Nothing makes gameday better than great beer, and a great game. Any good town worth visiting has a local brewery and most cities have more than you could see in a week. New sporting venues are increasingly partnering with craft brewers to serve their ales and lagers in house, albeit at a premium. To avoid that premium and to present you with some of the best pregame brewery options, check out out this selection of some of the best breweries within walking distance of a professional sports venue.

Ex Novo Brewing to the Moda Center in Portland, OR

Opened in 2014, Ex Novo has made a name for itself very quickly in a very crowded Portland community of excellent beer makers with quality Northwest Pale Ales, IPAs and Reds. In addition to the impressive ales they offer, there is typically a very good schwarzbier on tap that comes highly recommended. It makes for a great Trail Blazers pregame spot for it’s proximity to the Moda Center, about a 14 minute walk, and because it is a very accommodating environment for both families and singles. They offer a full menu, high chairs, diaper stations in the bathrooms and tvs around the bar. Another cool thing about Ex Novo is that it is a non-profit that gives all their net profits to four charities of their choosing.

21st Amendment Brewery to AT&T Park in San Francisco, CA

21st Amendment Brewery is one of the most recognizable breweries on this list, partly because of the creative packaging that we love, but also because they make excellent brews. Their Hell or High Watermelon maybe the quintessential summertime beer, and could be considered a signature drink for a Giants game. Even if you can find 21st Amendment in your local grocery store, it’s worth visiting the brewery for the one-off batches they put out. You will be surprised by what you find. They offer excellent pub fare, so don’t even bother going to eat somewhere else before grabbing a drink here. Being a block away from AT&T park, the brewpub draws quite a crowd before games and even after, so if you get a seat, hold on to it.

Elysian Fields Brewpub to Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA

Elysian Brewing Co. has been on the scene for over 20 years now, and their creative and prolific output has helped sustain them in the NW beer market. They now have five locations in the Seattle area, but it is their recently renovated Elysian Fields space down in the stadium district that makes for the best pregame location for Seahawks and Mariners games. The beer here is excellent, the food is also good, but they can get packed before Mariners and Seahawks games.

Bad Weather Brewing Company to Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN

Whether you’re going to a Minnesota Wild game or not, Bad Weather Brewing should be a must for your next visit to the Twin Cities. But, because they offer some of the best beer in the area and offer a free shuttle to the Xcel Energy Center, if you don’t go here before a Wild game you are either lazy or just don’t appreciate good beer. If their Tippin’ It Down ESB is on tap while you’re there, it is one of the most phenomenal ESB’s you’ll ever have. If it’s not available, they have a variety of very good brews to choose.

Speciation Artisan Ales to Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park, MI

Notice that the first three entries in this post were very good breweries in close proximity to a major sports team venue. These next two breweries are so good at what they do they are worth going out of the way for, or, better yet, working into your pregame routine for a minor league event. Fifth Third Ballpark is home to the West Michigan Whitecaps, a Class A affiliate ball club of the Detroit Tigers, in Comstock Park, MI. The venue provides a fun environment for all ages to enjoy a ballgame and is known for it’s record-breaking Fifth Third Burger which contains five 1/3 lb. burger patties. As for Speciation Artisan Ales down the road, they are especially known for making many variants of fermented ales, and they maybe the best at it. They received a lot of buzz at this year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver, specifically for their Tequila Barrel-aged Incipient w/ blood orange, guava, lime & salt. If you're not going to be watching a top-level sporting event, then you should at least get to drink a top-level beer.

Modern Times Beer to Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, CA

This last brewery is our personal favorite and was a very tough call to make over the Stone Brewing Taproom at Petco Park, but if you like beer you probably know about Stone, and if you’re heading to a Padres game next summer, you couldn’t miss their taproom, it’s right outside the outfield gate. In a county with over 140 breweries, many of them world-renowned, Modern Times stands out as an exceptional microbrew. They are conveniently located a few blocks away from the home of the locally popular San Diego Gulls AHL hockey team, a minor league affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. With the Chargers gone, the Gulls are doing their best to fill the sports entertainment void in San Diego, drawing 8,000 fans per game. When multiplied by 34 home games, they’ll play before more people than the Chargers will in LA this season.

Their close proximity to Modern Times certainly helps. Modern Times Beer doubles as a coffee roaster, but that remains an anecdote to their primary craft - making very special beer. With 25 taps serving their own creations, they offer a prodigious selection that dares any beer lover to try and find one they won’t like. Good luck. Across their assortment of American IPAs, Imperial Stouts, Goses and Wilde Ales, not a single beer failed to pleasantly stimulate our taste buds. Our favorite was, by far, their American IPA collaboration with New Zealand’s Garage Project, Blam! Blam!. If there was such a thing as a beer fruit that made juice when squeezed, Blam! Blam! would be it.

Gameday Brews