The Drinktator is the People
Assessing pandemic-era baseball beer at Citi Field, and more NYC-made seltzers are coming
Good news, everyone! You can buy a beer without food in New York State for the first time in nine months! But, there’s a catch. Actually, there are several catches. And even more throws.
As if the rules in New York around drinking during the pandemic couldn’t become even more of a mockery, with Major League Baseball stadiums open and allowing fans to attend games again, you can walk up to a concessions stand, order a beer, and not be asked to buy food at Citi Field or Yankee Stadium, where billionaire team owners profit from your fourteen-dollar beer. Meanwhile, you can’t walk up to a bar, nor order a beer without food at a bar or restaurant owned by a struggling business owner who has tried to stay afloat through the State Liquor Authority’s labyrinth of rule changes.
Apparently, the presence of 100 m.p.h. fastballs help prevent the spread of COVID.
New York Governor Cuomo, for his part, said… absolutely nothing, apart from quietly extending the restrictions requiring food service last week — this time, through May 6th. The press isn’t able to ask him why he extended these rules or why they don’t apply to baseball stadiums, because the press hasn’t been allowed to ask him a question for weeks, as most of his appearances went to “closed press” after accusations of sexual harassment against him went public.
(Side note: it’s a rare day when I agree with every word of a New York Post editorial, but “Drinktator” is a pretty apt description, given that how every bar and restaurant in the state is allowed to operate is subject to the governor’s whims.)
After Pennsylvania removed their food requirement effective April 2nd, only three states — New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut — continue to require food orders with the purchase of alcohol statewide. Worst of all, in Connecticut, bars that don’t have kitchens have now been closed entirely for thirteen months. None of these states have provided any scientific evidence that links the presence of food with alcohol at a table to the prevention of Covid-19.
Bars and restaurants get curfew extended next week
In other Covid-related developments that are at the total whim of the governor, the closing time for bars and restaurants will extend to midnight in New York effective on Monday, April 19th. This is the second extension this year after a draconian 10pm closing time was changed to 11pm in February. The State Liquor Authority’s guidance had not yet come down as this newsletter went to press, but since every new beginning comes from every other beginning’s end, expect the rule that all customers must be off premise by that time to continue, so don’t be surprised by 11 and 11:30pm last calls next week. And previous guidance from the city last fall required outdoor spaces to close by 11pm, so expect patios, sidewalk seating, and streetside sheds to close early, too.
NYC breweries get into the hard seltzer game
Two more New York City breweries are launching hard seltzer brands this summer, bringing the national trend to some local taprooms. Hard seltzer has been riding a wave of dramatic growth in the US over the past three years. Even in 2020, when beer sales were down 3%, Flavored Malt Beverage (FMB) sales rose 68%. Craft beer volume was down 9% over that same time, so craft brewers are increasingly looking for opportunities to get a piece of the seltzer pie. Most of the major seltzer brands are tied to large breweries, including Truly (Boston Beer), Bon & Viv (AB-Inbev), and Vizzy (Molson Coors). But in an industry where consumers often value localism, there may be a niche for locally-made seltzer alongside locally-made beer.
Evil Twin Brewing NYC was first out of the gate with its brand of Evil Water seltzers, which launched just before the pandemic started last year. They’ve released over 50 flavors in the year and change since, ranging from Vanilla Ice Cream to Mimosa to Passion Fruit/Pineapple/Peach. Evil Water takes on more of a “pastry seltzer” approach to complement the brewery’s fruited sours and pastry stouts, but also approaches the seltzers with a nod to beverages beyond beer, through flavors that mimic wine and cocktails.
Next came Staten Island’s Flagship Brewing Co., who last May launched their new line of beverages with Ralph’s Famous Italian Ices — a variety pack of co-branded seltzers in Orange Creamsicle, Lemon Ice, and Watermelon flavors. These clear, flavored fizzy drinks have been sold at the brewery and stores for almost a year now, and embrace a collaboration between Staten Island mainstays.
