I headed up to Seattle for the weekend to catch a couple baseball games. The American League leading Boston Red Sox were in town for a three game set against the ever-struggling hometown Mariners. Each year I try to make a point of taking in at least one game up in the Emerald City. Not only is Safeco Field (the ballpark where the Mariners play home games) one of the best places to catch a sporting event, but the city of Seattle offers a vast array of choice craft beer options. Like the beer options, the number of Red Sox fans each year seems to grow. In fact, it has been pointed to my attention that the Red Sox boast the greatest road attendance in the sport. And with the Mariners being so terrible this year, the sea of red in the crowd (a crowd with numbers that jump dramatically when teams like Boston and New York come to town) was more pronounced than I can ever remember it being. Read More…
When presented the opportunity to interview Brewmaster John Legnard of Denver’s Sandlot Brewery, we were ultimately thrilled. His brewery, best known for developing their flagship brew Blue Moon Belgian White, is the onsite beer producer at Coors Field home of the Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball team. Owned by Molson Coors Brewing Company, the unassuming Sandlot Brewing is a unique specimen such AC Golden Brewing Company that is allowed to provide research and development for their parent company as well as great beer to one of the country’s best craft beer regions. And if recent years past have showed us anything, it is that the type of beer being brewed by Legnard and his staff has a bright future.
John Legnard has an interesting story with professional craft brewing that began in Fort Collins in the early ’90s. Before getting into the heart of our interview, Legnard spoke about living in Colorado and his love for Fort Collins in particular. “Fort Collins is a great beer town. I’ve got quite a history with Fort Collins,” he attests. “I would have never left Fort Collins if I didn’t get a job down in Denver.”
A young Legnard got his feet wet in brewing in Fort Collins and lived there for ten years. In 1992 he helped open HC Berger Brewing, a now defunct operation, reborn as Fort Collins Brewing at the same place where Funkwerks Brewing now resides.
Legnard started off in the same homebrew club Read More…
After spending three days in the Maine woods, we headed out in search of any kind of craft beer. In Bangor, Central Maine’s most populated region, we made two stops. First, we hit up Sea Dog Microbrewery and Pub, an old haunt from way back when. These days, Sea Dog is owned by Shipyard Brewing Company and most of the production has moved a few hours south in Topsham. The beers, like many of New England’s classic ales, are brewed with the ringwood yeast. This yeast lends itself to an astringent mouthfeel and often a prominent diacetyl presence.
At a nice location on the Penobscot River the pub featured an assortment of seafood options along with other standard pub fare. In the summer months, Sea Dog’s outdoor river view deck is one of the best atmospheres in town to enjoy a beer.
While at Sea Dog, we tried the newly brewed Summer Ale, a light golden ale with signature butter notes and dry mouthfeel. We also explored a mildly hopped Pale Ale with even more pronounced diacetyl flavors. The last beer ordered, a Hazelnut Porter, for us, was unfinishable. Artificially sweetened with a sugary flavoring and riddled with more diacetyl than the first two beers, this is a beer we’d characterize as a drain pour.
With decent food options and a nice location in the heart of the Queen City, Sea Dog is a brewery we hope will improve their beers because it is one of the first craft breweries we were drinking in Maine.
After catching a baseball game at Husson College in town, we headed back into downtown Bangor to visit a beer stop recommended by old friends. At the Whig & Courier, Bangor’s 2007 choice for best neighborhood pub, an assortment of area beers run the taps as well as a few standards such as Guinness, Bass, Harp, Miller, and Coors. Short of Allagash Brewing, there’s really not much to drool over when it comes to Maine’s craft beer selection where diacetyl is king. At Whig & Courier, named for an old city newspaper, we opted for Geary’s Bangor’s Best, a standard pale ale for the area. Other options were Atlantic Brewing’s Blueberry Ale, Magic Hat’s Circus Boy, a Casco Bay Seasonal, a Shipyard Seasonal, and Marshall Wharf Brewing.
We enjoyed our time in Bangor, but are glad we stocked up on other beers from outside the area to get us through our stay.
