A couple of weeks ago I linked a guide to craft beer selection in the various ballparks that, many have said, was incomplete. To that end, I’m on the lookout for true, in-depth beer reviews of ballparks. If you have one — recent ones — or if you care to do a comprehensive one, by all means do and I’ll link and/or excerpt it, because this is news we can use.
My friend Eno Sarris of FanGraphs (and a million other sites) knows his beer. And he went to Dodger Stadium recently and reviewed the selection. His review is up over at FanGraphs. And I gotta tell ya, the selection in L.A. is lacking:
If you are looking to alter your experience through the use of a society-approved liquid drug, then the stadium is ready to provide. Their prices and sizes are very pocket-friendly: you can get a 24-ounce ‘tall boy’ domestic draft beer for $10.25, which is better value than most stadiums provide. These are large beers for a good price.
If your aim is to drink the best-tasting beer that you might want to drink while facing the pitch, well then Chavez Ravine might have the worst beer selection in the bigs.
Mostly because it’s all gussied-up macrobrew:
To recap: so far we have a choice between Budweiser, Hefe Budweiser, Korean Budweiser Dutch Budweiser and Mexican Budweiser. In a simpler time, that might suffice.
Today, there are too many craft beer aficionados to assuage with this selection. Of course, there are a few craft beers if you looked hard enough, but the reward didn’t quite match the effort.
My personal thing: I really don’t like Bud or Miller Lites, but I’ll drink a Bud Heavy or a High Life if that’s all that’s available. It’s wet. It’s beer. I am not one of those people who MUST HAVE CRAFT BEER. I can deal just fine with whatever you got.
But really, how hard is it to set up a couple of places with some top-end stuff for those who really appreciate it? Seems like a no-brainer. Serious beer snobs — and I use that term lovingly — will pay through the nose for their hops.
