Beer Tasting at 30,000 Feet with SAS and Mikkeller

by Enoch

When people think of traveling in premium cabins, champagne and wines are usually the drinks of choice. Many airlines invest heavily on their alcohol offerings, and on many long flights, you get an extensive menu with tons of selections. Sometimes, however, there’s nothing better than a good, ice cold beer.

SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) recently partnered with craft beer maker Mikkeller for an in-flight beer tasting event. They even made a video about it, and it’s kind of fun to see people having a beer flight…on an actual flight.

This is one-time only event, but Mikkeller was really thrilled with the partnership. It’s definitely a nice surprise for passengers, and looks like a ton of fun! The company is actually now working on specific brews for SAS, and is planning on doing more beer tasting in the future.

Mikkeller offered 5 different beers for tasting on an SAS flight. beer tasting

Mikkeller offered 5 different beers for tasting on an SAS flight.

Peter Lawrance, SAS Head Chef & Manager Meal Planning, was also excited about the partnership:

Travelers only option is usually dull tasteless beer in a can, so we wanted to do something different and our big 75cl bottled beers really sets up a completely new standard for beverages served onboard a flight. We have now done 9 different beers together and we’re just getting started.

A few airlines have tried offering an elevated beer experience in flight. In 2010, ANA became the first airline to make draft beer available in flight. However, passengers had to pay 1,000 yen for them, and each flight only had about 20 glasses available.

In 2010, All Nippon Airways offered draft beer in-flight.

In 2010, All Nippon Airways offered draft beer in-flight.

Earlier this year, KLM announced that they have partnered with Heineken to make a special beer cart. The cart allows flight attendants to serve freshly tapped Heineken to Business Class passengers. However, KLM used a 3D printer to make the components of the beer cart, so there’s actually only one cart available for the entire fleet.

What’s your go-to drink on a plane? Do you care for the airlines’ attempts to offer an “enhanced” beer offering?

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3 comments

Phoenix October 8, 2016 - 6:11 pm

YES I DO! More craft beer offerings please!

Reply
Tom October 8, 2016 - 7:44 pm

Airlines are stupid for not doing more of this. Beer, even interesting non-mass market beer, is way way cheaper than wine. More beer on planes, less wine that you can barely even taste at 30,000 ft.

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Bill n DC October 8, 2016 - 10:29 pm

I’ve been drinking Mikkeller’s hop series for a couple years. Schnieders on Capitol Hill been selling them for a $1 a bottle

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