Critic Cries in Beer Over Ballpark Brews

Nothing like downing a cold one while watching the game at the ballpark—or is there? On a beer-tasting tour of select baseball stadiums, Portfolio's connoisseur Franz Lidz found the brew generally lukewarm, with a rank aftertaste. "Nobody tastes stadium beer," said his neighbor at Shea Stadium. "It tastes like nothing."

There's never much choice beyond Bud and Miller Lite at stadiums, save for the Grolsch and draft Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen at Shea. At Chicago's Wrigley field, Lidz did detect a surprising sweetness in his $6 Budweiser—half the price of his pint at Dodger Stadium. It turns out his 7-year-old neighbor had been lacing his cup with caramel corn. (More beer stories.)