Support Your Team-- Drink This Beer (NL West)

At long last, the final installment of our six part series matching beers to MLB squads... Again, all feedback is welcome: ddenicke23@hotmail.com
Here we go...

NL WEST

DODGERS: Bud Light. Very well-known selection. Supporters like the beer, but don’t really love it, much the way most Dodger fans would fall under the heading of fair-weather. Drinkers don’t always need to finish the beer to appreciate it—the alcoholic equivalent of leaving in the 7th inning to beat traffic. Both get “big-market” level attention, but actual quality of taste/performance usually ends before it gets anywhere substantive. The Dodgers have no shortage of national attention, but before last year, they had won exactly one post season game since 1988.

GIANTS: Filtered Hefeweizen. Ok, I know I already used this beer before, but let me throw this parallel at you: Barry Bonds is the dominant force behind the franchise. When you think Giants, he is what you think of. Now, in the world of beer, when you think Hef, you think lemon, which is usually added to the glass. Both Bonds and lemon are extremely sour, and most find them to be way to bitter to enjoy. Furthermore, the “additive” of lemon to the glass could be the HGH of the beer world; purists shake their heads, but the casual fan shrugs and is fine with it.


ROCKIES: Foster’s. Beer that had a lot of fan fare in the past, but eventually fizzled out faster than Paul Hogan’s career. The weird thing about Foster’s is that it is actually not very popular in Australia—but the marketing campaign builds it up to be more than what it is. In Colorado, they certainly support the Rocks, but it pales in comparison to most of the other teams (especially the Broncos). Attendance has fallen into the middle of the pack (13th last year), much the way finding Fosters on tap is not a given even at a large bar. Some consider the high altitude gimmicky (Australian for humidor), but it has recently become a bit more mainstream.

PADRES: Arrogant Bastard Ale. A local nod to a SD-based brew that is very dark and bitter—much the way Padre fans feel at the moment. The beer is actually pretty good, and cascades nicely in a pint glass, which makes it a cool thing to watch. But because it is so strong and so thick, you have to be a beer fan to really enjoy it. As for the Pads, they also look nice and inviting on the outside (Petco is gorgeous), but when you get down to it, they are not really all that entertaining. They don’t really hit home runs, they don’t have flashy players, and the long-time face of the franchise, closer Trevor Hoffman, is now in Milwaukee—no more hell’s bells. No wonder San Diegans have a bitter beer face the past year or so…

DIAMONDBACKS: Black and tan. What better comparison for a team that is as unpredictable night in night out than a beer that can change from sip to sip?
The Diamondbacks as a team are all up and coming players, but are extremely inconsistent. They can hit home runs in bunches, and then strikeout faster than a before-guy on the pick-up artist. As for a proper black and tan (preferably bass and Guinness), it starts out one way, and then somewhere along the line turns into something completely different.