HK airline offers beer ready to be a high flier

If you’ve ever noticed that your favorite beer tastes a bit off when you’re on an airplane, it’s probably not because of improper storage or an old sell-by date.

It’s your mouth— andmaybehow cabin pressure affects carbonation.

Cabin pressure and altitude both affect passengers’ taste buds inflight, but Cathay Pacific and HongKong Beer Co have teamed up to craft a solution. The airline is touting Betsy Beer as “the world’s first hand-crafted bottled beer brewed to be enjoyed at 35,000 feet”.

The brewer used bothHongKong and UK-sourced ingredients for the newbeer, which is being first served to first- and business-class passengers on flights between Hong Kong and destinations in Britain — Heathrow, Gatwick andManchester — from now until April 30.

“We know that when you fly, your sense of taste changes,” says Julian Lyden,marketingmanagerforCathay Pacific. “Airlines address this for food in certain ways. But nobody has ever tried to improve the taste of beer at altitude.”

To find the perfect balance for a beer served both in the air and on the ground, the airline and the brewer pulled together an expert tasting panel— including leaders of the Hong Kong Craft Beer Association; May Chow, recently voted Asia’s best female chef for 2017; Willem van Emden, Swire Restaurants’ general manager. Cathay Pacific’s management, cabin crews andMarco Polo Club members also got a chance to sip in judgment.