The Delta beer thread
 

The upgrade to Bombay Sapphire and a recent Alaska flight with some excellent Pacific Northwest beer got me thinking that beer is one area where Delta has room for improvement, especially onboard.

(Hopefully DL knows the outrage that would happen if NRT ever lost its famous beer machines?)

We have better spirits and better meals (transcons especially), should there be better beer or are folks here happy with the Michelob ULTRA, Corona and Heineken offerings onboard?

I say local is key: Delta is big in several cities known for great regional beers (SEA, PDX, MSP, MKE, SLC, JFK, ROC, etc.)

I agree, I really wish there was some good beer options.
Big IPA fan, I could do with any of the Pacific Northwest IPAs!

Canned Microbrews are starting to take off these days:
Fort George IPA and Lagers
http://beernews.org/2011/01/fort-geo...cans-approved/

Yes!! The Oskar Blues brewery has been doing this for years and make fantastic beers. Problem is, there's no major distributing backing the good beers = no sweet deal for Delta.

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AS does it right with Alaskan Amber on most flights, and Kona Longboard Lager to/from Hawaii- both served in glass bottles ;) I think Corona is served to/from Mexico, but I like my Amber ;)

I like the idea on DL- could be a nightmare to implement though.

I know that lots of people like IPAs, but lots of people don't, which would be a good reason why an airline that only stocks one has to keep it kind of generic with Ambers and Lagers. Many of the good micros simply don't produce enough volume to be a provider to an airline.

I am not really a Corona or Heineken fan, but that choice sure beats the awful Bud Light/MGD/Coors choices I get at a lot of bars. They could go with an Ale like Sam Adams or Fat Tire or something like that as an option and it wouldn't hurt my feelings any. :p

Those options are all the same to me. While I doubt I'll ever be seeing my daily drinker Guinness on board, I would like to see Fat Tire.

Delta could score some great PR if they somehow figured out how to provide local beers either from either the city of departure or arrival. They would show that even huge international companies support local business. I know logistically and profit wise it would be a nightmare but I would buy beer on the plane.

Yes I would like to see better beer from Delta Perhaps Oskar Blues would step up to the plate? :) I love their Ten-Fidy imperial stout

Bud/Miller/Coors is total garbage..not sure why people like it

And Corona is even worse http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/75/233

There are some great micros in many hubs. I think DL will eventually come on board, but I will be drinking a beer at the airport until they do. The beer served on board and in some of the SC's = crap.

Let's get a Hub list going. I'll start, feel free to add. Brewery needs to have the capacity to serve DL and not just a neighborhood small brewery:

ATL: Sweetwater

MSP: Summit, Surly (cans!)

SLC: Moab, Wasatch, Uinita (sp?)

DTW: ?

MEM:

They have Sweetwater 420 on tap in the ATL SCs, haven't noticed if they also serve local brews in other cities. Would be great to have Sweetwater Festive Ale on board this time of year!

In general I think things have improved on board since the merger, but the one big exception is beer. NW used to offer a beer called James Paige. I thought it was fantastic! Especially for a beer coming out of a can, it was just great. Obviously NW was able to source enough of that back in the day, so why couldn't Delta bring it back? (At least for flight to and from MSP).

In fact, NW used to offer a lot of local brews and foods on flights from select cities. If memory serves correctly, didn't they use to offer Corky's BBQ on select flights out of MEM? It would probably be too expensive for Delta to bring all of these things back, but returning James Paige would be great.

In the very least, as late as 2009 Delta offered Sam Adams on shuttle flights. That shows me offering Sam Adams is possible.

As for local brews, MEM has a wonderful local brewery called Ghost River, but I don't think that brewery produces enough beer to service DL flights. However, it would be great if DL offered Ghost River in the MEM skyclub.

Many SkyClubs have local options/microbrews on tap. MSP (in the C Club) has Summit, BOS has Sam Adams, PBI has Native, SEA has Alaskan Amber, LAX has Red Hook, DFW has Shiner and there are plenty more that I could probably rattle off if I didn't wake up a few minutes ago.

Last year on a TXL-JFK flight they had Bitburger. :p

Bring back Leinenkugel
 

I'd love to see DL bring back Leinenkugel. ^ ^ ^ :D


It was a refreshing choice from the stale, cheap Bud, Coors alternatives!

I miss the Beer selection NW had too.

I think the issue is two fold. 1) The vast majority of flyers think Bud Light is good beer. 2) It's cheaper not to do it.

Here's a depressing thought for you. If you take the entire production of all the craft and specialty Beers made in the US it only amounts to about one days production of Bud Light.