'Craft' beer map of Turner Field

I've looked for 'craft' beer at Turner Field —the home ballpark for Major League Baseball team, the Atlanta Braves. I've walked its concourses seven times. (Blogger's license: it's been more than that.) All in all, I must report that the state of 'craft' beer there is not good.



There are cans of Sweetwater Brewing beer —an Atlanta, Georgia, hometown 'craft' brewery, the 18th largest in the U.S., according to the [U.S.] Brewers Association— available at an 'island' just inside the front entrance to the ballpark. That's good. A few of the other concessions elsewhere in the ballpark also offer 'craft' and local beer in cans —Top of the Chop, Budweiser Pavilion (!), for example. Also good.

But forget about cups. The ballpark insists that its customers drink straight from the can.

One of the most outlandish, and to me shocking, habits of the times we live in is that of swilling down drinks from up-lifted bottles. No civilized person guzzles from a bottle if a glass or mug is available. For American advertisers to condone and actually promote such a habit is a good comment on these times when manners have been abandoned and social customs of gentlemen and ladies decried.

—Vrest Orton: 1973 [whom, I believe, if not being presumptious, would have found like ignominy straight out of cans, if drinking 'craft' beer today].

A lot of choice? Or draught 'craft' beer? Not really.

Occasionally, randomly, there might be a tap pouring 'craft' at one concession or another (at a Tomahawk Tavern, once that I noticed), but, if so, it's unbeknownst to Guest Services. (I've asked.) Good luck finding those.

Alternatively, at two self-serve kiosks —one of which is often 'down'— there is a choice for foamy Sweetwater 420 Pale Ale. (In fact so foamy, that, on repeated visits, an attendant has been forced to pour the beer and discount for foam.)

A 'craft' beer map? Ha! There is no map.

For all intents and purposes, there is little to no 'craft' draught at Turner Field. Compare this state of affairs with the situation at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., for example, where the ballpark is 'craft' beer, local-brewery, and draught-'craft'-beer friendly.

This all may be moot, however.

The Braves have played in Turner Field (aka "The Ted") since 1997. (The stadium had been built for the Olympic Games in Atlanta the year before.)

Whereas most professional sports teams these days are moving back into center cities, the Braves, at the conclusion of the 2016 season, will be abandoning Turner Field —located just south of the city's downtown— for a site twenty miles distant and nearly public-transportation-free.

It took a decade for the above-mentioned Nationals Park to welcome 'craft' beer. One can only hope that the Atlanta Cobb County Braves, in 2017, will move quicker, provisioning their new digs with local and independently-owned draught beer. It's only civilized.

-----more-----

• More photos of 'craft' beer, such that it is, at Turner Field: here.
• More photos from The Ted's final season of Major League Baseball: here.
• Beer might be a fine vegan foodstuff, but Turner Field offers few other vegetarian options.
• Nationals Park took a step backward this season, when Anheuser-Busch InBev kidnapped the Red Porch. rebranded ti the Budweiser porch and substituted most of the craft with A-B products. In the rest of the ballpark, all in all, still a craft-friendly experience.


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