When you’re at the airport you’re in a separate dimension. You aren’t in one place, you’re between places. Time zones lose meaning. So the idea that there’s a span of time where it’s acceptable to drink a beer? “It’s five o’clock somewhere” is literally true.
It may be 5:59 a.m. at the airport, but what about the time where you came from? Or where you’re going? Or the amount of time before you reach the bed in your hotel room?
Airport beer at 6am? You bet pic.twitter.com/LoZPwuiHLo
— Juancarlo “Juan” Suarez (@juan_suarez123) December 6, 2024
I enjoy a nice glass of wine, and craft cocktails, but I don’t have a strong affinity for beer. Nonetheless I can appreciate the role that beer plays in American culture, and the way that it can evoke certain feelings. Especially at an airport.
One of those is making it through the stress of life, and of getting ready for a trip – arriving at the airport, checking in and dropping off bags and proceeding through the harried process of security – only to collapse into relaxation as you realize that you ‘made it’ and have an adventure ahead. Or maybe you’re drowning sorrows at the end of a trip that didn’t live up to your hopes, or a travel day gone wrong?
Can you name a better beer..
Than an airport beer? pic.twitter.com/Lhj6LqgrAi
— Chris Stephenson | CRE AI, OPS, MKTG (@TopherNOW) April 15, 2024
Capital One leans into this in their airport lounges. In each lounge they ask their local brewery partner to develop their own take on “the perfect airport beer.”
Capital One’s food and beverage director describes the concept as being that there are iconic moments, like having a beer at a ballpark or with a parent when you turn 21. There’s also a certain taste as you ‘set off for adventure’ or a journey at an airport and each lounge has a beer meant to evoke and commemorate this.
Here are the Dulles lounge’s beers on draft:
Outside of the lounge, airport beers are expensive: up to $28 in the New York area. They’ve gotten expensive inflight, too. So passengers may bring there own, such as a man carrying a full beer mug between concourses inside a Washington Dulles ‘mobile lounge. Another passenger brought a whole tub of beer on a plane with them.
That’s up there with this guys basket, that he brought on the plane, sitting next to me. pic.twitter.com/Y89LdZGni8
— Paulybhoy82 (@paulybhoy82) February 20, 2023
Beer is much better on the ground than it is in the air, though. KLM tried to offer draft beer inflight seven years ago but never expanded the test. In fact, the project wasn’t approved by regulators but I don’t believe they were ever fined.
With less air pressure in the cabin than on the ground, it isn’t just taste buds that change. A beer tap will “only dispense a huge amount of foam” and alternative dispensers that are suitable for a pressurized cabin are too large. The trick was to take the components of a keg — beer, cooling system, and compressor — and fit it inside a galley cart. And do it without CO2 cartridges, which wouldn’t be permitted inflight.
Courtesy: KLM
Partnering with Heineken, they pressurized the cart dispenser, and used pre-cooled kegs keeping the beer under 41 degrees over the course of a transatlantic flight.
KLM had claimed to be first, but Japanese airline ANA actually put the first draft beer on a plane in 2010 using dry ice.
This was offered on routes out of Tokyo Haneda to Fukuoka, Sapporo (natch!), Osaka, Nagoya, and Okinawa as well as out of Osaka and Nagoya, Fukuoka and Okinawa. Haneda – Sapporo and Fukuoka flights only offered beer after 5pm.
ANA charged economy passengers 1000 yen for the beer, and only had 20 cups of beer available per flight on 767, 737, and Airbus A320s and 40 cups per flight on Boeing 777s. Despite launching with much fanfare it really didn’t work out well (taste any good) and the idea was dropped.
The beer on board may not be as good, but when I was a kid my tastes were hardly evolved. And one benefit of drinking inflight when traveling internationally is that the rules of an airline’s home country apply and that often means drinking ages that are less than 21. And some airlines will even let you bring your own selection with you and serve it to you inflight.
I said I wasn’t a big fan of beer but that’s not quite true. I loved the old United Red Carpet Club self-pour machine in Tokyo.
There are more beer-centric cultures than in the United States. Two decades ago a Danish court upheld the right of workers to drink beer during breaks. But a beer at a ballpark is distinctly American, and a beer as you set off on a trip to celebrate a little victory is a special moment that many here cherish… even at 6 a.m.
But does beer taste good with any of the food you’re likely to encounter at the airport at 6 am? Sparkling wine at least pairs reasonably well with certain breakfast foods.
Statistically, speaking, the vast majority of people drinking any type of alcohol in early morning hours, even with time zone changes and even at airports, are alcoholics. They may not be ready to admit it, but they are most definitely alcoholics.
At 6 A.M. the pro drinking tip is to avoid hangovers by staying inebriated.
Fun article, you’re bringing back memories with that video of the automatic pour beer machine. There were two types in Japan, the tipping type in your video, and a cooler one which left the glass vertical but inserted a 12mm diameter stainless tube into the glass, and poured the beer for the bottom up (the bottom of the tube was kept below the level of the beer as it was slowly raised). At the end, the tube went above the beer level and gave a quick final shot for that perfect head. Before HND went international, the Admirals Club in NRT had one of those machines for years.
6 am is just a number. I drink very seldom but I understand the sentiment, especially since I am 9 time zones from where I was on Wednesday morning. Maybe some snacks from vending machines would make it a bit better. I have been in rural Mexico where beer and spicy Mexican food are a normal breakfast.
Come to think of it I’ve never seen Gary Leff and TPOL in the same place at the same time.
It’s now clear they are one and the same, except with different levels of wordiness!
Sneaky. So verrrry sneaky.
at 7am in the morning, restaurant at Prague Main train station opened. It quickly filled up.
The restaurant staff were offering beer (in half liters jugs) and coffee, on the rolling trays.
Each tray had 25 or so beer mugs, and about as many coffee cups.
By the time they got to our table, beer was almost gone, while coffee tray was still full.
As a frequent traveler between SE Asia and North America I no longer care what time it is locally when I want to have a beer. And of course I get some looks sometimes. But big deal – I’ll have a beer when I want. Now, if only the Maple Leaf Lounge at YUL would serve beer before 11am!
Partnering with Heineken, KLM innovated by pressurizing the cart dispenser and using pre-cooled kegs to keep the beer under 41°F throughout a transatlantic flight. ✈️ While KLM claimed to be the first, ANA, a Japanese airline, actually debuted the first draft beer on a plane in 2010, using dry ice.
There was a beer machine at the Prague airport one morning as I was leaving. Spare krona put to good use!
Not a fan of AM beers, but I do like that BA has the Brewdog Speedbird. I often take a couple from BA lounges. Incidentally, Brussels Air has a beer menu in business class with ten or so Belgian beers with a rotating special one.
Tootsie’s in the Nashville airport has live entertainment at 6 AM.
My mother impressed upon me that nothing was more than low class than having a drink before noon save for the occasional bloody mary, screwdriver or mimosa. In my life the people I see drinking a beer before Noon generally look like someone that’s not going to live into old age.
Ugggghhhhhh, not for me and Im a Brit, the lines at 5am @ the Bars in the Airport @ Leeds Bradford England were 10 deep+ on our recent trip back home, was heading home to Kansas via Schiphol, DFW, it seems to be the norm, best wishes to the cabin crew who have to deal with the aftermath.