US1569 BOS PHL 1630 1805 E90 4A

I was greeted at the club with the (everlasting) news that
owing to a change in catering, there was no alcohol for
sale. No biggie; I was planning to Glenlivet it on the
plane anyway. The cranberry nut mix in bulk seems to be
better than that that comes in the packets. No wi-fi. The
news on all the TVs was about Farrah Fawcett.

Much gate lousing at gate 4 - from zone 1ers to zone 4ers
that I saw. I gave up swimming through and just boarded
with the zone 1ers. The flight was totally packed.

A beautiful rather exotic-looking, perhaps mixed-race FA;
she was, well:

Despite this being her fourth trip of the day, our
FA was cheerful, solicitous, and energetic. It is
employees like her who are the reason I have let my
Airtran status expire and am keeping my status on
US Air.

It's hard to fit that much text on an A&B, but possible.

Two Glenlivets and I was in the land of nod.

I stayed on the plane and napped fitfully: heard the
cleaning crew refusing to clean the plane, whereupon my
FA called up the union office and complained, saying that
all her other trips had had a cleaning crew, why not this
one. She did not get satisfaction.

US1569 PHL BWI 1850 2003 E90 4A

Same crew for this 25-minute flight (not of course counting
half an hour or more waiting in line in Philly). My FA gave
me a double Glenlivet without my asking.

We landed 20 early.

As there wasn't any MARC service for an hour, and as I
got this promo for something like 100 bonus points per leg,
I booked onto Amtrak.

2V 193 BWI WAS 2030 2100 Y

On time. I went to the quiet car, put my ticket sticking up
in the pocket, and went to sleep. Nobody collected the
ticket. How do I get my miles?

=

In addition to doing chores at the house, I had wanted to
go to the Barbecue Battle, but various people warned me
against this, and I decided to trust their judgment over
the corporate hype. Wanted some Q anyway, so I trekked
down to Capital Q and had the brisket. Asked for it extra
fatty, and it came extra fatty, but it was dead tasteless -
very little smoke flavor and no salt at all in the meat.
Adding salt doesn't have the same effect. A disappointment.
The hot bbq sauce, however, is quite spunky, rather nice.

A few doors down is R.F.D., and as it was about 8 million
degrees out, a few beers seemed to be in order (and the
place is an iDine place). A truly gorgeous brunette
bartender poured me:

Flying Dog Schwarz Rauchbier - this wasn't very rauch at
all and tasted rather like a Guinness with a teaspoon of
Johnny Red as a floater. Was this a relief, after my
experience with the Aecht Schlenkerla in Nuremberg? No.
I called the bartender over and even as I started to speak
she interrupted me and said that, yes, it's a really subtle
smokiness, and I didn't brew it, so don't ask me why. If
she'd been a grumpy old graying guy with a pot, I'm not
sure I would have found the encounter as charming as I did.

Next: two IPAs from Dogfish Head:

60 Minute - this is your standard citrusy floral hoppy
IPA, bitter but not impossibly so, a bit of sweetness,
some body, quite nice; contrast with

Burton Baton Oak Aged - enormously bitter, quite sweet,
thick, almost honeylike, 10% alcohol as well; a big big
beer, and I'm not sure if I liked it or not.

Both of these were really low in carbonation and more
like drinking syrup than beer.

As I'd wondered how an Indian chef (as opposed to Indian
chief) would make a beer:

Brooklyn Cuvee De Cardoz Indian spiced ale - a standard
Weizen whose banananess and cloviness was augmented by
(things I tasted) cloves, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon,
cardamom, fenugreek and (things I didn't detect) coconut,
chiles, fennel, black and red pepper, tamarind. Interesting
but not something I'd want to drink every lifetime. I'd have
been interested to try it with Asian food, though.

To finish I had Bell's Oberon summer ale, a light, almost
tasteless by comparison, Weizen with a touch of the esters
common to the type.