White Sox legend Minnie Minoso in an ad for Old Style Beer, a long-time Chicago Favorite. Milwaukee-made Old Style is again now available at White Sox home games.
Milwaukee-brewed Pabst beers will now be available Guaranteed Rate Field, the oh-so-stupidly named home park of the Chicago White Sox. As a part of the trend towards craft brews at big league parks, the partnership will include a number of experimental and specialty beers produced at the recently opened Pabst microbrewery at the historic Pabst complex on West Juneau Avenue. The deal will also bring a pair of “legacy” brands to the former Comiskey Park, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Style, both of which were once long-familiar offerings at ballparks across the nation.
This “invasion” of a Milwaukee brew into the Windy City is nothing new for Chicago baseball fans. Lacking a dominant local label (like Miller in Milwaukee, Budweiser in St. Louis, National Bohemian in Baltimore, Stroh’s in Detroit, etc.), the brew most closely associated with Chicago baseball was, for many decades, the La Crosse-brewed Old Style. Old Style had sponsored Cubs baseball for more than half a century when it was pushed aside by Budweiser in 2013. Bud had been a long-term sponsor of the White Sox when Miller took over in the mid-1980s. That partnership ended earlier this year when the club announced a new deal with the Mexican brewer Modelo (owned by the same parent company as Bud).
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So, while such a deal is good news for the local brewery, it is not so earth-moving as, say, a Milwaukee beer invasion of Busch Stadium in St. Louis would be, or as the rumored bid that Budweiser made for the naming rights to what eventually became Miller Park.
In addition to bringing the grandpa-preferred brands of Old Style and PBR to the Sox fans, the Pabst kiosk will feature the Nor’ Eastie Boys IPA and Sticky Fingers Honey Wheat, with additional brews to be added as the season goes (or in the case of the last place Sox, drags) on. “We are always exploring opportunities to enhance the White Sox fan experience, and our variety of beer options, including craft beers, is a major piece in that process,” said Brooks Boyer, senior VP of sales and marketing for the club.
“We are thrilled to expand our Chicago footprint with the White Sox, both in terms of craft and legacy brands and classics like Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Style,” added John Kimes, head brewer at the Pabst Milwaukee Brewery.
The Pabst brands are currently the White Sox “Beer of the Homestand” for their matchups with the Athletics, Rangers and Yankees through July 2.
