On a recent flight back from New York, I opted to have a beverage since it was the “happy hour” and it had been a long day. I was thrilled to try the newest addition to our beer selection, Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat. What a treat – as it’s our first foray in craft beers on board.

I love hefeweisens and wheat beers on the ground too, so to share some unbiased views, I looked to the internet, as I always do in my work. Here’s what the online beer review sites say –

• Brewed in small, high-quality batches, Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat is a year-round beer featuring a slightly fruity and citrus character complemented by the gentle spiciness of coriander. It is brewed and balanced with a combination of malted wheat and pale barley malt, cluster hops and natural flavors. An orange garnish adds extra refreshment. Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat contains 4.9 percent alcohol by volume (ABV).

I found out they have four other limited-release seasonal beers—all with delicious & memorable names like Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, Leinenkugel’s Oktoberfest, Leinenkugel’s Apple Spice and Big Butt Doppelbock. Nice!

Beer Advocate users gave it a B rating overall. Ratebeer.com gave it a rating of 38, whatever that means. More meaningful to me is that most rated it a 3 out of a total 5.

I personally thought that at 30,000 feet, the stronger flavors of this wheat beer tasted so much better than those other light beers. I learned that cool rule from our master sommelier Andrea Robinson!

The beer’s commercial description states,

• “If you’ve ever experienced a Northwoods sunset, you know it’s a moment unlike any other. So instead of putting it into words, we captured the Northwoods’ finest moment in every batch of our all-new Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat. Brewed with malted wheat, Cluster hops and natural coriander, Sunset Wheat has a soothing taste that will leave you speechless. It’s like your very own sunset in a bottle.”

I’m not sure it was my own private sunset, but it put a great ending to my day, putting a smile on my face! It seems that at least one of our passengers traveling in Asia has noticed too (and also saw that we’ve upgraded our amenity kits!).

Have you tried our new onboard beer?

Jen Miller

Manager, Content & Marketing

delta.com & self service

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For years now, Boeing has thrown us a birthday party. It has been dubbed “BBBBB” for Boeing Burgers and Beer Birthday Bash. As you might expect, there are Burgers, Beer, it is in a hangar so there are Boeings nearby, and it is around Southwest Airlines’ Birthday. There is a Band, but frankly I was hoping for Bingo, Brownies, Baklava, Bacon, Burritos, Brisket, Bourbon, and a little Broccoli (got to get something healthy in there). But that would be ridiculous! Really, you can’t hear bingo numbers being called with a band playing! With just a little work, we could get it to 10 or more “Bs.”

This episode starts out with a short history of Southwest of the meeting between Rollin King and Herb Kelleher where they decide to start an airline. I speak with Dara from Boeing, bloggers Bill Owen and Gordon Guillory, Flight Attendant Beth Mosby, and our CEO Gary Kelly.

Feel free to comment about things that start with the letter “B” that you might have wanted to see at the BBBBB.