Citi Field: Live Sports & Craft Beer

We continue our series on Live Sports & Craft Beer today with Beertography's first guest post. Our friend Ceetar is a self-described Optimistic Mets Fan and has been hunting for good beer at Citi Field for a while now. Take it away Ceetar!

Beer Cheat Sheet: Citi Field (as of 4/29/12)

(outside) McFadden's -  Guinness, Sam Adams, Blue Moon and 10 or so other regular taps (inside) "Craft Beer Dugout" in sections 413, 127, 105  - (each section varies) Widmer Drift Pale Ale, Widmer Citra Summer Blonde, Goose Island Honker's Ale (all draught), Sixpoint Sweet Action, Blue Point Summer Ale & Toasted Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Magic Hat #9 (all cans) Big Apple Brews - Goose Island 312 Wheat, Honker's and IPA; Red Hook Long Hammer IPA, Pilsner, ESB; Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, Hefeweizen "Catch of the Day" and the Caesar's Club - Blue Point Toasted Lager (draught) Delta Sky 360 Club - Blue Point Toasted Lager, Victory Prima Pils, Ommegang Abbey Ale (all unconfirmed - have you seen these beers there? let me know) Two Boots Pizza - Abita Purple Haze

You can find the complete list of beers at Citi Field here: The Citi Field Beer List. The Mets give you a lot of options when you go out to see a ballgame. However the selection probably wouldn't make the playoffs when put up against other stadiums. The standard price is $8.50 for a draft or a can. That's 50 cents more than last year.

So let's start at the top. The top is local craft beer, and it's good. The main location to get these beers is what's called the Craft Beer Dugout. There are three of them located near section 413 in the Promenade food court behind home plate, section 127 which is on the Field level near the left field foul pole, and section 105 which is on the Field level near the right field foul pole right near the World's Fare Market. A word of warning, the right field version is severely limited so far. Each of the other dugouts has four taps and a cooler full of cans. The selection so far has been a little different at each one. I've noticed Widmer Drift Pale Ale on tap in left field, but the Widmer tap on the Promenade level was serving the Citra Summer Blonde. Also on tap is Kona Longboard Lager, Shocktop, and Goose Island Honker's Ale. The list of cans includes Sixpoint Sweet Action, Blue Point Summer, Blue Point Toasted Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Magic Hat #9, Blue Moon, and Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. I've been told that Blue Point's new White IPA will also be available in cans soon.

So that's the real craft beer selection. I should add that you can get Blue Point Toasted Lager on tap at Catch of the Day, and in the Caesar's Club as well. I haven't had a chance to peek in the Delta Sky 360 Club yet, but I believe you can also get it there along with Victory Prima Pils, and Ommegang Abbey Ale. Maybe some others. I firmly believe Ommegang Abbey Ale should be available outside the club, and really as it's a beer brewed in Cooperstown, it should be available in every ballpark in the league. There are couple of other locations you can get different beers. All the Two Boots Pizza locations have Abita Purple Haze and Peroni, and you can get Mythos Hellenic Lager in the World's Fare Market. (Although I'm not sure why you'd want to, as it's disgusting)

The other major place to get beer is at Big Apple Brews, which is a giant island of a beer cooler located in center field and in the Promenade food court behind home plate. All of these beers are distributed via the Anheuser Busch/Craft Brewery Alliance agreement, but there are some pretty good beers included in that. I usually stick to the offerings of Goose Island, Widmer, and Redhook, but you can see the complete list here.

So that's the list. I believe that comes to 64 different beers at Citi Field, although a large chunk of them are different varieties of the macros. I'd give Citi Field a solid B grade. It's certainly got a couple of good beers, but there is still work to be done. I'd like to see more Sixpoint offerings besides just Sweet Action, and more Ommegang particularly in the publicly accessible areas. There are quite a few other local/NY breweries that I'd love to see too. Captain Lawrence, Ithaca, Chelsea, and Southampton to name a few. That doesn't even touch on the New Jersey offerings. I still lament the loss of the four specialty Brooklyn Brewery beers that were paired with the Danny Meyer concessions out in center field. Losing those after the 2010 season was definitely a big blow.

If you want a beer before the game, your only option is McFadden's Citi Field located by the center field/bullpen gate. I haven't been in a while but it has the same beer list as pretty much every other McFadden's and while it's not horrible, it's not much to write home about. You've got Guinness, Sam Adams, Blue Moon and another 10 or so taps of the usual cast of characters.

Thanks Ceetar! You can check out and follow Ceetar the Optimistic Mets Fan on Twitter!