Beer at the Ballpark
Baseball is back! And while the Blue Jays are off to a somewhat tepid start this season – 10-8 at the time of writing – there is still plenty of buzz to go around, a lot of it surrounding the much-ballyhooed renovations to the Dome and enhancement of the food and beverage offerings therein.
Over an extended weekend, I was able to take in a pair of home games and thus had plenty of time to check out the baseball beer scene. So what’s my main conclusion about drinking beer at the ballpark?
Don’t do it!
Seriously. As a lifelong baseball fan, I have grown quite used to being hosed by the powers-that-run-concessions at major league baseball stadiums, but it struck me that this year’s pricing of beer has gone well beyond the pale! How bad has it gotten, I hear you ask? Well, at Friday night’s game, my friend bought the first round of two beers and after tax and tip his credit card was charged over $40!
But before I get into price specifics, let’s talk availability. In major league ballparks all across the United States, it is possible to find craft beer in specially designated areas, or craft is made available pretty much wherever beer is sold. Not so in Toronto! My friend and I hunted throughout the 500s, making a complete circuit around the field, and although Beau’s Lug Tread is supposed to be available on tap on that level, we could find none. (I was able to find it and Oast House Barn Raiser Country Ale available in the can on the subsequent game.) Bud and Bud Light and Corona and even Mill Street Organic were pretty much everywhere, but not so anything I actually wanted to drink.
Retreating to the 100 level, we were able to find draught Oast, Rush Golden Ale, and Bellwoods Jutsu, but the promised Collective Arts and Beau’s beers were no shows. (I didn’t venture back to the 100s on Monday.) Is it possible we just missed them? Yes, but seriously, how much sleuthing is it reasonable to ask patrons to do when all they want is a decent beer?
Then there is the cost, which for a 20 ounce pour is $16.49 after tax, but before tip. For the Oast Barn Raiser, that’s a prorated 366% mark-up over the cost of a can at the LCBO, while an apples-to-apples comparison of the $15.58 can of Oast on offer Monday reveals an even higher 433% mark-up! And don’t fall for the trap of choosing a ‘large’ over a ‘small’ draught pour because you think you’ll find better value there, as my friend did, since the large is only 4 ounces larger but costs $3 more! Oh sure, you also get a ‘souvenir’ plastic cup with a mitt and ball rising from its base, but are you really going to bother taking it home?
The five most respectably flavourful beers I found during the two games I attended were Mill Street Organic, Jutsu, Barn Raiser, Lug Tread, and Rush Golden. The reviews that follow were made not at the Dome, but from fresh cans purchased from the LCBO and sampled in my office. I declined to review the Rush Golden for reasons found here – nothing bad, just a slight conflict of interest.
Were I intent on spending way too much for beer, I’d definitely opt for either the Rush or the Barn Raiser.
Mill Street Original Organic Lager (4.2%): Mill Street’s first beer, long before their 2015 purchase by Labatt, when they brewed exclusively at the Distillery District and packaged in small, clear glass bottles in order to keep the price in check – organic beer ingredients then being significantly more expensive than were their non-organic equivalents. This was originally styled as a helles, which is exactly what its rich gold colour and malt-forward aroma evokes, the latter offering sweet cereal notes and light florals. On the palate, however, the mind drifts away from Bavaria and more towards the Canadian Prairies, the malt seeming a bit on the thin side, the hops barely drying the body, much less bittering it to even a subtle degree, and the finish staying lightly sweet and a bit cloying. Better when very cold, as one hopes it might be served at the Dome during a July day game, this doesn’t rate much beyond ordinary. 72
Bellwoods Jutsu Pale Ale (5.6%): Perhaps the quintessential Toronto hazy, this is what Bellwoods describes as embodying “all the elements of hoppy beer we love, in a most approachable format (that is) light bodied, and strikes the perfect balance between juicy and dry.” Hazy it most certainly is, with a light but impenetrable yellowish gold colour, and also aromatic, with tropical fruit notes that are discernable from even a cheap plastic cup at the ballpark. Under more controlled conditions, I get lots of pineapple on the nose, but also some guava,, blackberry, and even a hint of mango. On the palate, there is very little bitterness, as appropriate to the style, with sweet and creamy cereal up font, plus retro-olfactory fruitiness – plug your nose and Jutsu tastes like very little – astringency and fruit on the mid-palate, with the same tropical fruit from the aroma alongside lemony citrus, and a dry, quite astringent finish. If you like the hazy pale ale style, this is definitely your jam, but if you’re looking for a hoppy pale, look elsewhere. 81
Oast House Barn Raiser Country Ale (5%): While ‘country ale’ doesn’t have much meaning in the beer style world, Oast House is definitely in the country – well, country-ish, on Old Stone Road in Niagara-on-the-Lake – and this is most assuredly an ale. And while Oast is perhaps best known for their interesting mix of saisons and bières de garde, I’ve long had a bit of a soft spot for this pale ale, which I find particularly enjoyable when found very fresh, as is my can and presumably – hopefully! – as are also the kegs at the Dome. Pouring bright gold with minimal haze, this offers an approachably orangey aroma, zest and pith combined with wheaty grain and a hint of white pepper. The palate starts a bit on the sweet side, with caramelly undertones, before it blossoms into a more floral, citrusy bitterness with drying tannins and a smooth, dry, still fairly tannic and not too bitter finish. On a whim, I tasted this against a fairly fresh can of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and while the Californian beer is a classic for a reason, the Oast wasn’t entirely out of place in its company. 84
Beau’s Lug Tread Lagered Ale (5.2%): While the can still states that this is brewed in Vankleek Hill at the original Beau’s location, I’m pretty sure it is now being produced out of their Etobicoke plant by Steam Whistle. Which is not necessarily good or bad, but does mean that brewers must try to produce the same beer under very different circumstances, including equipment, water supply, perhaps even ingredients. Bright medium gold in colour, the nose is pretty much as I remember Lug Tread, with light and perfumey notes of fresh peach and apricot accenting the sweetish, cereally aroma. The palate starts with the same peachy character, certainly restrained, but definitely present, before drying somewhat and growing more grainy, with an odd phenolic note also developing. The finish remains sweet at first, but dries quickly and also develops an earthy, almost metallic edge. Slightly disappointing on the back end, but otherwise more-or-less classic Lug Tread. 78
