(Lenny Bruce NYC mug Shot)

Flying Dog Brewery is as passionate about issues like censorship as they are about their beer. And their latest release celebrates the legacy of comedian Lenny Bruce who was sent to prison for word crimes.

The very idea sounds unthinkable to the Land of the Free. But word crimes is what the irreverent comedian Lenny Bruce was convicted of committing in 1964 — in New York City of all places.

Bruce was basically sent to prison for telling jokes to late-night crowds of consenting adults at a comedy club in Greenwich Village. For that, he was charged with violating the state’s obscenity law, and the court found that his performances were “obscene, indecent, and immoral.”

Freedom of speech drove Bruce’s comedy. He didn’t care who he pissed off, certainly not the state who sentenced him to prison. In all of New York’s history, this is the only criminal conviction for spoken words in a nightclub.

His conviction remained on the books until the end of 2003, when Governor George Pataki issued a posthumous pardon that he called “a declaration of New York’s commitment to upholding the First Amendment.” It was the first posthumous pardon in the state’s history.

(Courtesy Flying Dog Brewery)

Bruce bravely paved the way for generations of comedians.  His routines touched on everything from racism and organized religion to homosexuality and social conventions about the use of language and his trial for obscenity is seen as a landmark for freedom of speech in the United States.

Lenny had an uncanny ability to expose the hypocrisies and paradoxes of society, and his raw, free-form comedic style made him an American cultural icon. In 2017, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him third (behind Richard Pryor and George Carlin) on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time

And now to celebrate Lenny Bruce’s legacy and champion “freedom of Speech,” Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery has released OBSCENITY — an unfiltered 8.7% ABV take on its The Truth Imperial IPA.

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Want more on Flying Dog Brewery’s fight against censorship in a country where the First Amendment to the Constitution provides that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech?

There’s this…

FLYING DOG BREWERY DEFIES UK REGULATORS

And this…

FLYING DOG BREWERY SUES NORTH CAROLINA OVER BEER LABEL REJECTION