Chicago White Sox to Hold a Beer Festival at Guaranteed Rate Field
Unless you’re one of those hardcore stat-heads who likes to keep score, most of us can admit that a large part of the appeal of watching baseball is that the leisurely-paced game is an excellent opportunity to drink beer. And in the case of the Chicago White Sox, the team has decided to cut out the middleman… a.k.a. the team itself.
Guaranteed Rate Field – formerly Comiskey Park and home to the Chicago White Sox – will be hosting its first-ever dedicated beer festival, appropriately named the ChiSox Craft Beer Fest. The event will take place on Saturday, September 14 while the White Sox are on the West Coast in the middle of a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners. Don’t expect that game to be playing on the jumbotron: The fest is from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. and the game doesn’t start until 8:10. Beer drinkers will be offered “live entertainment” and “games and activities” instead.
A $45 general admission ticket promises the chance to drink 30 two-ounce samples from over 35 breweries set up on the concourse, as well as a few goodies like a ChiSox Craft Beer Fest tasting glass and commemorative poster. Sadly, you won’t be able to get onto the field… unless you want to throw down for a $125 VIP ticket. That package offers a chance to get in an hour early where you can “walk on the warning track,” tour the home clubhouse and dugout, or – you know – just spend an extra hour drinking beer. VIPs also get a meet and greet with Frank Thomas, some exclusive samples, and ten extra samples.
Meanwhile, everyone will have the opportunity to slow down their inevitable intoxication by buying grub from concession stands that “will be open serving traditional ballpark food.”
Currently, 37 breweries are listed as attending (though that is subject to change) with a focus on local Chicago breweries but plenty of names from other areas as well. Here’s the full list from the White Sox’s official MLB.com page: 350 Brewing, 3 Floyds, 5 Rabbit Brewing, 18th Street Brew, Aleman, Alulu Brewing, Ballast Point, Banging Gavel, Blue Nose Brewing, Collective Arts Brewing, Goose Island, Gun Craft Beer, Half Acre Beer, Horse Thief Hollow, Illuminated Brew Works, Imperial Oak, Kinslahger Brewing, Lagunitas, Lo Rez, Maplewood, Marz Brewing, Metal Monkey Brewing, Moody Tongue, Motor Row, Noon Whistle, Pipeworks, Pollyanna, Rabid Brewing, Ravinia, Revolution Brewing, ShortFuse Brewing, Surly Brewing, Ten-Ninety Brewing, Tribes, Twisted Hippo, Two Brothers Brewing, and Whiner Beer.
Tickets can be purchased here. I look forward to seeing how much a Frank Thomas-signed ChiSox Craft Beer Fest tasting glass goes for on eBay.
