#LGM
Holly Kay and I love Citi Field. It’s 20 minutes from our apartment, has amazing food, cheap seats, a great, local craft beer selection, and, you know, sometimes (just, like, sometimes…) the Mets play some good baseball.
A few weeks ago, I saw an article by Mikkeller Beer, that said they would be brewing and canning two exclusive beers for Citi Field (I’m not sure what the connection is, or why they didn’t get an NYC brewer to do this).
Mikkeller is a Danish brewery run by Mikkel Bjorg Bjergsø, who, like his brother Jeppe, owner of Evil Twin Brewing, contract brews his beer with different breweries all over the world.
The two beers feature Mikkeller’s mascots, Henry and Sally, as “1980’s era baseball cards”. Henry Hops is a malt-forward IPA, clocking in at 6.5% ABV and Say Hey Sally is a floral, crisp Pils, a great low ABV option at 4.6%.
We bought Holly a really cute Mets beanie outside of the stadium, and headed into the stadium for some amazing Mets baseball.
I had heard that these Mikkeller beers were a bit hard to find, and Holly and I were very hungry, which complicates things (you wouldn’t like us when we’re Hangry…)
We stopped at the first Craft Beer stand we came across as we tried to find the best route to our seats (we got some amazing tickets on the Coca-Cola Corner, the artist formerly known as the Pepsi Porch, which is a great decision for Citi Field because Pepsi is garbage and Coke is the truth), and both Henry Hops and Say Hey Sally were listed on their signage, but when I asked for one, the bartender said “Not today!”, which made me nervous, thinking perhaps the WHOLE STADIUM RAN OUT ???…
As I settled on the fact that my trek to find Henry and Sally might not pan out, we looked at the scoreboard as our hunger pangs grew stronger, to find that the Mets pitcher Robert Gsellman (that’s got to be a fake name) gave up 5 runs in the first inning. At this point, we knew what we were in for.
Citi Field is awesome because, when the Mets begin to lose (which tonight, happened almost immediately), there are many distractions! Like the pretty planes flying out of Laguardia! Look at that pretty plane! Every time we see a plane, Holly says “I wish we were on that plane, and flying some place tropical!”
We decided to walk to find how to get up to our seats, and figure out what food we wanted to eat. We passed by an Empire State Craft beer stand, and I saw a glimpse of Mets orange through the frosted glass of the refrigerator… Sally, the ol’ girl, was nestled snugly between the LIC Beer Project Dutch Kills Kolsch and the Queens Brewery Lager. We snagged it as quickly as we could, and I wondered if we’d ever reunite Sally with her beloved Henry… (I’m turning this into a love story because I don’t know Sally and Henry’s relationship. Also, it makes things more dramatic, right?)
Sally was feeling lonely…
Holly suggested I ask where to find Henry Hops (I’d heard Henry was a lot harder to locate than Sally), so I asked, and the bartender said “You’ll find Henry over there, right past the nachos.” Any directions that include nachos are my favorite directions. So we followed those directions…
By the by, we still haven’t eaten. Does this highten the drama? It does, doesn’t it?
We looked to our right, and saw the nachos stand, still not knowing if we were being led astray… Our hunger growing deeper. Should we stop and munch on some delicious, gooey, cheesy nachos? No, we must push on… With each step, the dream of Henry Hops seemed further and further away (is this heightening the drama?)
Just past the nachos stand was a beer stand with 4 Blue Point Brewery draft lines, and a lineup of cans… I caught a glimpse of Mets blue in that lineup, and I knew we’d found him. Henry Hops…
“Reunited, and it feels so good…”
We heard some commotion, and saw some Mets fans spinning a wheel to win merchandise. We signed up, and Holly spun and won a Mets hand towel (HAND TOWEL!) and I won a magnetic Mets Calendar (MAGNETIC METS CALENDAR!)
Holly had claimed Sally as her own, because Say Hey Sally is the perfect baseball beer. It’s an amazing crisp, light, refreshing pils with some beautiful floral hops, that will pair with any food, without having to think too much about it. It was delicious.
#gorgeous
Henry Hops is a malt forward IPA with some piny, bitter, citrus hops that changes as it warms. When the beer is cold, the bready, biscuit malts dominate the palate, but as the game progressed, and the beer got warmer, and the Mets continued to lose (?), the hops started to dance their mango, lemon, pineapple tango we all know and love.
#handsome
The Mets were down by 5 runs in the first inning. We’d found the exclusive Mikkeller beer. We were starved. Skies were gray. We were at a baseball stadium. We found the Coca-Cola Corner…
Come on, could my wife be any cuter?
We decided since we were so hungry, we’d stop at the food stand on the Coca-Cola corner. Holly got a Nathan’s Hot Dog (NATHAN’S HOT DOG!) and fries, and I got Chicken Tenders (CHICKEN TENDERS!) and fries.
Our cousin Billy texted that he was at the game as well. We found him using technology and celebrated. It was very merry. He had won a hand towel as well (HAND TOWEL!)
#love in the time of the Mets losing
#Holly and #Sally, when Circle of Life came on at the stadium
Bathed in the stadium lights…
We found our seats. We ate our hot dog (HOT DOG!) and Chicken Tenders (CHICKEN TENDERS!). We drank a delicious Pils, and a malt forward IPA. Sally and Henry. Holly Kay and Patrick. Billy from afar. Mets baseball (who cares if they’re losing). We ate, we drank, we chanted, we got loud when the megatron told us to get loud. We kissed even though we never ended up on the kiss cam. We spotted Mr. Met. We didn’t get a tee shirt from the tee shirt cannon. I dropped my phone. It was a GREAT Wednesday night.
We’re in love (also how cute is that beanie??)!!
Until next time, y’all.
Cheers!