Later last summer, Singlecut Beersmiths introduced their TRIP Hard Seltzers, which took a different direction. “We found a lot of big seltzers were just too intense,” the brewery’s Dan Bronson explained, “and weren’t hitting that dryness we love from great beer and wine.” The terpenes in the TRIP seltzers bring out dryness and, in some cases, dankness. Their flavors include Grapefruit + Tangerine Terpenes, Mango + Mango Terpenes, and Lemon + Blueberry Terpenes.
Now, two more local seltzer entrants are on the way. Earlier this month, Other Half announced that their lineup of liquids in their new Domino Park location will include hard seltzers. The first will be on tap later in April, with canned versions of the seltzers available this summer — just in time for a sunny stroll along the Domino Park waterfront. For Other Half, it’ll be more of an effort in experimentation, much like the other liquids they intend to brew at Domino Park. And next month, Five Boroughs will be debuting a whole new canned seltzer brand, Party Water. The 5% ABV liquid will come in cans in four flavors: Watermelon Lime, Grapefruit Orange, Raspberry Lemonade, and Strawberry Mojito.
Assessing Citi Field’s 2021 Beer Options
For Mets fans who appreciated the broad variety of local beer options inside and outside Citi Field, the early-season games are going to be full of disappointment off the field, regardless of how the team is playing.
First off, crowds returning this year are discovering that there’s no longer a pre-game beer option immediately outside the ballpark. Mikkeller Brewing NYC closed last year and the less-desirable McFadden’s will also not reopen (and is currently being used as space for a vaccination clinic).
Inside the ballpark, the beer situation feels bleak compared to years past. Tarped over, at least for the moment, are the Empire State Craft stands that featured exclusively New York-brewed beer in the 100 and 400 levels. And if you don’t want fizzy yellow beer, I hope you like hazy IPAs: 16-ounce cans of Ebbs IPA No. 1 (a brand owned by Bruce Wilpon, the son of former Mets owner Fred Wilpon), Braven Crowded Spaces NEIPA, and Brooklyn Pulp Art IPA are each priced at $12.75. The only other craft beer option is Braven Bushwick Pilsner. Braven was a Brooklyn-brewed brand, but is now brewed in Rhode Island and owned by Newport Craft Brewing and Distilling, makers of Thomas Tew Rum, who is now the official rum of Citi Field and has naming rights to the Left Field Deck.
If you’re just looking to get “crafty,” stovepipe cans of Bubble Stash IPA from Hop Valley are $14.00, and 24-ounce cans of Blue Moon and Leinenkugel Summer Shandy are $15.25 — all brands owned by MillerCoors, who is now the beer sponsor throughout the ballpark, mostly pushing Coors, which obnoxiously appears on the cup holders at every seat this season.
Where you can find the few craft options? Well, there’s one small bright spot there. For the first time since the 2010 season, the upper deck bar behind home plate (now known as the “Coors Seltzer Bar”) and the center field bar on the main level (now known as the “Coors Light Bar”) are serving craft beer. These bars had exclusively served Anheuser-Busch products beginning in 2011, but currently have the best craft beer selection at Citi Field.
Additionally, there is a self-serve can cooler behind section 130 called Walk Thru Bru that appeared at the end of the 2019 season and has other locations ready to roll elsewhere in the ballpark. These spots have an attendant who checks your ID, then allows you to pull cans from the cooler, and then place them on a platform that uses AI to determine what you have purchased and charges you through a contactless kiosk. It’s like drinking in a very bleak future.
I’m hoping that as more fans are allowed into Citi Field, which is currently capped at a capacity of 8,492, the beer options may expand. But unfortunately, for now, prepare to be disappointed.
