Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Fangraphs No Fan of Dodger Stadium Beer Selection

Eno Sarris thinks Dodger Stadium's beer selection should look more like this. I can't say I disagree.

Eno Sarris covered two of our favorite topics, beer and Dodger Stadium, in a piece for FanGraphs (well, technically NotGraphs): "Ballpark Beer Review: Dodger Stadium."

The short version? He thinks the price is reasonable (Surprising!), but the selection is lacking, particularly when it comes to craft beers.

He definitely has a point. We Sons (and a good number of our readership) tend to have taste in beer that falls on the side of "highfalutin'" and would love to see more craft beers available during Dodger games. I disagree, however, with this part of the article:
I’ll drink a Kona Longboard lager, or a DBA from Firestone, sure. I won’t even complain that much about a GB beer, or one from Sam Adams. But if you make me walk to the farthest reaches of the park to find these beers, maybe then I’ll complain.
I have seen taps for all of those beers at multiple locations on the Field, Loge, and Reserve levels. Maybe he expects all beer vendors to carry every variety of beer. I'm not sure how realistic that is.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, Firestone, Kona, etc. are all recent additions to the beer selection, and were added under the old ownership. I'm guessing if Frank was already trying to improve the beer selection, then the Guggenheim group will expand it even further.

16 comments:

MR.F said...

BEEEEEERRRRR!

(actually I don't drink very much)

Franklin Stubbs said...

*Drinks Mr. F's beer*

Franklin Stubbs said...

It's true the selection has gotten better, but it's almost always 2 taps per stand, so the variety is a bit of a crapshoot.

Just having 1 or 2 location on each level with more taps might help, especially towards the outfield areas.

Hideo Nomo said...

And yes, I know we need roving beer vendors in the seats, but that strikes me as a logistical nightmare.

spank said...

Steel Reserve

Dusty Baker said...

There has been a decent improvement in beet selection in the last two or so years. But I don't want to walk around the entire concourse just to find the one Firestone DBA tap. It is a real crapshoot as Stubbs said. And now with the local craft beer scene in LA blowing up, they should try to tap into (get it?) the local beer scene and really make the beer scene reflective of the LA area, really move toward what a lot of stadia have begun doing in making the concessions an extension of the area's food and beverage identity.

Dusty Baker's Toothpick said...

I agree... More beer!

Hideo Nomo said...

Maybe an interactive beer map that you can access on your smartph...

...wait...fuck.

Franklin Stubbs said...

Given time, we can probably get more comments on these collective food threads than last night's GT.

Dusty Baker said...

Short of an app/wifi, maybe Sons can fan out and map the beer opportunities on each concourse (and incl Stadium Club, store at top of escalator, etc.). Fun summer project!

Come to think of it, I pretty much already have most of this in my head.

Paul said...

You can get Steele reserve down Academy road from a shady character holding a fish.

Paul said...

I agree the two tap per stand makes it a pain to seek out a specificl beer. If I recall even the "bars" on the field level behind homeplate don't have a wide selection.

Paul said...

I don't think there are any roving beer vendors in California Stadiums anymore.

Dusty Baker said...

Stadium Club has a pretty solid selection of beers. Hard booze, too.

DodgersKingsoftheGalaxy said...

Sunset Blvd. liquor store 40s

Dusty Baker said...

Been there done that, DKOTG.