The Best Beer in Baseball

August 9, 2014 9:16 AM

The Washington Post compares beers available at various ballparks, based on locality, quality and uniqueness.
posted by frimble (23 comments total)

my attempts to google where the good beer in the stadium in have failed. and in general most of the good concessions are only on the field level and only acessible to those with the fancy tickets. so I have never seen most of the beers listed for dodger stadium and I say that as someone who has been on a quest (though a quest in the cheap seats).

the problem I have with these things is that while I now know the one place where to find the 20 oz of goose island pale ale for a dollar more than tecate in dodger stadium, you generally have to hunt it down. or you can pay $14 for 10 oz of the local beer (golden road).
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:33 AM on August 9, 2014

mandymanwasregistered: " never seen most of the beers listed for dodger stadium"

Ditto, I was really happy though that they offer Hite several dollars cheaper than Bud Light though. They also sell Soju too.
posted by wcfields at 9:36 AM on August 9, 2014

The good beers are probably found near the good seats.
posted by Renoroc at 9:54 AM on August 9, 2014

Fun article. Also, this is where I sing the praises of the on-tap Mac & Jack at Safeco Field, with a very honorable mention of the on-tap Fat Tire.
posted by bearwife at 9:57 AM on August 9, 2014

really happy though that they offer Hite several dollars cheaper than Bud Light though

Well yeah. For once relative price seems to be based on relative quality, and Hite is little more than colored alcoholic water.
posted by 1adam12 at 10:09 AM on August 9, 2014

mandymanwasregistered: the problem I have with these things is that while I now know the one place where to find the 20 oz of goose island pale ale for a dollar more than tecate in dodger stadium, you generally have to hunt it down.

Yeah, it'd be great if this analysis weighted each of the beers by the number of stands that serve them. It's not much help if there's one stand that serves twelve great craft options, but thirty stands that serve six varieties of yellow fizzy crap.
posted by tonycpsu at 10:33 AM on August 9, 2014

Wait. Big Hurt Beer is only listed as "Poor" where "Awful" is an option?

I'm calling shenanigans on this whole enterprise.
posted by graphnerd at 2:56 PM on August 9, 2014

At Wrigley, you can get certain Goose Island beers delivered in tall boys to your seat by the regular vendor. No, these are not the finest beers in the world. They aren't even the best beers in town. (See: Half Acre, Revolution.) But having these with curb service seems like something that should be worth some kind of bonus points.

There are other ballparks where if you hoof it over to the import/microbrew stand, you can get some better beers. But having passable brews like Goose Island's brought straight to you in the seats so that you don't have to miss anything... that is mighty fine.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 3:24 PM on August 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

Precisely. You don't want to be getting your beer when the Cubs accidentally win the pennant, for example.

It's pretty disappointing that Milwaukee only measured up to 12th overall, considering its history, but you have to wonder how much the name (Miller Park) factors into brew availability. I couldn't pull up a full list, I guess, so it's not clear if they offer the New Glarus brews, which are only available in Wisconsin. Spotted Cow is the clear public favorite, though not mine, and it's that sort of buy local depth that I think would be in higher demand at a ballpark, since it's often a bit like team spirit in that way.
posted by dhartung at 5:38 PM on August 9, 2014

Milwaukee and Colorado play in fields named after Miller and Coors.

Weird that they don't mention Toronto. The Blue Jays are named after Labatt Blue (which was itself named after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL).
posted by Sys Rq at 5:39 PM on August 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

You don't want to be getting your beer when the Cubs accidentally win the pennant, for example.

No one wants to be busy getting beer when the Apocalypse happens and the world ends.
posted by delfin at 6:46 PM on August 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

Not to derail, but the Cubs just debuted their second top prospect in the last month, Javier Baez, who promptly became the first player in 60 years to have three home runs in his first three games. They have about eight more who are consensus rated among the top 75-100 most promising players in the entire minor leagues.

