I’d settle for aeroplanes having cocktail shakers, but I wouldn’t mind an aeroplane shaker…

I’m not exactly a frequent flier, and I don’t usually drink when I fly, but an overnight trip to Chicago gave me the opportunity to see what I could do with American’s coach beverage selection.  Since American also has wi-fi onboard, I can also write this blog (very awesome except that the people next to me get a sneak peak).

Making drinks in coach is no easy feat.  An evaluation of the circs:

Ingredients

• surprising range of basic liquors
• multitude of  high fructose corn syrup-based mixers
• citrus in tiny chunks (though I’ve never seen such tiny pieces of lime elsewhere)

Obstacles (freshness and quality complaints about the mixers aside) – lack of…

• Vermouths
• Liqueurs
• Bitters
• Hardware (mixers, muddlers, strainers)
• Garnishes (beyond those little citrus chunks).

On the big plus side, the flight attendants are way more accommodating than I feel they should be.  Their primary responsibility is passenger safety, they have a lot of people to serve, and yet they will humor some dude asking for random drink ingredients.

I understand that they don’t have room for everything on that cart, but really, just a little vermouth would open up a whole range of possibilities.  I’m sort of shocked that they haven’t started selling little martini sets in plastic shakers.  For $10 you could get a little souvenir shaker that comes with  gin and a tiny packet of vermouth.  They could provide the ice and a twist from the cart.  Some airlines are venturing into this realm, but my trip is for business, and hence getting where I need to go, on time, was my main consideration.

While the TSA’s 3-1-1 rule would easily allow for a baggie with ample liquor and vermouth to make drinks, we’re having fun here, not being weirdos.  Aside: EE preemptively forbade me from carrying around my own bitters, as some do with Tabasco, pepper mills, and artificial sweetener - actually not something I had thought of, and not a bad suggestion.

Drinks On A Plane – What I Came Up With

• Scotch & Ginger Ale.   I made this on the way out, last night, using Dewar’s white label, Canada Dry, and lime.
  1. Pour 1/3 the scotch over ice
  2. Top with Ginger ale
  3. Squeeze some lime
  4. Stir
  5. Repeat until the scotch runs out
  6. Resist the urge to drink the remaining ginger ale – it isn’t a good chaser

• Gin & Cranberry.   A classic.  I made it on my flight coming home tonight, using gin, cranberry, and lime.
  1. Fill 1/3 the glass with gin
  2. Top with cranberry juice
  3. Squeeze lime
  4. Stir
  5. Maintain the 1/3 gin, 2/3 juice ratio

Of course many other classics are possible on a plane:

• Gin & Tonic – always possible, but typically lacking enough gin to tonic.  An ideal situation, when traveling with 2 people, is to get 3 little gins and 1 tonic to make a drink for each of you.   For whatever reason, this feels more right to me on a train.  A discrete trip to the snack car and a return with 2 little G&Ts is a very sweet gesture, or so I’ve been told.
• Rum & Coke – debatable as to its classic cocktail merits, but it is definitely a good way to go if you just caught a flight for warmer climes.

Maybe I’ll be more prepared with ideas when I start my holiday travels.  Maybe there’s a reason I tend to abstain on planes.