There’s no shortage of great occasions for beer-drinking here in Milwaukee, and each one of them is special in their own way. There’s the beer garden pint, the post-yard work and after-shoveling brew, the block party or festival foamer, the beach beer, the Friday evening decompressor, the cold one at a cookout or on a patio, the happy hour drink, and the list goes on and on and on. For our money, one of the most special—and yes, one of the most specific—circumstantial beers one can enjoy in Milwaukee is that last beer you drink as you make the walk from the ballpark parking lot to American Family Field.
From late March through usually just the first two games of the postseason, thousands upon thousands (if not over a million, if you really crunch the numbers) partake in this unofficial ritual of mobile drinking that occurs in the few-minute span of time before going to a baseball game. No matter if you’ve been tailgating since the gates opened, you’re sitting in lawn chairs outside your car for a short spell before crossing the bridge, you’re arriving via bar shuttle, or you’re just parking and walking right in with the hope of being in your seat in time for first pitch, there’s a non-zero chance you’re clutching a can, bottle, or cup and squeezing in sips as you make your way to The Keg.
Just as humans walk at different paces, many of us drink at different rates. Depending on how fast or slowly you do either thing, double-fisting might be possible (though not recommended) for some, while other speed walkers and/or slow sippers will reluctantly decide to tap out and recycle the remainder of their beverage in a bin beside their chosen gate. Even if you don’t finish the whole thing, the Walking Beer™ still makes economical sense. As they say, “you can’t afford not to!”
You see, once you bypass the metal detectors and get your ticket scanned, drink prices suddenly skyrocket. The cold one from your cooler that averages out to between 65 cents a can—shout out to Hamm’s—and usually $1-3 per unit in the instance of craft beer runs $11 at minimum…often even more than that (plus tip) when purchased in direct proximity to a professional sporting event. It’s also worth noting the selection shrinks from literally anything on earth that you decide to buy to just a handful of options on draft and in cans once at the game itself.
While, to be perfectly clear, we’re neither knocking the brands AmFam Field sells nor are we saying you shouldn’t buy beverages once inside, the almighty Walking Beer helps stretch your dollar (at least ideally) by adding a little more space and time between your last tailgating drink and your first in-game purchase. It helps settle your nerves before a must-win playoff game begins. And it’s kind of just a fun extra aspect of the Milwaukee Brewers game experience that, despite rarely being talked about, is quietly very common. All beers are special in their own way, but to use an already-dated term that sort of applies to baseball, that beer you drink on the walk to American Family Field just hits different.
That beer you drink on the walk to American Family Field: UNDAUNTED.
