Better Ballpark Brews For Parkview Field?
Beer on hold at ballpark
ABC yet to grant city liquor license
Link (JG)
“The lack of a quorum of the local Alcoholic Beverage Commission prevented the city from being able to obtain a liquor license for the new ballpark. Board member Mark Joseph missed the meeting to attend a funeral and member George Guido missed the meeting to take the bar exam.
The local board likely would have been unable to grant immediate permission to serve alcohol anyway, because John Kalb plans to remonstrate against granting the city the license. Kalb, a staunch opponent of the Harrison Square project, said he had concerns with the city holding the liquor license.
The city’s agreement with Hardball Capital, owner of the Fort Wayne TinCaps, called for the baseball team to acquire the permit. Greg Leatherman, executive director of redevelopment, said it made more sense for the city to get the license at a substantial discount to save money for the project. Having the city hold the license would also mean that the city’s ability to serve alcohol wouldn’t be affected by a change in ownership.
“This is the city’s because if (Hardball) goes away, we keep the license,” he said.”
[...]“If the license is granted, fans should expect a wider variety of alcohol at Parkview Field than was served at Memorial Stadium, according to Bill Lehn, director of food and beverages for the TinCaps.
Lehn said they are in talks with Granite City and Mad Anthony breweries to provide beer at the stadium. A full upscale bar is being installed in the luxury suite section of the stadium. He added there will be at least twice as many places to buy concessions than at Memorial Stadium, meaning shorter waits in line.”
Why stop at Granite City and Mad Anthony?
There are plenty more great breweries located across Indiana and also in southern Michigan.
Greg Leatherman now says (as I predicted would happen after Hardball makes their millions) that Hardball is likely to leave within three years (the 1st renewal anniversary for the permit)? Well, I sure hope he’s right.
And, Ben L. is assuming that the Fort Wayne Redevelopment Authority (NOT THE CITY OF FORT WAYNE) will be granted their permit. I guess he knows exactly how the local Allen County Alcoholic Beverage Board will vote on the application on March 16. And how the State Board will vote down in Indianapolis on March 17, with or without an appeal hearing, if necessary, after the State board’s decision. This could take another 3 to 4 weeks which puts it at mid-April after Easter.
So Hardball Capital is so broke that they can’t afford the cost of getting the permit? Wow, are they tight – or are they just taking us taxpayers for a continuing “ride”,(at our expense, of course)?
wait. so will there be alcohol at the stadium or not? I’m confused…
It almost seems as though John is trying to get out of his obligation to buy beers for me and my brother and Sam Talarico on opening day :-)
And, the permit at the Coliseum & Memorial Park is owned by the Board of Control of the Coliseum, NOT Allen County ( and not some Mickey-Mouse entity set up to circumvent the Indiana State Constitutional limitation on governmental indebtedness – read, “Fort Wayne Redevelopment Authority”)
Scott – Hey, you are correct on that!!
John,
Scott and I have been hoping to see you at opening day for quite some time.
We’ve been waiting for a group photo since your comments first started arriving on the old site in early 2007.
Let’s hope for Mad Anthony beer in time. A complimentary Bud/Miller/Coors isn’t exactly a prize worthy of years-long discussions…hah.
If you are boycotting ticket sales, I’ll buy you one. Tickets are now on sale. Let me know.
Brian – I am stopping down at the Grand Wayne today to buy my ticket for opening day, but thanks for the offer.
Better hurry. I’m looking at tickets online and it looks like everything is sold out except for the lawn seats so far.
Just logged on the Tin Caps website and purchased tickets for the debut weekend. The site was easy to navigate, and the tickets are reasonalby priced.
The highlight of the game will be seeing John Kalb out on the field on opening day. I’ve heard he can dance a pretty good jig to Gary Glitter’s ” HEY !” song.
Got my tickets.. lost my first set while looking for field box… ended up with great seats in the HR deck. Looking forward to the game and seeing everyone. Within 8 minutes it was almost impossible to find 4 seats together.
What about local brewery Warbird Brewery?
Here’s to hoping that the guys do this RIGHT, and include Warbird and Mad Anthony among the choices on tap!! Also sticking with the apples theme of the whole ballpark, how about some Woodchuck Cider?? Mike Nutter I hope you are reading this!