Stouts on a Plane!

As previously mentioned on my facebook page, the next three months I will be travelling around the Asia-Pacific for non beer related reasons. But being the multi-tasker that I am, my plan was (and still is) to discover some new brews and breweries on the side.

Interesting for me, hopefully interesting to you..

But anyway, in order to get to where I needed to be going, I off course had to take an airplane. And being the fearless adventurer that I am, I delved right into the beverage menu, which was handed to me when I was seated.

Stout!? and yes, free drinks….

As you can see, a wide variety of different beverages. When taking a closer look however, you will see that this did not apply to the beer section. Here we see the choice between an “international selection” or “stout”.

Wait, what.. did that menu say stout!!?

That was pretty much my reaction, I didn’t expect much of the in flight brew list, but I definitely did not expect to see stout on the menu. This also gave me hope of what was hiding behind the vague term of “international selection”, but unfortunately international selection, on the first flight, meant a choice between two pilsners brewed by the same company: Heineken and Tiger (Heineken). A decent lager, catering to predominately Asian markets. 

The International Selection, Flight 1

But back to the interesting stuff, stout on a plane? Why, from all choices you have of serving a nice and refreshing brew way up in the sky, would you choose for a 6.8% extra stout? I mean I’m not complaining, I like stouts and its really cool to see them being served in flight, but its just so unexpected. The stewardess definitely didn’t expect me ordering it, as it took her a few seconds to register what exactly it was that I ordered. Said stewardess then proceeded to the back of the airplane where, after some minutes, she came back with a can of stout.

Stout on a plane

Her unexpected look at someone ordering stout, coupled with the fact that it had to be retrieved from the back instead of from the drinks trolley, makes me come to the somewhat unsupported conclusion that they are not very popular on flights. However, as Singapore airlines states that all beverages are carefully selected, they must have their reasons. 

And, to be quite honest, the stout tasted damn good given its surroundings. Craft beer, and especially beers bringing strong tastes are, in my opinion, great for flights as they really bring a lot of taste to a somewhat bland environment. 

The International Selection, Flight 2

On my second flight, from Singapore to Sydney, Mr. Heineken was replaced by his Australian colleague Mr. Foster (also owned by Heineken, in Europe). 

So, a short overview of my experiences with the craft beer sommeliers of Singapore Airlines. A great and pleasantly surprising inclusion of stout beer on the airplane really gives me hope that in the future there actually might be a respectable "international selection" of craft beers on airplanes. 

Know of any other airlines serving specialty beers types? Let me know!

Cheers!