Beer in Roomette?

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Joined
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New York City
Any help would be appreciated. I am looking into an overnight (at least) trip out of NY or DC. Might sound odd, but what really appeals to me is the idea of just watching the night roll by the window while I quietly drink some beers. Want to keep to myself, not looking to make any noise, etc. I'm talking bringing my own supply of course. My question is, as long as I keep to myself, behave, etc., which I of course intend to do, is anybody doing to give me any grief about it? I know this is random. Any input would be appreciated.
 

pennyk

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Amtrak permits passengers to consumer their own alcoholic beverages in their sleeper rooms. I cannot count how many times I have brought my own beer on board and consumed in my room. Drinking beer and looking out the window (day or night) is wonderful.

Nobody should give you grief.
 
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1. Passengers in private sleeping accommodations are specifically permitted to consume their own personal supply of alcohol in their rooms.
2. If a passenger gets out of control drunk (rowdy, loud, aggressive, etc), they'll get removed from the train whether it was their own booze or the cafe car's that got them there.

Short answer is yes, it is fine.
 

Northwestern

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I just finished reading an article, in the May issue of TRANS magazine, entitled "Beer and Trains":


Scroll down to No. 4, a 12-step procedure for serving beer. Do you think they could do that, today?

There once was a "Pullman Beer" and a "Nickel Plate Beer".
 

1976steve

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Any help would be appreciated. I am looking into an overnight (at least) trip out of NY or DC. Might sound odd, but what really appeals to me is the idea of just watching the night roll by the window while I quietly drink some beers. Want to keep to myself, not looking to make any noise, etc. I'm talking bringing my own supply of course. My question is, as long as I keep to myself, behave, etc., which I of course intend to do, is anybody doing to give me any grief about it? I know this is random. Any input would be appreciated.
Not odd at all, there are a lot of us. who find that extremely relaxing, people just may not notice since we tend to keep to ourselves
 

tgstubbs1

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I just finished reading an article, in the May issue of TRANS magazine, entitled "Beer and Trains":


Scroll down to No. 4, a 12-step procedure for serving beer. Do you think they could do that, today?
I think they might do steps 5 and 6 :
  • Place paper cocktail napkin on table in front of passenger.
  • Present bottle of Beer to passenger displaying label and cap. Return bottle to bar tray.
But I don't think they deliver to your room, do they?
The beers I've seen on the recent Amtrak menus are better than they used to be, but I can understand why a person would want to bring their own.

A roomette doesn't have a toliet, does it?
 

Sidney

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I think they might do steps 5 and 6 :
  • Place paper cocktail napkin on table in front of passenger.
  • Present bottle of Beer to passenger displaying label and cap. Return bottle to bar tray.
But I don't think they deliver to your room, do they?
The beers I've seen on the recent Amtrak menus are better than they used to be, but I can understand why a person would want to bring their own.

A roomette doesn't have a toliet, does it?
I usually bring those four packs of wine with me. I go to the cafe car and get two cups of ice and consume them before dinner. I like beer,but if you bring a six pack with you, how do you keep them cold? I usually don’t buy alcohol on board because of the price.
 
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I usually bring those four packs of wine with me. I go to the cafe car and get two cups of ice and consume them before dinner. I like beer,but if you bring a six pack with you, how do you keep them cold? I usually don’t buy alcohol on board because of the price.
I don't bring beer because it takes up too much space. I bring vodka and tonic water and get ice from the SCA
 

mitako

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My hubby has a nice hip flask purchased specifically for our long-distance Amtrak trips. (We are always in a sleeper.) Part of his preparation for each trip is deciding what's going to fill the flask, usually some sort of rye or whiskey. For beers, he relies on the one alcoholic beverage provided with dinners, or goes to the cafe and buys one if desired.
 

trainman74

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There once was a "Pullman Beer" and a "Nickel Plate Beer".

With so many breweries out there these days, there are plenty of beers with train-themed names (and even some breweries with train-themed names) -- although they stay away from names that may potentially still be trademarked by someone else, of course.

For example, to pick one train-related term and looking in a beer app, I see 13 different beers that are named using some form of "Streamliner."
 

Sauve850

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I usually bring those four packs of wine with me. I go to the cafe car and get two cups of ice and consume them before dinner. I like beer,but if you bring a six pack with you, how do you keep them cold? I usually don’t buy alcohol on board because of the price.
A small soft side cooler will hold a six pack. I fill it with ice when checking out of hotel. My SCA has always brought additional ice as needed.
 
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I have brought mini-wine bottles before but now that I've switched to beer, I buy from the train cafe. Even though they are expensive, I want to support Amtrak supplying us with decent beer. Especially if I am hanging out in the cafe car on the NER to have a big window view and chat with strangers. My only gripe is that the two "craft" beers are extremely strong. Can't figure out why they want people drinking a few Stone IPA (around 8% as I recall) or the Dogfish Double IPA (9%??) and then potentially getting in their car at the station. Also the strong alcohol taste is not my favorite. How about something sessionable like Whaler's Rise or Lagunitas Daytime?
 
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I think for the most part you will have no problems. I did observe a passenger getting put off of the Cardinal at Prince, WV. It was messy IMHO. About 45 minutes earlier the SCA stopped by our room and asked if we had smelled pot. We said no. Had not noticed any pot. I work in a school where students often come in smelling of pot and it is very noticeable. The SCA asked follow-up questions and it was obvious she was hoping we would back her up. We wouldn't because we did not smell it. Moments later we heard the conductor talking to the passenger and I overheard part of the argument where the passenger restated several times that passengers could consume their own alcohol in their room. This passenger was never loud or disruptive in a way that disturbed us. We were three or four rooms away. The moral of the story IMHO is to be discrete to the point that the SCA does not know what you are doing. It takes one over zealous person to foul up a trip.
 

Devil's Advocate

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I bring vodka and tonic water and get ice from the SCA
+​
I just bring a bottle of Jack Daniels and ask for a cup of ice, no mixer!
+​
My SCA has always brought additional ice as needed.
My advice is to ask for ice as soon as you board since some SCA's will sit on that request for hours or forget you ever ordered it in the first place.

The moral of the story IMHO is to be discrete to the point that the SCA does not know what you are doing. It takes one over zealous person to foul up a trip.
I've never had an SCA hassle me about drinking. The people I've seen put off were genuinely sick, making a scene, or fading out in a bad way.
 

saxpower

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Don't you recieve a free adult beverage if you are in a Roomette? Last summer I did and my recollection was it was a bigger than average can of beer.
 
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