All this talk of single malt scotches, especially on British-flag or heavily influenced by British culture carriers such as Cathay Pacific forgets those of us who prefer bourbon. (I'll leave the defense of Irish whiskey to someone from the Aer Lingus board).

The fact is that you can't get an exceptional small-batch bourbon whiskey on an airplane either.

And don't get me started on beers -- even on the Belgian national carrer Sabena, from a nation that has raised the art of brewing to its highest levels, your best option is going to be an insipid lowest-common-denominator lager like Stella Artois and not any of that nation's great abbey ales or lambics.