Coming next week: the beer situation at Yankee Stadium… which, as usual, is significantly worse, even in a season when Citi Field is setting the bar low.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,131
New breweries in 2021: 57
Breweries visited in Oklahoma: 18
Total breweries open in Oklahoma on my first visit to the state in 2015, according to the Brewers Association: 14
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #1741, Heirloom Rustic Ales, Tulsa, Oklahoma (Visited 25-Oct-2019)
Every year, a good friend of mine from Colorado and I fly into a city from our respective sides of the country for a weekend of brewery visits in a place we haven’t been. In 2019, I suggested Tulsa, Oklahoma, mainly because I had wanted to visit American Solera and the Prairie Brewpub there. Both were lovely experiences, but we expected nothing less. On weekend trips like this, there always ends up being a brewery that we had never heard of that straight-up blows us away — and on our trip to Tulsa, Heirloom was definitely it.
After visiting on a busy Friday night in the taproom when I had a ridiculously tasty, yet uncloying and sessionable pastry stout with Oreos, I pledged to come back again before the weekend was over. So I stopped by on my way to the airport for my flight home to enjoy some more beautiful beers that ran the gamut from an oak-fermented Pale Lager to a Brett-conditioned Pilsner to a Kolsch with traditional German ingredients. After speaking to co-founder Jake Miller that afternoon and learning his resume, I wasn’t surprised that his beers were so dialed-in, with stints at Prairie, Oregon’s Wolves and People, and Florida’s St. Somewhere — all highly respectable places that celebrate yeast in their approaches to beer. That led him to a very different approach to beer at Heirloom. Indeed, while the house yeast is a precious part of what he does, the focus here is on cold-fermented beers — celebrating the crisp and clean. It’s a refreshing approach, both figuratively and literally.
Historical Nerdity of the Week
Since we’ve been on the subject of beer and baseball in this week’s newsletter, let’s celebrate the defunct breweries that used to sponsor Major League Baseball teams in the era of regional breweries in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Here in New York, that meant Schaefer (brewed in Williamsburg) was in bed with the Dodgers and Knickerbocker (brewed on the Upper East Side) sponsored the Giants before they both split for the West Coast. The Yankees were synonymous with Ballantine (brewed in Newark), and Rheingold (brewed in Bushwick) was a fixture on the scoreboard at Shea Stadium during the Mets’ magical 1969 season. Apart from some resurrections under new ownership of the brand, all of these New York-area breweries are long gone.
Beer of the Week
Bat Flip
Torch & Crown Brewing Company (New York & Bronx, NY)
Golden Ale
5.4% ABV
Has anything ever evoked positive memories of last Spring’s lockdown? If any beer could, it might be Bat Flip. Late last Spring, as the Korean Baseball Organization’s season ramped up and we were all locked inside under curfew, Torch & Crown put out this beer. It was well-rounded: a lovingly-hopped refreshing ale that stood out among my lockdown fridge full of hazy double IPAs. I loved this beer so much last year that I ordered it twice. Anyway, with the return of baseball in the states, Bat Flip has returned. It might be a bit more hoppy than I remember last year’s version, but it’s a delightful citrusy hop character, and the brightness and crispiness that I do remember is back again. It defies style guidelines, so I’d recommend you taste it for yourself and place it in your own category. I’m calling it a Lockdown Golden Ale.
Long Read of the Week
Despite the fact that we New Yorkers cannot be trusted to drink past 11pm, nor can we buy a beer at a brewery without a bag of chips, we could have it a lot worse. Take Minnesota, for instance, as Jerard Fagerberg documents in Good Beer Hunting. Direct sales of canned beer is still prohibited, brewpubs are kneecapped by onerous limits on off-premise sales, and it’s home to the nation’s only four breweries who, due to laws that punish growth and success, cannot legally fill growlers. There’s a shout-out here to Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city that’s seen tremendous growth since its state’s prohibition-era beer laws were modernized.
One More Thing
The title of this newsletter is a reference to a New York City beer! If you know which one, send an email with your answer to brewyorknewyork [at] gmail.com with the subject line “Answer” and you’ll be entered to randomly win a little treat from that brewery.