Double Plays and IPAs

Some spring festivals and your 2024 Citi Field Beer Guide

While this week has been down in the dumps weather-wise, I’m thinking spring, and it’s definitely time to prep for some outdoor drinking. There are two beer festivals just beyond the city limits coming up that you should be aware of, both with opportunities to drink outside and make a day out of an event.

First up is the inaugural edition of Festchester, a celebration of Westchester County’s beer scene, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, April 20th and 21st in Mount Vernon, just outside Alternative Medicine Brewing Company and across the street from the Metro-North Mount Vernon East station. It’s a great opportunity to get to know some breweries from our northern suburbs without having to get into a car. The two-day event will feature the county’s heavyweights and newcomers, from Captain Lawrence and Yonkers to Simple Motive and Argonne Rose. Tickets start at $55 for General Admission sessions that start at 1pm each day. Plus, you’ll get to cast your vote for the “Jewel of Westchester,” the best beer at the festival.

Next month, it’s the return of Das Bock, New York’s Original Lager Festival, on what will hopefully be a sunnier day this year, at Plattduetsche Biergarten in Franklin Square on Saturday, May 18th. The indoor and outdoor fest will feature lagers from over 45 breweries across the state, including KCBC, Threes, Strangebird, Bolton Landing, Wild East, and more. The fest is a relaxed, pay-as-you-go vibe, with the $30 admission getting you entry, a 0.5L beer stein, and 3 beer tickets good for 5 ounces of beer each. More can be purchased on site during the fest. There will be German food and live music as you take in the atmosphere of this unique venue. Plattduetsche Biergarten is a 20-minute walk from the LIRR at Stewart Manor, and the NICE n6 Bus, which departs from Jamaica.

Your 2024 Citi Field Beer Guide

I went to Citi Field for a Mets game on Monday night. It’s a tradition that I do not just because I love baseball, but because I get to inform you, the readers, about the beer selection at the ballpark for the coming season. This game was a classic case of the Mets completely blowing it in the tenth inning. And speaking of blowing it, Citi Field management blew their opportunity to sell me a second beer at the game. After grabbing a quick Brooklyn Lager from near my section to watch the first few innings, I got up to scope out the beer selection, knowing that some new stuff was available for this season, like Allagash White and Threes Vliet, which happen to be two of my favorite beers.

I managed to find these beers, but completely behind lock and key, next to Fiddlehead IPA and Sloop Juice Bomb IPA at an unoccupied beer stand. In fact, every single stand that sold these beers — seven stands in all, on all levels of the stadium — was closed on Monday night. And yes, I realize it’s a Monday night in April and not every concession stand would be open. But in previous years, Citi Field at least made an effort to keep one stand with certain beers open during every game. Sometimes that meant trekking across the stadium just to buy the beer you want, but you could still at least buy the beer you wanted somewhere. This year, based on my experience on Monday, I can’t guarantee that’s going to be the case. If Citi Field is going to keep all these stands closed for weeknight games, then they need move these beers to other concession areas that are open for every game.

The sad, closed Boozy Buckets stand at section 131, where you can buy cans of Threes Vliet when it’s open

Anyway, if you’re lucky enough to get to a game when these stands are open, you’ll find Allagash, Fiddlehead, Sloop, and Brooklyn Summer at three generic-looking beer stands on the upper deck and the Coca-Cola Porch branded with Coors Light, Blue Moon, and Peroni, plus on the field level behind sections 114 and 129 in Coney Island and Montauk-branded booths. Threes Vliet is available in cans at two stands called “Boozy Buckets,” which are behind sections 131 and 418.

Generally, throughout the ballpark, the bigger regional beer brands are easy to find. You’ll find Boston Beer’s Coney Island on draft at some concession stands and sister brand Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA fairly regularly available in cans. Brooklyn Brewery’s Lager and Pulp Art Hazy IPA are hard to miss, too, even showing up in the large Coors Light-branded bars behind home plate in the upper deck and in center field. Montauk Beer Co.’s Summer and Wave Chaser, along with other offerings, can be found in many of the grab-and-go beer stands.

The beer selection in the more exclusive club seating areas is significantly better, and features a long lineup of draft beers. The Clover Home Plate Club, accessible to those sitting in the seats behind home plate, has a bar offering 20 draft options like Ghost East Coast Ghost, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Montauk The Surf Beer, and EBBS Kolsch No. 2, in addition to many of the previously mentioned beers only available in cans elsewhere in the ballpark.

