emacsclient font check not working

I am trying to set my font for emacsclient like so:

(let ((default-font (cond
                     ((member "Inconsolata" (font-family-list))
                      "Inconsolata 14")
                     (t
                      "monospace 20"))))
  (set-default-font default-font)
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist `(font . ,default-font)))

I C-x C-e at the cond sexp and it returns "Inconsolata 14". I C-x C-e at the let sexp and the font is updated.

When I launch emacs via

$ emacs

it works (the font is set to Inconsolata 14).

However when I launch the application via

$ emacsclient --alternate-editor="" --create-frame "$@"

the font is monospace 20 instead.

Please advise.

EDIT:

I have discovered that by including

(message "%s" (font-family-list))

in my .emacs file that (font-family-list) returns nil when emacsclient is starting up.

Unfortunately, also during initialization:

;; Both also print `nil` to the `*Messages*` buffer.
(message "%s" (find-font (font-spec :name "inconsolata")))
(message "%s" (find-font (font-spec :name "Inconsolata")))

;; Throws "error: No fonts being used"
(message "%s" (describe-font "Inconsolata"))

I do not know how to detect if a font is installed during initialization. My question has become: How do I reliably check whether a font is available when emacsclient starts up?

EDIT 2:

Echoing in after-init-hook, emacs-startup-hook, window-setup-hook, before-make-frame-hook, and after-make-frame-functions also results in nil.

Sigh... was annoyed with this problem as well, but I found the Emacs Lisp solution. Here is a straight copy/paste of the respective snippet from my Emacs configuration:

(defun frame-font-setup
    (&rest ...)
  ;; (remove-hook 'focus-in-hook #'frame-font-setup)
  (unless (assoc 'font default-frame-alist)
    (let* ((font-family (catch 'break
                          (dolist (font-family
                                   '("Powerline Consolas"
                                     "Consolas for Powerline"
                                     "Consolas"
                                     ;;
                                     "Powerline Inconsolata-g"
                                     "Inconsolata-g for Powerline"
                                     "Inconsolata-g"
                                     ;;
                                     "Powerline Source Code Pro"
                                     "Source Code Pro for Powerline"
                                     "Source Code Pro"
                                     ;;
                                     "Powerline DejaVu Sans Mono"
                                     "DejaVu Sans Mono for Powerline"
                                     "DejaVu Sans Mono"
                                     ;;
                                     "Monospace"))
                            (when (member font-family (font-family-list))
                              (throw 'break font-family)))))
           (font (when font-family (format "%s-12" font-family))))
      (when font
        (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist (cons 'font font))
        (set-frame-font font t t)))))
(add-hook 'focus-in-hook #'frame-font-setup)

Mmmhhh... [Rejoice]