TL;DR: the day is fast approaching when "the Cubs nevar win lol!!1!" jokes go into the history books next to similar jokes about the Red Sox. So make 'em while you still can.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:20 PM on August 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

(Seriously. It's kind of an awesome time to be a Cubs fan. There is an absurd, mind-blowing amount of absolute top-of-the-line talent headed our way, much of it soon. You've heard it all before? Just another deluded Cub fan? You don't have to believe me though: just run a Google News search on "Cubs prospects." It's the talk of the game. How stacked is the Cub farm system? The Braves are considered to have a well-above-average stable of prospects. The Cubs just acquired their #7 ranked guy. He will likely not crack the Cubs' top twenty.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:39 PM on August 9, 2014

Do not get me wrong; I am a Phillies fan and thus just as accustomed to futility. I mean, there are minor differences, like the "Number of Fans Who Have Seen Their Team Win a World Series and Are Currently Alive" scoreboard currently reading Phillies: Millions, Cubs: Zero. On the flip side, the "Teams With Ruben Fucking Amaro Jr. As Their GM" scoreboard is a slam-dunk in the Cubs' favor. It's all checks and balances in baseball.

But as a true baseball fan, I have to hold at least some soft spot in my heart for the Cubs, just for the greatest rant in the English language.
posted by delfin at 7:46 PM on August 9, 2014 [1 favorite]

delfin: "Teams With Ruben Fucking Amaro Jr. As Their GM"

I never thought I'd miss Ed Wade, but at least he did a great job for us once he left for Houston.
posted by tonycpsu at 8:00 PM on August 9, 2014

My favorite RMFAjr moment was after the trade deadline this year. Pressed about why he didn't unload at least few of the Phils' aging veterans and try to restock the farm, Ruben said it was the fault of the other 29 GMs in baseball, who weren't willing to pay the prices he was setting for his players.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:11 PM on August 9, 2014

I can't believe that you fellow Cubs fans are accepting this discussion of craft beer in stadiums. I like Revolution IPA as much as the next guy, but Wrigley means one thing....

Old Style. Yes, Old Style. It tastes like other cheap Wisconsin germanic lagers, its probably either about to go bankrupt, or bought by a Brazilian/Dutch megaconglomerate, but that is Cubs beer.

And I agree, the farm system is unbelievable. I just wish we held on to Sam Fuld for some illogical sentimental reason, other than that, its hard to argue with what young talent they've been stacking up lately.

I do fear what happens when we unleash this talent, in a renovated stadium, that probably will have a medium Jumbotron on the left fence and a large neon script that says Budweiser over the right fence, as part of some total stadium marketing tie-up rights package (and they already own Goose Island anyway).

It took my eyes a little while to get used to the new brick wall behind home built to look the same but squeeze 4 more rows of expensive seats closer to the plate. My eyes felt wronged.

Losing Old Style will cut me in some illogical way, even if Old Style isn't even Old Style anymore.
posted by C.A.S. at 8:23 PM on August 9, 2014

I don't miss Old Style any more than I miss those shitty Aramark or Sara Lee hot dogs they used to have in concessions.

Vienna Beef Franks are The One True Baseball Stadium Hot Dog and any time someone serves you something else, that person is insulting you.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:30 PM on August 9, 2014

At certain college football games at Gillette Stadium many local crafts are available being poured from 20 oz bottles for about $11.00. which beats by far the $9.50 12 oz pours at Fenway Park.
posted by Gungho at 5:55 AM on August 10, 2014

Vienna Beef is the only hot dog. Off of a steam table. In a Mary Ann poppy-seeded bun. With mustard, celery salt, relish, little peppers at a minimum. This came down from the mount on high, straight from the big man
posted by C.A.S. at 7:05 AM on August 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

C.A.S.: straight from the big man

*THE* big man?
posted by tonycpsu at 8:50 AM on August 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

The tags for this post are highly in line with my interests.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 AM on August 11, 2014 [1 favorite]

Even though my beloved Flying Dog beers are made in my home town, and even though they're available at Camden Yards, when I go to an Orioles game, nothing satisfies like Natty Boh (which, ironically, is no longer made in Baltimore).
posted by imjustsaying at 10:26 AM on August 11, 2014