Non-alcoholic beer options are becoming increasingly common, and this year, you’ll find Blue Moon’s N/A, Sam Adams Just the Haze, and Montauk’s Non-Alcoholic IPA throughout the park in 12-ounce cans.

Not surprisingly, you’ll pay a pretty penny for these beers. 19.2-ounce cans, the preferred sizing in much of Citi Field, will run you $16.05 plus tax. A 20-ounce draft pour of Coney Island, Brooklyn, or Montauk will run you $14.55 plus tax. That’s still under a dollar an ounce (looking at you, Boston), but not by much.

A side note: I realize that IPAs are still generally the best selling style of craft beer, but can we get a little diversity in the beer lineup, please? How many different variations of light-bodied, pale, hoppy beers do we really need? There’s no possible way we’re going to get a stout into Citi Field (though Oracle Field in San Francisco serves Guinness), but a couple more craft lagers or anything with a little more body for the colder months of the season would be nice. That being said, I’m absolutely thrilled about Allagash White this season, and I’m legitimately impressed that was able to get cleared in a ballpark full of Blue Moon taps.

The complete beer list is below, noting which beers are only available in club seating areas:

Allagash White
Brooklyn Lager
Brooklyn Pilsner*
Brooklyn Pulp Art Hazy IPA
Brooklyn Summer Ale
Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner
Coney Island Merman IPA
Dogfish Head Citrus Squall*
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
EBBS Kolsch No. 2*
Fiddlehead IPA
Founders All Day IPA
Ghost East Coast Ghost NEIPA*
Gutenberg IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Montauk Juicy IPA
Montauk Summer Ale
Montauk The Surf Beer*
Montauk Watermelon
Montauk Wave Chaser IPA
New Belgium Fat Tire Ale*
Samuel Adams Summer Ale*
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale*
Sloop Juice Bomb IPA
Threes Vliet Pilsner

*Available in premium clubs

Brewery Tracker

Total brewery count: 3,395
Total breweries visited in 2024: 111
Total breweries visited in Pennsylvania: 91

Brewery Visit of the Week

Brewery #3376, Rebel Hill Brewing Company - Brewery on Bridge, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania (Visited 23-Mar-2024)

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania is an old iron and steel producing town on the banks of the Schuylkill River, about forty minutes northwest of Philadelphia. It’s a neat little place with a walkable downtown and lots of eating and drinking establishments, many of them being breweries. Phoenixville is spoiled for choice when it comes to that, boasting six production breweries, two satellite tasting rooms, and a seventh brewery currently under construction. Rebel Hill was the first we visited on a day where we visited a trio of spots, and it was quite excellent. I enjoyed their Rocket Skates, a cold IPA dry-hopped with Amarillo, Azacca, and New Zealand-grown Cascade. Their Mr. Bates Mild and Pivotal Pils were both excellent interpretations of styles that are very easy to mess up. And the Calmer Than Cream, a Cream Ale with coffee and lactose, was an absolute delight as someone who loves a little coffee in my beer. Rebel Hill set the bar high for the rest of our mini-crawl around Phoenixville, and I’ll be back again — possibly at their second location on the outskirts of town.

The Doom and Gloom Tracker

At least 3 breweries I’ve visited closed or announced their closure this week:

• Brewery #532, Grandma’s House, Denver, Colorado (Visited 20-Mar-2016)

• Brewery #1297, Grand Rapids Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan (Visited 14-Oct-2018)

• Brewery #2605, Chapter Brewing, Runcorn, England (Visited 18-Mar-2022)

The Weekly Reader

• A guide to New York State’s Solar Eclipse beers [New York State Brewers Association]

• The Philly beer scene, three years removed from the Tired Hands exodus [Matthew Korfhage, Philly Mag]

• Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes and Russian Imperial Stouts [Jerard Fagerberg, Vinepair]

• Is craft beer cringe now? [Courtney Iseman, Inside Hook]

One Last Thing

This weekend, because I’m a glutton for punishment, I’m going to more Mets games — this time, at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, which will be my 28th of the 30 MLB ballparks. The beer selection there will be noticeably better than Citi Field, and they go out of their way to help you find the beer you’re looking for via the team’s Beer Finder (they’re not the only club to do this). With just two more ballparks left after this, I’ll be starting to prep my ultimate ranking of Major League beer selections (spoiler: Petco Park and T-Mobile Park will almost undoubtedly be in the top three).

Cheers,
Chris