Every summer there’s a lot of talk about which MLB ballpark has the best beer. The conversation usually starts when someone publishes a top ten list, which always spurs debate. Of course, as an unapologetic homer and diehard Mariners fan, I argue that Safeco Field deserves top honors. Read my post about beer at the ballpark and maybe you’ll agree.
For the 2016 season, the Mariners introduced a new way for you to find beer at the ballpark. There’s an app for that. There’s so much variety at Safeco Field that a smartphone app is required to find your favorite beer.
The Mariners and Centerplate, the folks who run the concessions at Safeco Field, know how important beer is to the people in Seattle, so they want to make it easy to navigate the vast sea of beer available at the ballpark.
This ballpark app is provided by Major League Baseball, so there’s a standard bunch of information about each ballpark, but it seems the Mariners are the only team to customized the app to include a beer finder. San Diego, Denver, San Francisco, and Philadelphia frequently make the “best ballparks for beer” lists, but those ballparks do not offer a beer finders as part of this app.
To get the app, simply go to the App Store and search for MLB Ballpark. Those of you not using iOS devices are on your own, but it should be there for you too. The MLB.com Ballpark app is free. When you first open it, you’ll need to create an account with mlb.com, which is super-easy. An email address and password is all that’s required and you can opt-out of emails and notifications, etc.
From there, select your favorite team (Seattle Mariners). The Safeco Field page will open. Scroll down to the section called Gameday Guide and tap on Beer Finder. The beers are listed alphabetically by brewery name. The locations are identified by section number.
The term “Various Vendors” refers to the beer vendors wandering the aisles. If the guy selling beer at your seat doesn’t have the beer you want, tell him. HE has the choice of what beers to carry around and he wants to carry what sells the best.
Understand that the app lists all beers, including the stuff that beer geeks typically do not like, but it does in fact tell you where in the stadium to find the beer you want. Don’t get bent out of shape just because the Beer Finder mentions things like Blue Moon and Bud Light. Those breweries/beers pay a lot of money to be MLB “partners,” so just deal with it.
$12 beers this year at Safeco are quite a buzzkill. I did learn that there are $6 16oz domestic beers available randomly in the stadium. Is there anything to help identify what beer & where this is available?
At the risk of further killing the buzz, if the price of ballpark beers is the problem, then probably nothing is going to help. Everything is expensive at professional sports stadiums. This forum focuses on craft beer and not the cheap stuff. Sorry I cannot help.