick @ 12:03 pm
November 20, 2005

Who Shot JR?

I was at a party last night where some friends told me about their following the moblog of our trip to Dublin and Belgium. What I didn’t realize was that my last post from the gate in Brussels was a bit of a cliffhanger! So here’s what happened to Mark and Michael during those last harried moments at BRU.

> I handled the rental return while Mark and Michael *ran* to the ticket counter to check in. They made it with 30 seconds to spare, and just barely got their boarding passes. But that’s not all…
> Michael almost succumbed to the task of dragging his 35 beer-filled suitcase to the gate (which at BRU seems like a 1 mile hike from security to the gate). Thankfully Mark ran ahead to let the gate personnel know they were coming.
> The overstuffed suitcase was almost impossible to extract from the overhead bin, as it was heavy, and got caught on the inside edge of the bin. Even Mark’s hanging all of his body weight on the bin couldn’t dislodge it. Somehow it was removed without resorting to a c-section, but not before the *entire* aircraft was deplaned.

So now the story has a happy ending!

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