KLM to Offer Beer on Tap on Some Flights

A KLM tradition: Delft Blue miniature Dutch houses

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which famously told travelers to “have an Amsterdam good time” in a 20th century advertising campaign, will do even more to make good on that promise by offering beer on tap on some flights.

After more than five years of research and experimentation with high altitudes and pressure changes, KLM partner Heineken, a Dutch brewing company, developed a way to serve a draft beer from a keg – rather than from a bottle or a can – while in the air.

Traditional beer dispensers would only deliver foam, not beer, in flight because the air pressure is much lower than at sea level. To counter this, Heineken had to fit a keg of beer, the cooling system, and the air pressure compressor into a catering cart and ended up leaving out the cooling system, opting to deliver the beer pre-cooled to the aircraft instead.

“It was one big jigsaw puzzle,” said Edwin Griffioen, a manager in the brewery’s global innovation department.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)