|
|
Things to Do
| Sprecher's Brewery | |||
Sunday, April 6th, 2008
So, Brewer’s baseball started off with a bang last week with the Milwaukee based team coming out with a series win over their neighboring Chicago Cubs 2-1 in a series that was mostly dominated by the Brewers. Two victories followed over the Giants during the weekend, clinching a second straight series win for the team and the first at home going into the final game of the series Sunday afternoon.
After watching a full day of soccer yesterday, I decided to switch things up a bit. After watching the second half of the 2-2 draw between Manchester United and Middlesbrough and most of the 1-0 win by Cardiff over Barnsley in the FA Cup, I decided to get things going.
I took a shower, shaved, and threw some things together in my book bag and went online for more information about a small event that I had pondered going to since Friday. All I could find out was that Sprecher’s Brewery was doing some sort of tailgating followed by the game at the brewery.
I didn’t know if this would be indoors or out and had never been to the building before, but I had a pretty good idea where it was and after a quick trip to the ATM decided to check it out.
The building only ended up being a couple of miles from my house and as I pulled up and saw that the lot was full, quickly found a spot on the street where I could pull in. It appeared that there was no way for it to be an outdoors tailgate, I left the lawn chair and jacket in the car, grabbed my bag, and headed for the front of the building.
Once
inside, you are immediately greeted by the first part of the gift shop with all
of the breweries non-alcoholic beverages laid out with four pack holders for
people to mix-and-match whichever drinks they wanted. There was also a check
out area where a line of people were queued up to make their purchases.
Through an open doorway, you find the remainder of the gift shop with non-beverage items all with versions of the Sprecher brand. This included shirts, sweaters, jackets, batters, glazes, cozies, and a multitude of other merchandise.
With the special of the day, you make your way to the checkout a purchase a $3 tour, which includes on the day the tour, a keepsake glass, and four free beer coupons. You then make your way into the main room where there is a bar with all of their beer and non-beer drinks on tab for you to choose from. You hand the barkeep your ticket to get your glass and then either get samples from their broad array of beers or start on your never-ending cola glass.
As a non-beer drinker, I started with a glass of the Orange Dream, which I have purchased at local grocery stores on occasion. This is probably my favorite orange soda in the area as they use honey in their recipe giving it a great sweet taste.
After this, I moved to the food table where I purchased two brats; a pizza brat and an Italian brat. They had a spread with numerous condiments including the regular ketchup and mustard along with not so normal flavors such as beer mustard, root beer mustard, and Ravin’ Red Bar-B-Q sauce.
I tried the pizza brat with the three condiments listed above on different sections and found that I really liked the taste of the meat. The BBQ flavoring was my favorite of the three, but the brat itself was the headliner of this meal. I had the basic yellow mustard on the Italian brat and wasn’t nearly as impressed with it. The brats were $3 a piece while hot dogs were $2, Hamburgers $2.5, Cheeseburgers $2.75, and chips $.75.
After
eating my brats, I stepped outside for a sec and when I re-entered I decided to
try the Puma Cola. This is a basic cola such as Coke or Pepsi, but again with
the honey tint to it. I must say that I was a fan of the taste. It is not
something that I would drink all of the time, but a nice change of pace from the
norm. As I sipped my Puma, I noticed that one of the local news channels had
showed up to do a short piece on the event. At the time, there were probably
only about 15 people in the main area, as the majority were on a tour, but as
the interview continued, the tour got over and about 30-40 people came in from
the back.
Meanwhile, it is the bottom of the 4th with runners on first and second and no outs for the Brewers who are up 2-0. They have twice strung a couple of hits together to score a run, while scattering two doubles so far to keep the shutout going. I must say that the game is the last thing on most people’s minds as the drink their beers and sodas and eat their brats and burgers. It seems to be much more of a social gathering with groups of friends and families having a good time while drinking their free drinks.
Half of the crowd has already thinned out after eating and having a drink or two, but many remain and the odd person here and there trickles in. It appears that there were more people just before I arrived, but they were here for the tailgating only, and left just before the game started. I must say, it would not be a bad way to start the day before heading to the stadium or another regular venue to watch the game.
After returning a call from my father, I came back inside to see that another tour had made its way through the building and quickly filled up the main viewing area. After fifteen minutes of the group making their way through the bar and buying burgers and brats, the place calmed down a bit with the new group taking a glance at the game and enjoying their food and camaraderie.
After downing another glass of the Orange Dream Soda, I decided to try the Ravin’ Red, while typing a bit more and catching bits of the game here and there through the crowd. The game continued to progress in the favor of the home team and the crowd began to thin out again. I sipped my Ravin’ Red, but didn’t really care for the taste. It was like a sweet thin wine and not at all what I was looking for. I made my way back up to the bar and while waiting for a minute or two, downed the rest of the drink and got about a shot of their renowned root beer.
Now, saying I’m not a root beer fan is a severe
understatement. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a can of root beer before,
probably no
more than a couple of sips at a time. However, I enjoyed their root beer. I
wouldn’t want it more than occasionally still, but I wouldn’t mind a hit or two
now and again.
I walked out for another couple of minutes to take in the building itself. Whereas the interior was very homey and downright old west in most places, despite the flat screen television, the outside it much more plain, with only the entranceway giving a glimpse of its old grandeur.
Back inside, the crowd had started to thin to only about a dozen or so people as the game wound down. The Brew Crew were up big and rolling, so on one of the first nice days since the fall, people were out and about. I went back to the bar for my final drink and decided for a “shot” of cream soda and a final glass of Orange Dream. I took a couple of sips from the cream soda, which went down easy. This was my first foray into the world of cream soda and it wasn’t a bad one. The drink was smooth and tasted like a liquid vanilla milkshake. It wasn’t bad at all, however, if I want a milkshake, I think I’ll just get the real thing instead.
At the bottom of the eighth, the Brewers scored again brining the score to 7-0 with no hope in sight for the Giants with only one inning left. We were down to only a handful of people meandering around waiting for the game to end while the grill had been shut down and the clean up was finishing as the cook was wrapping up the remaining 16 brats to bring home and dumping the old juice that the brats were soaking in.
Ben Sheets blew through the final three batters to end the series painlessly for the Giants in a sweep for Milwaukee in their second series, bringing them to 5-1 on the season. Sheets racked up another complete game, which puts him just over a dozen for his career and his second complete game shutout.
As things came to a close…
Now we are back. Apparently one of the breakers the cooks were using also controlled two lighted signs and the socket I was using for my laptop. Seeing that my battery won’t hold a charge, I was quickly at the black non-screen.
Well, everything wound down pretty uneventfully. The hall didn’t close until 5, but as the game was over, everyone took it as time to go and as I exited the building, I made my way through a line of about a dozen people waiting to make their purchase on Sprecher products.
I must say that I enjoyed my foray to the brewery on the
first spring weekend. I plan on doing this again a couple of times if they
continue to open for Sunday games. I enjoy the sodas, and the food was good to,
also, there was just enough atmosphere to make the game more enjoyable than it
would be at home, I would definitely want to try to get some friends to come
with me next time.
My Preference in Soda is as follows.
