Make Your Own Hand Luggage Cocktail Set for Flights
Flying is awful, which is why so many people drink on airplanes. But the plane is not a bar, so on-plane drinks are limited in terms of cocktail. While rum and coca-cola, gin and tonic and vodka and soda will do the trick, using a small cocktail set will enhance the airplane alcohol experience and provide a welcome distraction from the fact that you’re on a damn plane (that’s all the point) …
Knowing what you like to drink can help you build your kit, but you can package it with any or all of the following:
- Lemons and Limes: Citrus fruits are an important part of many, many drinks, and at least they can help energize anything and soda. I pack both slices and strips of zest; At the very least, compression will help get rid of stale recirculated air. (Speaking of zest, grapefruit and orange are great options too.)
- Honey sticks: Each sealed stick contains about half a teaspoon of honey and serves as a stirrer.
- Bitters: Get a small one ounce dropper bottle from your local fancy health food store and fill it with angostura. If someone asks what’s inside, tell them that this is an herbal tincture that helps you with your nerves, and this is absolutely true.
- Peppermint: Mojito with fresh mint will make your flight infinitely more enjoyable and, like citrus fruits, make the plane smell much better. (Ask your seat mate before pulling it out, just to make sure no one is allergic.)
- Cherries or Olives: These are probably the most extra things you can bring to your set, but they do add something extra to the old-fashioned or Bloody Mary.
Store everything in a TSA-approved bag (or quart-sized freezer bag) and throw it in your carry-on luggage. As soon as the drinks service begins, order the drinks and mixers and start making cocktails. I’m sure you already have some great ideas running around in your mind, but feel free to borrow any of the following:
- Mojito: Order a mini bottle of white rum, soda and a bag of sugar, and ask for an extra empty cup. Place half a lime (cut into four wedges) and 10 mint leaves in an empty cup, sprinkle with sugar and stir in a small bottle of liquor. (If necessary, wipe it down with an antibacterial wipe first.) Add rum, stir to mix, add some ice and top with soda.
- Something like Bee’s Knees: order a bottle of gin and an extra empty cup. Squeeze three quarters of a lemon into an empty cup along with three or four sticks of honey. Add gin and stir until honey dissolves. Add ice and stir again.
- Old Fashioned: Order a small bottle of bourbon, a sugar bag, an extra empty cup, and water (alternatively, just use the water you brought on the plane because the water on the plane is sketchy ). Pour the sugar bag into an empty cup, moisten it with the tincture and add a little water. Mix the sugar with a small bourbon bottle until it dissolves, then add the ice and bourbon. Stir a little and garnish with a strip of orange or cherry zest.
If the flight experience is so overwhelming that you can’t even imagine doing any of it, that’s okay too. Order Coca-Cola and red wine, mix equal parts and enjoy the calimotcho as if you were a trendy Spanish teenager.