Oregon’s best brewery, Block 15, recently brewed their 300th batch of beer for the commercial market. Dubbed a “Hoppy Session Beer,” the latest milestone brew undoubtedly lives up to the name. Replete with one-offs, fruit and spice infused ales, and constantly more dialed-in fermentables, the Corvallis brewery within imagineer Nick Arzner seems to pair experimentation and scientific methodology better than about any other brewer in the state. Concocting imaginative brews with delicious food and a forcibly sustainable business model exemplifies what Block 15 has been championing since inception in early 2008.
Last month during Block 15′s 2nd Anniversary Party, we had the extreme delight of sampling some of Arzner’s barrel-inoculated sours along with some taproom specialties. More recently, we were in Corvallis to catch a Oregon State University baseball game between the ’07 and ’08 nation champion Beavers and the University of Maine Black Bears.
Stopping in for lunch and a pint, we enjoyed the 300 Ale, a smooth sessionable 5% ABV, 85 IBU tawny amber treat. Sessionable as can be, the only logical follow-up to this was the Black Raspberry Wheat ale known as “Purple Cush.” With a magnificent glowing purple hue, the Cush hit the spot with refreshment and quaffability.
Hats off to Block 15 for their recognizably prolific and stylistically profound beers. We greatly anticipate our next visit to Corvallis, Oregon.
On a recent Block 15 blog post, Arzner states:
“Three hundred batches later, we are still exploring, creating, and loving every minute of it. We have used these batches to form the base of our knowledge in the brewery. With world class beer in mind we are excited about the future. As we revisit old recipes, we will use our experience and notes to make each batch even better. We have spent the 300 batches growing quality, not quantity. We are still young, but our maturity is beginning to show. With major investments in equipment, cellars, barrels, and staff, our taps are poised to reach well beyond the status quo of brewpub beer. This spring and late summer, we will unleash our wild ale series, a style never brewed in this area, and only brewed at a handful of breweries, and even fewer brewpubs around the world. These amazing ales are cellared over a year in barrels with wild yeast and bacteria, developing wonderful and challenging aromas and flavors. I have decided to staff the brewery excessively, to insure that we are not rushed and can focus each and every batch.”
March 19, 2010 marks the release of Pyramid’s Curve Ball. This means that baseball season, and yes, spring is just a few days away. This beer that used to be dubbed a Kolsch-style beer and now is pitched as a golden ale is one of the most delicious summer session beers out of the Northwest. It’s also one of the best beer Pyramid has period.
Says Mike Brown, Commissioner of Inspiration and Aspiration for Pyramid Breweries (what ever that means) “Curve Ball is a classic representation of a quality craft beer embodying the season in which it’s poured. From the first sip of the season, all the way into summer’s prime – this deceptively delicious beer delivers on full-flavor while providing the perfect companion to all warm weather festivities.”
A few questions to the marketing team at Pyramid:
Why do you say this beer is “deceptively drinkable”? We can see how an imperial with well-hidden alcohol might be deceptive, but after all, there really doesn’t seem to be anything deceptive about 5% ABV, “a crisp, clean-tasting, cold lagered ale.” How is anyone being deceived? Do they think it’s a lager and they’re getting an ale? We guess we can see that.
New Curve Ball label
When are you going to ditch your god awful labels? Hideous. Bring back the traditional ones where Curve Ball had a baseball theme on it. Please, please, please get rid or those. The sanctity of baseball is dissed by this grotesque display. Also, are you unaware that your Seattle taproom is across the street from Safeco Park home of the Seattle Mariners BASEBALL TEAM! Granted there are a few silhouettes of baseball players jumping on the edge of the label, but a curve ball is a type of pitch, not a type of catch. We’ve said it before and we’ll reiterate: this is energy drink-esque crap. Okay, that’s the last we’ll mention it…maybe…
Older Curve Ball label
To your credit Pyramid, you have kept this wonderful beer, Curve Ball, through all of your tribulations. It is certainly a beer that hits it out of the park!
