The experience of drinking alcohol during a flight is quite different than drinking on the ground. Now there is beer on air, to drink on the plane, made for your trip to start well.
The ability of an individual to taste and smell decreases by by 30 percent in altitude. The feeling we have that food on the plane is tasteless is real, we feel the food softer and drier. At least bad beer is on its way out. Hong Kong Brewing Company, in partnership with Cathay Pacific airlines, developed Betsy, for passengers to taste beer on air.
What does it have unlike other beers?
It combines science with traditional brewing methods. It is a beverage designed to be enjoyed at high altitudes, more specifically, during flight. Betsy is also the name of Cathay Pacific‘s first aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, hence the tribute. The composition includes British hops, honey and dragon eye fruit (pitaya) and the product is made in Hong Kong. The wheat beer is 10% more carbonated than the conventional one and has sweet flavor more accentuated and the bitterness reduced.
First-class and business-class travellers can already taste the delicacy. But of course on the ground it also performs well, so passengers can also enjoy it in the airport. But hurry up, the edition is limited!
It is worth noting that this is not the first effort of an airline to improve beer on air. In 2014 Scandinavian Airliners (SAS) launched a series with Danish craft brewer Mikkeller. The Dutch company KLM joined Heineken to offer tap beer in the plane. As the transportation of carbon dioxide in the airplane is dangerous, they had to develop a technology to keep the beer already pressurized in the cabin.
Improving beer to drink on air is very good. When will they increase the space for travellers on the aircraft as well? Traveling like canned sardines gives us more headache than bad beer …
References: Branding News, CNN, Gear Patrol, The Verge, The Telegraph