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Airport Drinks

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
Not just airports either. Train stations are a great watering hole. Union Station in Chicago supplied me a many cold beers. Both early morning and late at night.

I took a 5am flight from Nashville to Chicago once. Only about a 2 hr flight, maybe even less. The attendant brought around the drink cart. I was tempted to get a shooter. Got coffee instead. But just the thought that you can get a shooter at 5am.....
I betcha someone on that plane got one.

Me and my friends flew to Vegas once from Chicago. Early morning. I don’t remember the time but the sun wasn’t up yet. Drinks in the limo, drinks at the airport, drinks on the plane....it was a great trip!

I think it’s just a way to unwind before you unwind. Traveling is stressful. A few drinks to take the edge off really helps. One of my good friends can’t fly unless she has a couple screwdrivers on the flight to calm her nerves.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
And flying out of SEA-TAC?.

I've spent some quality time at the Alaskan bar there. I've also managed to swing some upgrades on Alaska Air, and they have a couple of nice lounges!

During a blizzard the train took 8 hours. We spent much of the time in the lounge car drinking whiskey sours and Old Fashions.

Hoo, boy. Drinking during the actual travel is a whole other thing. I can sleep on planes. I've had a couple overseas flights that could have been Hunter S. Thompson short stories.
 
I've spent some quality time at the Alaskan bar there. I've also managed to swing some upgrades on Alaska Air, and they have a couple of nice lounges!



Hoo, boy. Drinking during the actual travel is a whole other thing. I can sleep on planes. I've had a couple overseas flights that could have been Hunter S. Thompson short stories.

I’ve never been able to sleep on planes. I fly to Indonesia from the US once in a while. During an 18 hour flight I might doze for an hour at the most. It’s a curse.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Urgh. I meant to say that I can not sleep on planes. Instead, I tend to keep a steady stream of drinks through me in order to adequately relax and pass the time while watching a few movies, listening to music or an audio book, or something like that. I like reading, but those lights on the planes don't quite make it for me, and my eyes start to swim before long (even without a drink).

It's not the greatest practice in the world, but it ain't bad, and it helps keep away that pesky deep vein thrombosis! :a54:

Back to the airport bars . . . . I agree that airport bars and restaurants really have stepped up their game over the last twenty years or so, and especially so over the last several. It used to be that you had little more than a snack shop with a side bar and a TV--a place where one could duck into the shadows for a bit of refuge and random conversation. Now, there are some spots that actually make me want to get to the airport early just to grab a bite and hang out with a cocktail for a while before boarding. The Pappadeaux at Houston Hobby is one of those spots.

And allow me to give real kudos to that spot at the Kalamazoo airport. At first glance, it looks like (and probably was) just another "snack shop with a side bar and a TV." However, even as little as a second glance indicated more promise, and they delivered. I had a great Cuban sandwich, and that bloody mary was made with Zing Zang. My son was happy with his quesadilla. The beer selection was small but very good (it can't hurt that there are some excellent breweries in the area, and they had a good selection of both cheaper and mid-tier liquor. For a small place in a small airport, it pretty much rocked. The folks were nice, too. When I complimented them on the quality of everything, the guy that seemed to be the manager said "well, for as much as it costs, we figure it ought to be really good!" Bravo!
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
It was a college visit, so the location was more a byproduct. I must say that I enjoyed the town quite a bit, though! I managed to visit some very good brewpubs!

Not to mention that I got to drink a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout in the airport. That's not something you can say in a lot of places.
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
I had my first taste of Walkers Black in the Toronto airport way back in 1984.

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It was a college visit, so the location was more a byproduct. I must say that I enjoyed the town quite a bit, though! I managed to visit some very good brewpubs!

Not to mention that I got to drink a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout in the airport. That's not something you can say in a lot of places.

WMU or Kalamazoo College? Both are good schools.
 
At least the Louisville airport has a bar that has a really big selection of bourbon........... I wasn't gonna have a drink, but I had to
I missed this earlier. Just like all of Louisville, Louisville airport bars are fine places to kill time, if one likes good bourbon. It would be easy to get carried away.
 

Whisky

ATF. I use all three.
Staff member
Not to mention that I got to drink a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout in the airport

The Kzoo stout is good but if you get a chance to try the Expedition stout it’s even better. One of the few “craft” brews that I’m willing to pay the outrageous price they charge for a 6 pack.
 
something tells me that we aren't all noon cocktailers, but here we are, and we are quite enjoying ourselves.

Not meant towards you at all - just generalizing In my younger accounting days reviewing expense reports I noticed people do a lot of things they don't normally do when the company is paying for it.
 

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
Not meant towards you at all - just generalizing In my younger accounting days reviewing expense reports I noticed people do a lot of things they don't normally do when the company is paying for it.

Too true. Too true. That's part of the fun, though. I've often wondered why some have cracked down so hard. I know it's real money, and I know how things can get out of hand, but it's also cheap morale.

Of course, for the last 11 years or so, it hasn't mattered whether I or "the company" picks up the tab. It's all the same.
 
I usually go for G&T and ask for a couple shakes of Angustora bitters in it. Or Scotch on the rocks. Last trip to Maui, Hawaiian Air passed out complimentary Mai Tai. It was a pre mix sort of thing but who am I to turn down a drink. The stewardess gave us refills. I think it was because we had an annoying woman sitting near us and she figured we could use it?
 
There is nothing like getting through security, finding a bar close to the gate and sitting down to have a couple of my favorite drinks. It might be a single malt or Ketel One or a nice whiskey like Clyde May's or El Dorado 15 year Rum. Then when I get on plane and take my seat, I am properly lubricated. I put my Sony MDR 7403 headphones on and crank whatever music I am in the mood for from my iPod Video v5.5. It's the only way to fly.
 

Columbo

Mr. Codgers Neighborhood
Mrs. Columbo recently had to fly through Miami, and watched a terminal bartender refuse to serve a falling-down drunk traveller who was starting to get aggressive about it. Security was called. So some do over-do it times.

We are seasoned flyers, so Mrs. Columbo afterward politely asked for a beer, and a glass of water, because commercial flight is dehydrating enough already.

And as we all know, beer is never bought, merely rented.
 
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