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Boston Red Sox fan. My first Major League game was as a young kid when my parents took us to Fenway Park. Every year, growing up in Maine, my family would make the pilgrimage down to Massachusetts to visit relatives in Worcester and take in a game at the Fens.Over the years I’ve been subject to many a Boston heartbreak. Starting with the 1986 season that everyone in Boston remembers being capped by a routine grounder rolling through the legs of the Great Billy Buckner. However, since those painful times, the Sox became a powerhouse in the 21st Century following an inconceivable comeback to hated rivals the New York Yankees. Seemed the Yankees always had an answer to the Red Sox best efforts. But a momentus zero games to three comeback in the 2004 American League Championship Series began a new winning culture that was benchmarked by me and my dad attending game seven of the ALCS at Fenway, and the second pennant win in four years, leading to a second World Championship.
Being a dedicated fan doesn’t always feel great. In fact, a lot of times, it downright sucks…big time. Amidst this season’s August pennant run, I was fired up over the weekend (starting Thursday) for four games between the bitter rivals at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The Sox had the ability to make up ground and pull into first with a a solid showing. To gear up, I went out and bought a variety of Sam Adams brews ranging from my favorite, the sessionable, yet hoppily floral Boston Lager to the big kick in the pants that are the Double Bock (9.1% ABV), a rich roasty, malt-driven alco-meal, and their heralded Imperial White brew (10.3% ABV).The White was nothing in appearance resembling the color, but for the style, it did have the orange peel and corriander spice, but with a largely sticky, candied chewy body to pair with a deep, tawny hue. Also in the mix was the Summer Ale, a grains of paradise and lemon-spiced wheat quaffer than would be perfect for this potentially great series.
However, nothing was great from a Red Sox fan’s perspective. My Olde Towne team got their butts swept in four games and during one stretch were unable to score a runs for more than 30 innings. It was frustrating and utterly disappointing to be a fan and witness such a display by Boston. However, I got to hand it to the Boston Beer Company. The Sam Adams brews were delicious. Perhaps not as delcious as an $8 draught pour of Oktoberfest I relished with my dad in October of 2007, but hey, that’s baseball…
In Oregon, Craft Beer speaks for itself, clearly, and to be out and about means determining what offering will satiate and be best worth your palate and liver. Oregonians and Cascadians know that beer is both a commodity and a luxury, yet we can quaff away with utter certainty that our love for the liquid malted libations is inherent and has derived from our passion for the glass that makes us who we are.
My brother Mario, got me a couple tickets to for to the AAA Minor League Baseball All-Star Game at PGE Park in Portland on July 15, 2009 for my birthday. What a time it was! Thanks, brohammer. The game was close and the International League skimmed out a close win over the Pacific Coast League. You gotta respect baseball and brews as an integral part of American craft culture.
Simple pours of classic brews like BridgePort IPA and Widmer Hefe define who we are. A pass to the various local beer fests means we recognize the obligatory prost is in full effect.
PDX beer writer Ken Kane at PGE Park
What do you need to make you smile? A beer from the Oregon Craft Beer scene? Any follower of the sport would be enamored by the overflow of love for this sort of Americana sportive event. My brother and I patroned Rock Bottom Brewing in downtown Portland to witness the lusciously hoppified American Dream IPA seasonal alongside the mainstay Sunny Day IPA crafted by Van Havig. Thank heavens for great beer and a pint of Long Hammer or Drifter (Craft Brewers Alliance betterment) at this shindig!
On our trip to the great Midwest, after a day of crazy thunderstorms, torrential downpours, and tornado warnings that prevented us from getting over to Michigan to partake in some much desired brews, we had one of the best days on our week-long adventure.
As a kid I was fortunate to have a father who loved baseball and took me to my first big league game when I was very young. Each year the family would head from Maine down to Boston to see the Red Sox play at the magical and historical Fenway Park. As I have grown older, I have had the opportunity to visit other ballparks around the country. Many of these modern parks named with stark, cold corporate tags like Safeco and Petco might provide more amusement to CEOs and shareholders than to a wide-eyed kid just hoping to get an autograph or snag a foul ball.
