Left Field Brewery

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:37 pm

+1 on the baseball branding - doing it at the right time of year, and perhaps, the best year (since the early 90s)

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:47 pm

truth be told, i read the beer descriptions while at work. just saw "brown ale". didn't see that it was oatmeal brown. so i take the safe part back.

anyways, lots of baseball geeks will be up on this beer. and to dream that it would be on tap at the Rogers' Centre? you think they'd learn about what other stadia are doing by having craft beer. but nope, it is the advertising-dollar-rich big breweries that are featured there.

ontbeermaker · Post by **ontbeermaker** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:13 pm

I am a fan of this branding as well, as am a big jays fan.

The styles sound about right to me. I hope there good.

JeffPorter · Post by **JeffPorter** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:19 pm

atomeyes wrote:truth be told, i read the beer descriptions while at work. just saw "brown ale". didn't see that it was oatmeal brown. so i take the safe part back.

anyways, lots of baseball geeks will be up on this beer. and to dream that it would be on tap at the Rogers' Centre? you think they'd learn about what other stadia are doing by having craft beer. but nope, it is the advertising-dollar-rich big breweries that are featured there.

I think you can be forgiven for initially thinking the styles are "safe" because I think the concept of "safe" might be shifting, given that trend of barrel-aged scotch ales and barley wines for introductory beers. I have high hopes for the brewery though. An Oatmeal Brown sounds nice and sessionable and well, honestly, the baseball concept just gets me excited about spring.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:20 pm

That tap handle alone should do wonders for their sales, it's pretty cool. The baseball theme has a rich potential for awesome but also cheese so we shall see. I will reserve judgment until I try the beers!

The number of new breweries, contract brewers etc. this year probably would have been enough to cause Bartowel 2005 to have a meltdown!

cmadd · Post by **cmadd** » Mon Mar 04, 2013 9:52 pm

Seems like these guys are already embedded in the community, the baseball theme is cool, and I'm excited to have more thoughtful and hardworking brewers in the beer scene of Toronto.

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:04 am

the real question:

when will the Black Oaks and Wellingstons of Ontario be at capacity and will no longer be able to accept these contract brewers?
must be getting close.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:06 am

atomeyes wrote:the real question:

when will the Black Oaks and Wellingstons of Ontario be at capacity and will no longer be able to accept these contract brewers?
must be getting close.

i see it going the other way with more people getting into the contract game, nickelbrook and grand river both contract brew now

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:26 am

matt7215 wrote:
atomeyes wrote:the real question:

when will the Black Oaks and Wellingstons of Ontario be at capacity and will no longer be able to accept these contract brewers?
must be getting close.
i see it going the other way with more people getting into the contract game, nickelbrook and grand river both contract brew now

there's currently a finite amount of brewing space/time.

also, someone should be smart, get the capital, and open a contract brewery in Toronto. just use it for the small guys. make money off of a facility, not the end product (or, if you are really smart, ask for a small % off the end product so you benefit from your contracts' successes in sales)

TheSevenDuffs · Post by **TheSevenDuffs** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:29 am

atomeyes wrote: also, someone should be smart, get the capital, and open a contract brewery in Toronto. just use it for the small guys. make money off of a facility, not the end product (or, if you are really smart, ask for a small % off the end product so you benefit from your contracts' successes in sales)

On the surface it seems like a smart idea, but good luck finding a bank to finance that project...

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 10:57 am

Funny, when a corporate multinational makes a beer, we ridicule it. When a corporate multinational entertains us, we're "fans".

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 11:16 am

TheSevenDuffs wrote:
atomeyes wrote: also, someone should be smart, get the capital, and open a contract brewery in Toronto. just use it for the small guys. make money off of a facility, not the end product (or, if you are really smart, ask for a small % off the end product so you benefit from your contracts' successes in sales)
On the surface it seems like a smart idea, but good luck finding a bank to finance that project...

Kind of happening in Houston, raised $35k+ on Kickstarter...

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681215/insi ... ncubator#1

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 1:07 pm

Cass wrote:
TheSevenDuffs wrote:
atomeyes wrote: also, someone should be smart, get the capital, and open a contract brewery in Toronto. just use it for the small guys. make money off of a facility, not the end product (or, if you are really smart, ask for a small % off the end product so you benefit from your contracts' successes in sales)
On the surface it seems like a smart idea, but good luck finding a bank to finance that project...
Kind of happening in Houston, raised $35k+ on Kickstarter...

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681215/insi ... ncubator#1

yeah. it's 2013. Kickstarter, private investors, higher-interest investment companies like CIT....

the money is there to be found. the higher the risk, the greater the interest rate. and, in this day and age, i can guarantee you that it is incredibly easy to find someone rich who thinks it would be cool and fun to invest in a microbrewery.

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 3:04 pm

I was just thinking about this, and might write a blog post for next wednesday about this. The set-up is, I was at the Keith's event last night, and the beer is pretty good. Not even "good for Keith's", it's just good. And Mad and Noisy is really good. And there will be more from the big boys. At the end of the day, they have brewers who are capable of making excellent beers. And as they realize that they need to occupy some pace in the craft niche, they will not only let them, but encourage them to make great beers. Which means actual craft brewers will need to tighten their belts somewhat. And in this, contract brewing fills an interesting space. It allows very small brewers (Left Field, Radical Road, etc) to produce beers for the market while running very lean. On balance, it gives medium sized players, like Welly, Cool, Amsterdam, Great Lakes, Black Oak, etc to have some extra reliable income, and maximize efficient use of their systems. I think this is good. In fact, I think the market (both retail and licensee) can support even more "breweries", particularly if they contract brew on other people's systems.

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:24 pm

I agree with Chris here.
The environment is more inviting for new guys to get into the game, the established crafts with facilities are, in some cases, brewing 24 hours a day now and using this extra $ to enhance and fund their own future plans...and ya, Mad & Noisy was a decent brew.

If all the bars out there that only have macro accounts right now started switching some taps over to 'macro-craft' it's still good for craft beer overall, even if it isn't real craft.

I don't think we've reached anywhere near full capacity for contract brews yet, so keep them coming!