Beer-related despair for yet another year at Louisville Slugger Field.

It’s more of the same for beer fans at this year’s Louisville Bats games, which take place at Louisville Slugger Field. The excellence of the venue still sharply contrasts with the low-common-denominator character of concessions choices, with many of the food and drink trends noted at minor league ballparks across the country still absent in Louisville.



Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and … mediocre Dutch lager brought to you by one of the world’s largest brewing conglomerates?



If you don't favor the Dutch variety, there's always a mediocre Belgian one, and a mediocre German, and Mexican ... and Kona, a “Hawaiian” beer actually made by Widmer in the Pacific Northwest*. At least one reference credited it to "USA." Hardly a grand slam in the sense of geography, but then again, why confuse the pablum?



IPA from India? Nah, that’s just what the other side of the chalkboard said. Actually, it was Redhook’s IPA.



Just to get a draft Redhook, one must walk all the way from the main stands to the tent in center field, which is rather far away from the demographic most likely to purchase … but when Philistinism is the dominant motif, that’s what you get.

As always has been the case, it all comes down to revenue derived from product placement, and that huge Anheuser-Busch sign in right field functions much the same way that statues of Soviet soldiers did in Occupied Eastern European capitals: They reminded a person who was really in charge.

--

* Original reference to Redhook in New England has been edited. See comment below.