Stymied by the bar selections in flight

Flight number five of this week’s ridiculous journey was the first time that I felt coherent enough to really dive in to the bar selection on the plane.  Thanks to awful timings I mostly slept the first four flights, but number five felt different. It was a departure at a “normal” time for my body still on Eastern time.  Plus, the meal served in first class was a simple cold plate.  It is more or less an appetizer for the dinner service on the later flight up to Seattle later tonight.  Still, I know a little bit about what they actually stock on the carts in terms of booze – I’ve done my research – and I thought I knew the odds I was facing.

My boarding drink was a vodka tonic.  I know that they stock plenty of vodka so I wasn’t too worried about that one.  But the two rum and ginger ales I had early in the flight were apparently enough to finish off the supply that they had on board.  I know that they stock six rums to begin a route but I also concede that my plane was stocked out of Houston rather than Baltimore which means that I had to suffer the decisions of others in terms of what bar selections were available. I certainly didn’t expect that I’d be limited to two rum minis for the flight, and finishing off the white wine was really more of an accident and helped by complicit actions from the flight attendant – she only once let me get past one sip down on my glass – than a purposeful action.

And then, trying to pace myself (ha!), I inquired as to the status of the Grand Marnier stock on the plane.  I know that they don’t ever have a lot on the 737s but I still expected that I’d get at least one for my “after dinner” yet still pre-dinner drink.  Sadly I was mistaken.  Apparently the Grand Marnier minis disappeared on the inbound flight from Houston, just like the rest of my rum minis.  There was at least one Courvoisier mini on the flight that, at the recommendation of the flight attendant, I took slightly warmed.  It was good, but I’m not really a cognac guy so I’m pretty sure that some of the value of that drink was wasted on me.  And I don’t drink amaretto so the alternative suggested was a non-starter.

I’ve had flights where I’ve consumed the entirety of the red wine selection.  I’ve had flights where I’ve consumed 5/6 of the rums that are loaded out of the hub (twice that I know of this year).  I’ve had flights where the flight attendants have sent me home with the extra wine that was left over on the way back to a hub.  But I’ve never found myself so stymied by the alcohol options on a flight as I did this afternoon. 

No tower of minis to be built this afternoon.  No free reign on the booze of my choice.  And I still have about 40 minutes left of the flight to figure out what I’m going to do with.  I actually think that water is the best choice at this point.  After all, I’m only five flights in to the twelve flights I do before I make it to my real stop (Tokyo) so no need to go too far right now.  After all, I’ve got a hub-based flight coming up with a fully stocked bar service.  That will be a nice way to end the evening.