Laura and Lars Travel: A Letter From Home: 'Explosive Beer'

The following is an email I received from Dad. The subject line; 'Explosive Beer'.

I thought it was too good not to share, enjoy:

Not sure if we ever told you this story.

When I was in NZ a few weeks back Annie went to a party and took along a few of your home brew bottles.

Anyway the bottles weren't drunk and she returned home next morning. It was another super hot day, 30˚C and we were swimming in the pool and at the beach.

That afternoon Annie was heading back to her flat when she came running inside to get me and said her back, side window had been broken in to.

I took a look and yes the rear side window was shattered. We looked further and saw smashed beer bottle glass fragments throughout the back seat.

Putting two and two together, obviously the bottle has exploded in the heat and some shrapnel had blown out the back window.

Could have been lethal if someone was in the back seat!

There were still two unexploded bottles on the floor with bulging caps!

Anyway I got on some safety glasses and a heavy coat and carefully picked up the bottles one at a time (handling them as if aged nitro glycerine) and carefully placed them on the grass verge.

Then I had to defuse the bombs.

I thought for a while and then decided to reach out carefully and flip off the cap .

The bottle was placed lying down and safely aimed up the street.

It didn't take much of a tweak to set off the bomb.

The beer bottle shot backwards about 5 metres (newton's first law - every action has an equal and opposite reaction)

A huge burst of foam came shooting out of the bottle and the cap hit the sound barrier and sped up the road about 50 metres.

To add to the Monty Python moment a local cat was casually taking a stroll across the road and came extremely close to getting a bottle cap implant. The cat did what cats do and jumped a metre in the air before hitting the deck in full 4WD and sped screaming into a bush.

It was a hilarious moment and I couldn't believe the force of the explosion but was lucky the were no injuries.

What the hell did you put in the bottles?

There was no beer left anywhere just foam and vapour!

Also I noted that in the back of Annie's car there were no wet areas and the car didn't really smell that strongly of beer. It must have vapouised.

The remaining bottle I did the same thing to defuse but this time no cat was involved.

Then what to do with the remaining 10 dozen time bombs in crates in my garage.

I took these outside on the grass and tipped the crates on their side much like a rocket launching silo.

The caps were taken off but not nearly as spectacular although they did foam a lot!

Some Jehovahs Witnesses looked perplexed by my activity and I let them know I wasn't interested in religion and they didn't take up my offer to try a sample.

Anyway all bottles were safely diffused and the local Indian Guy at the bottle store gave me $7 per crate which probably almost covered the cost of the window repair.

I'm sure Dad will recall a similar incident many years ago with a huge explosion late at night as a bottle of home made ginger beer exploded in the laundry.

Craig spent a few hours diffusing bottles outside dressed in his full face motorbike helmet and full leather motorbike (aka improvised bomb disposal) gear.

There's a lesson in this. Be bloody careful of home brew. It could be lethal!'

Well I guess that's what happens when you make too much home brew to drink before you leave the country... I was planning on drinking it when we got back, but considering this was the outcome now, I hate to think what the bottles would have been like next time we are home!