No Bourbon/Whiskey but plenty of Gin
 

Seriously?

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5a543375a.jpeg

What am I missing? - I see two whisky, three gin, one rum and one vodka? How is that no whisky?

Unless it’s the spelling (origin) of course..

Must admit I've never ever tried Bourbon or Whiskey so going without on a flight wouldn't be a problem. The Singleton would do me just fine. :tu:

I totally agree, they have removed cognac from all flights and business and first lounges, no explanation and a loose apology and they will pass comments on to catering team.

I might understand if they could be bothered to explain why. It clearly not a space issue. Everyone clearly love Gin more. NOT.

As a non whisk(e)y drinker, having a single malt and a blended would seem to tick the box in terms of offering. Lack of Cognac (or any brandy) is more significant IMHO.

Whilst it looks like there are three gin choices, in practice it seems to be that there's lots of Aviation on offer and very little of the others. There was a discussion on this in the CE catering thread where several of us had experienced only Aviation being available (this does not meet my approval as it tastes quite strongly of vanilla). Since then on my last flight outbound I asked if there was any Tanqueray and the crew member gave me the only two miniatures of it she had on the plane. On the way back I overheard both the couple in front and the couple behind us ask for anything but Aviation and there was nothing available. So don't be disheartened, there aren't really three types of gin!

Bourbon is a totally different animal to Scotch. It's something I drink fairly often on long haul with coke. Of course Jack Daniels isn't Bourbon by definition, but Whiskey. Hope it's there next month! 3 gins is over the top IMHO. Not a huge fan of Aviation.

Easy Fix:

They could reduce the amount of gin to 1, add bourbon and cognac , surely this would hit many more customers and would make the flights ,if you can get one more bearable.

Sadly BA seems to be doing all it can currently to upset as many customers as possible.

I know of crew who have complained via their reporting system. BA seems to be ignoring them as well and forcing everyone to drink aviation Gin. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️

This is one of the several reasons I prefer AA to BA across the pond. When I flew BA in J to ORD in late December the only whiskey options on the drinks menu were JW Black and Bulleit bourbon, which I actually like and drink regularly. AA offers Woodford Reserve, which is superior to both in my book, as well as 12-year-old Glenlivet and JD. Anyway, I asked for a Bullleit, only to have the CSD come back and apologetically inform me that the Bulleit hadn't been loaded and only the JW Black was available. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/imag...s/rolleyes.gif

I’m a fan of bourbon and have always been disappointed by the lack of offering. BA started to offer a ‘cocktail’ with bourbon which was basically bourdon and coke.

Either way, I think the point is the lack of choice. Limiting passengers to less spirit selections which include multiple of the same spirit just comes across that passengers are being funnelled in to the drinks BA want people to drink. Give people choice so the people of all spirits can have a selection. Equality is all we are after here

Scotch-style whisky is nothing like bourbon whiskey. Almost two different spirits imo.

I’m just wondering if the withdrawal of American whiskey is a consequence of crazy import tariffs

I may be wrong, but I don't think that the booze served by airlines on intl routes is subject to duties. Isn't that why the drinks carts must stay sealed until take-off and in most cases alcohol cannot be served on board until after take-off? The F and J cabins are the exception, but the duties payable on those pre-take-off drinks can be easily justified by the premium fares paid by those passengers.

Correct I believe.

UK excise exempt as you say but a UK importer would still subject to import tariffs on booze produced in the US

It’s not BA doing it. It’s fairly obvious that the brand agents behind Aviation gin have done a deal to push it down everyone’s throats (and gain brand awareness in the process), hence all the publicity and it flooding every flight and lounge simultaneously.

on further reading, I understand the retaliative import tariffs will end on 1 June 2022

No dark rum and no Armagnac. In the scheme of major BA fails, this probably ranks in the low thousands, but still...

I'm partial to a dark rum so would agree.

I'd be quite happy to see BA take up what IB offers and have Cardinal Mendoza on the list as the brandy instead of having Cognac.

On my last two CW flights to/from TLV there has been no Singleton, only Jonny Walker. Nobody could explain why ...

You simply don't have enough data to say this: if gin sells out on every flight and bourbon/cognac are rarely used then stocking even more gin would be the logical choice. BA do have the data, though they may not be using it...!

I've missed the JD in CE and the other, nice bourbon they used to have in F. They had another called Bulleit I think for a while but that seems to have shuffled off too. It's possibly a good thing as I now substitute just with water. I don't mind gin, but I have been through my gin phase in life really - and I won't drink it just because it's there.

Same here, I allways have JD when flying BA in CE. A few weeks ago on the flight from LHR-LAX and vice versa no JD anymore... Kind of ridiculous to not have any JD or bourbon the plane...

Aviation gin isn't nice, would be nice to have a Kentucky bourbon and dark rum as choices too

Couple of bits....

1. They used to serve Jack Daniels in CE until February 2020, however they only used to load 3 per bar. { 6 in total. } They replaced it with Bullet Bourbon, still 3 per bar. Since Dec 2021 they have only had it loaded on 1 of the 6 sectors we've taken.


2. There are other spirits loaded on the bar that don't feature in the menu for some reason. { Smirnoff being the one I can remember. }

It does seem to be being pushed very seriously. Diageo bought the brand in mid-2020 so I assume that is why. I think everything on the CE spirits list is Diageo, except Bacardi which is still privately-held.

What annoys me about the Aviation thing is that it is very much an American-style gin which are much lower on the juniper content than British gins. I like it well enough in the kind of cocktail where the vanilla notes bring something to the party, but it makes a G&T which does not taste like a G&T should! Call me a traditionalist, but I do think that BA should have available (by which I mean load, not just list on paper...) an actual British-style gin.

I'd be very happy to see a dark rum or a JD back on the menu too.

they certainly won’t be ‘selling out’ of cognac if they don’t stock it…

Likewise they'd never know if they should stock something else without an element of rotation to the lineup. Of course the primary driver is always going to be whose distributor is willing to give the best deal.

BTW, on my flight to ORD back in december they didn't have any mini bottles in J. The JW Black came out of a regular-size bottle. Probably another "enhancement" for our benefit..

They are missing
Amaretto
Vermouth
Campari
(Gin plus the above 2 makes a very easy Negroni)
Brandy - as noted
Spiced Rum


I think the 3 gins is either 1/sponsorship from Aviation or 2/Migration out of Tanq/Gordons for Aviation overtime

and Cointreau…

I’m also partial to Kümmel, Green Chartreuse and Grand Marnier, but suspect they won’t be seen anytime soon 😁

I *really* miss the Campari.

This was changed for environmental reasons. It’s the same products and the measures used are the same size, so no one should be missing out.

Ciroc is a pretty polarizing vodka -- a lot of people don't like it. They'd be better off with something unobtrusively mixable like Three Olives.

Very strange to stack up three gins but zero bourbon, Irish, or rum.

It's very popular with the Millennials and Gen Z crowd.

AA crew seem hesitant to serve after drink #3. :D
And on my latest GRU-MIA they ran out of champagne (only 1 loaded for 20 ppl)

It was on the menu of my last CW flight (10th May)

You savage!....