One of the last great classic American ballparks is Wrigley Field in Chicago, home of the Chicago Cubs. Named for the chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley, Jr. in the 1920s, the park built in 1914 is the second oldest major league ballpark in the country behind my beloved Fenway. With a unique intimate feel that includes a brick wall and ivy surrounding play, Wrigley is the home to some of baseball’s most passionate and dedicated fans. You see, the Cubs have not won a championship since 1908, and to have the kind of fan support they have, is just amazing.
In the neighborhood known as Lakeview with surrounding restaurants and bars that make up a community often referred to as Wrigleyville. Legendary Cubs ballplayer Ernie Banks, known to many simply as “Mr. Cub”, dubbed Wrigley “The Friendly Confines.” Friendly if you’re a Cubs fan. A Century of losing will make a fan bitter in a hurry. The cool thing about Wrigley was how dedicated these fans are. Several neighboring buildings to the park featured rooftop seating to peer into the stadium.
We sat in the back row of the left field bleachers on a beautifully sunny day with a light breeze blowing in from the lake. As the game progressed, Budweisered-up fans got more raucous with their chants and I even witnessed a few people get ejected from the park for throwing food, sneaking in beer, and one particular lad was nearly tossed out simply for donning a jersey of the crosstown rival, the Chicago White Sox. Luckily it was his birthday, and his buddy convinced security to let him stay. My friend Rachelle received a series of unwanted advances by a, let’s be kind and say disgusting, fellow. Luckily her husband came back to save the day and the buffoon when on to terrorizing others in the section.
All in all, the game was a blast. I mean, put me at any major league ballpark and I am as happy as a clam (are clams really happy?). The sights, sounds, and smells surrounding Wrigley Field distracted much of my attention away from the actual baseball game taking place in front of us. The food and beer offering at Wrigley were to be desired for a craft beer lovin’ vegetarian (can anyone say pistachio overdose!), but just being at the old ballpark was an undeniable treat.
By the end of the seventh inning, the Cubs were routing the visiting Padres of San Diego by a huge margin, so, to beat the crowds, my friends and I bounced out of the
Goose Island
stadium to pony up a spot at Goose Island’s Wrigleyville brewpub. At Goose Island, we enjoyed wonderful brews and artisan food that really made up for what the ballgame lacked. On tap, a wonderfully spiced witbier and a floridly hopped Matilda Belgian ale hit the spot. After a half an hour or so, the joint was packed with fans from the game, and we were wise to get in when we did. The weirdest thing about Goose Island, was the bathroom steward. A man who hung out in the restroom approached you as you finished your business to offer you soap and napkins in exchange for tips. He also had an assortment of sundries for sale on the sink. I’m sorry, but when I go to the loo, I just want to be left alone.
After leaving Goose Island, we walked around the ballpark looking at statues of famous ballplayers like Ernie Banks and the late great broadcaster Harry Caray. Caray is known for his saying “I’m a Cub’s fan and a Bud man.”
From the park, we walked for what like seemed to be two or three miles to another notable Chicago beer spot, the Hopleaf Bar. At the Hopleaf, an assortment of worldly libations were available including a phenomenal selection of domestic craft brews and spectacular Belgian and Belgian-style ones as well. About thirty or so beers on draught in total and an eleven page book of bottled beers. One of the most impressive things about the Hopleaf was the wall of glassware. Seemed they had a glass for any beer or occasion. Per the recommendation of Belmont Station’s Cap’n Neil Yandow, I went for a draught pour of the Bosteel Kwak. Served in a unique mini-yard styled glass and accompanied by a sturdying wooden support neck, the beer, that dates back the mid 19th Century when coachmen needed a secure hold on their brew while steering their horses. After a few of these delicious beers, its easy to see yourself becoming a bona fide Kwak addict.
The Hopleaf was our last beer stop in ChiTown before catching the L Train back to our friends’ place in Oak Park where we were staying. We flew out of town the next morning back to Beervana with lots of beer under our belts and sunburns. We even managed to get a few cases of the good stuff safely back home. God, I love beer.
After catching a baseball game at Husson College in town, we headed back into downtown Bangor to visit a beer stop recommended by old friends. At the 
