Unimpressed with the cocktail offerings available in flight and in airports*, Zach Patterson of Melrose Umbrella Company recently took matters into his own mad scientist-y hands. He texted me that he was excited as he was "flying to Boston on the redeye and I love to drink and fly!" When I expressed my shared fondness for drinking at 30,000 feet he added, "It's the best! And I cryovac 3 oz mini cocktails!" It was like the heavens had opened and god had delivered new commandments, in fly-with-able cocktail form. And what was he serving up? "4 different Old Fashioneds," He replied. "I'll text you the menu" Menu? For one's own in-flight drinks offerings? Genius. Technically, the menu is simply MUC's own Old-Fashioneds menu from which is to-go drinks are culled, but it's a nice bit of gilding the lily. Given the superior grade of drinks at Umbrella Co, and Zach's penchant for elaborately inventive drinks production and delivery, I knew I needed to see this in action.
On premises.
Complete with branded packaging and ingredients.
The line-up.
The on-premise Old-Fashioned menu.
Packing smart.
In-flight entertainment.
I just find the whole production to be a inspiring example of ingenious lifehacking. When I asked the inevitable question about TSA and airline regulations, ZP replied, "I didn't say it was all good with TSA. ;-) but so far they haven't checked a bag. I'm sure if everyone started doing it the garbage would find a lot of delicious cocktails. But for last 3 years I've been flying good!" Now I certainly hope that no diligent TSA agent is scouring the internet for examples of rule-breaking and finds this post, but even with that outside chance I couldn't resist sharing with the world this subversive method of getting craft cocktails into the sky and making flying a more fun, and more delicious experience.
