Seattle Mariners Offer Up Best Beer Selection In The Majors

According to a recent story on the Washington Post, Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, offers up the best selection of beer in the Major Leagues. For those who have been to a game at the Safe, this is no surprise.

However, it is something that Mariners fans can now wear proudly as they put their pints under the best beers in baseball.

According to the story:

"Our rankings determine the overall status of beer available in each MLB stadium by considering three factors. Quality is determined by the number of beers ranked “very good” or better, according to BeerAdvocate.com. Locality is how many breweries represented are based in the same state as the team. Uniqueness is the number of breweries available only at one MLB stadium. Each of these rankings is given equal weight.The beer lists were submitted by MLB teams or their concessionaires during the first three months of this season; many teams slightly alter their offerings as the season goes on."

So for the Mariners, they ranked 1st in locality, 4th in quality and 1st in uniqueness. Locality should come as no surprise as Seattle lies in the Pacific Northwest, a hot bed for microbreweries and other craft beers.

The five highest-rated beers that Safeco offers are Workhorse IPA (Laurel Public House & Brewery, Portland, OR), Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA (Sierra Nevada Brewing CO., Chino, CA), Summer Ale (Fremont Brewing Company, Seattle), Field 41 (Bale Breaker Brewing, Yakima, WA.), and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada Brewing).

Photo Credit: Dan Hughes

Being 4th in quality is nothing to be ashamed of. The San Diego Padres had the 3rd-highest quality, but lacked uniqueness and locality, and finished 8th. Cleveland and Cincinnati tied for the top spot in quality. The Indians offer up three beers with world-class ratings (Safeco offers none) and the Reds offer one as well.

Still, the overall balance of Safeco’s offerings gives it the top spot. Traditional cities you might think of for beer (Milwaukee, Denver and St. Louis) finished 12th, 14th and 20th respectively.

Coming in last overall was Yankee Stadium. Their highest-rated beer is a “good” Honker’s Ale out of Chicago. It makes sense if you think about it. The Mariners were for many years, trying to find ways – other than the on field product – to get fans in the gates. The Yankees have a rich tradition and history (of buying talent) and fans don’t need a gimmick to come to the park.

Now that Seattle is winning on the field, the top-rated beer garden is just an even more attractive side note.

So, next time you head down to the SoDo District to take in an M’s game, hold your head up high and give your top-rated beer vendors a try.