What drinks are free in the Admiral's Club?

A lot of times when I travel I want to start the trip with a cocktail. I don’t want to go drinking, but a cocktail or two is pleasant to get the journey started. I also would generally rather have that drink someplace quiet, so I almost always have access to an airport lounge. As I was coming home from Christmas, I found myself in the American Airlines Admiral’s Club in IAH (Houston George Bush). I have been in there many times, and I know that they charge for some drinks while others are complementary. That made me wonder. What exactly are the Admiral’s Club free drinks?

Admiral's Club free drinks aren't an extensive menu, but they will certainly offer some reasonable options. — Admiral’s Club free drinks aren’t an extensive menu, but they do present some reasonable options. The free spirits are much better than the free beer and wine.

Let’s start with the bad news. The free options for beer and wine just weren’t good. For wine, they generally have free options best understood as “the red” or “the white.” Beer options change, and the free ones at IAH were Miller Lite and a local kolsch that I actually enjoy. If you want to see the full Admiral’s Club menu, I put a picture at the bottom of this post. However, I am starting with this picture of the spirits menu because the spirits options are much better than the wine and beer. Also… I am more of a whiskey and vodka drinker anyway.

I was celebrating that day, and there was no chance I was going to drive a car for the next 24 hours. That means that I had two drinks rather than one. I started with a vodka martini, and the Svedka vodka was… fine. It won’t ever be my first choice, but it was perfectly functional. For my second drink I had an old fashioned. Evan Williams is actually a great well liquor for this. It isn’t a bourbon I want to sip neat, but with simple syrup and bitters it was a great option.

Other American Airlines Admiral’s Club free drinks were a mixed bag. Cruzan rum is OK, particularly since you are probably mixing it into a highball anyway. None of the rums are the sort of thing you would sip neat or rocks anyway. There were actually some pretty nice tequilas for purchase, but the Corazon Blanco is a perfectly reasonable choice for free. As for scotch, Cutty Sark was a horrible idea even when you were in college. It is an even worse idea now that you have an Admiral’s Club membership. Just say no.

Do know when you order that the bartenders are lovely, hardworking people who will do any reasonable thing you ask them to. However, they are frequently inexpert in mixology. That resulted in me having to explain, for example, that orange bitters and Angostura bitters are not the same product. You can get an excellent cocktail, but if you are particular you might want to politely explain specifically what you want. And, for the love of bacon be sure to tip your bartender even if the drink is free. Those folks work hard.