The plan was to head to Coors Field, grab some tickets to see the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers, stop in the stadium's SandLot Brewery for a quick beer and sandwich, and enjoy the game. Things started off well when a few steps from the Wynkoop we ran into a scalper selling tickets for $5 each. They would soon get even better.
When we walked into the SandLot we were greeted by a young woman who was screening visitors for some research that was going on for the Blue Moon brand, which was first brewed at SandLot before being launched nationally by Coors. We were ushered into a screened off area where they served each of us three beers in plastic cups and gave us a form to complete. Each of the beers was well made and had a cloudy pumpkin pie-like color. One, which was my favorite had a fruity raspberry or cherry flavor. If the folks behind Blue Moon want to keep the brand close the Belgian theme started with the original, I'd recommend they do the fruit beer.
After enjoying these free beers, I asked if either Tom Hail or John Legnard, the brewing minds behind the place, were around. We were directed to the basement area where beer brewed at SandLot is always aging. There we found both Tom and John, along with another SandLot brewer, Bill Hasse, talking to a couple of guests. They had a pigstail connected to one of the tanks. A pigstail allows a brewer to sample product while it ages. Our hosts were nice enough to give us tastes of several of the freshest beers on the planet. The Pils was crisp and a beautiful golden color, while a Doppelbock was a wonderful malty beer.
We chatted with the brewers and found out that the SandLot is now only open when the Rockies play. You need a ticket to get inside, but it's worth the effort. The rest of the year, SandLot is still brewing, producing about a third of all of the Blue Moon that is sold in Colorado.
We ended up missing the first three innings of the game, but had a ball. By the way, the Dodgers won the game 6-4.
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