Kennywood applies for beer permit

coasterqueenTRN said:

I rarely buy beer at amusement parks but a nice cold Yuengling Lager with my Patch fries sounds pretty awesome.

I can only assume it will be Yuengling. ;)

-Tina

You're assuming that Fun Festival will spring for a craft beer. It's more than likely it'll be Budweiser, Miller or even Iron City. Whoever will cut them the best deal.

Erm, Yuengling isn't a craft beer. It might be a smaller brewery than the big 3, but they're stil quite large, regionally. I believe in 2011, they produced 2.5 million barrels. While that is well under the 6 million that would define them as a macro brewer, they still produce an adjunct based lager to the table as their main brew, which right there disqualifies them for craft status, per the brewer's association.

Edited to clarify a bit

Let the beer snobbery begin!

Under the definition yes Yuengling isn't a craft beer, similarly so is Karl Strauss (which started out as a brew pub in San Diego) in the same catagory. Either one of them is far superior to the crap that the big three produces, (and don't get me started about that Colorado pisswater either).

To continue with the beer nerdery, Karl Strauss only brewed 32,175 barrels at their main brewery in 2009 and has a number of smaller brew pubs. I consider them a craft brewer. I really wish they would open a location at Universal Orlando, it's the only thing missing from Citywalk.

Not that I don't love Yuengling now and then, but honestly, I prefer Bud heavy (beer geek's name for AB Budweiser) if I'm going for and adjunct lager on a hot day, or if I'm outside at a sporting event or concert.

I'm more inclined to reach for an IPA on most occasions than anything else, but my guilty pleasure is a good, cold Budweiser. I was even shocked by the Bud Light Platinum when I tasted it. I thought it was way better than regular Bud Light.

My favorite craft brewery, Dogfish Head, stepped up their production in 2011 and was able to release 120,000 barrels. Previously, they were at 96,000. Yuengling was actually considered a Macro brewer up until this year when the criteria for craft beer was increased from less than 2 million, to less than 6 million barrels. (I believe the Boston beer company had something to do with this change, so they could keep their status.)

Russian River is another favorite of mine, and they're brewing on Dogfish's old 50-barrel setup for retail/release (can't seem to find barrel production data on that one) and then a micro setup at their pub which produces 3000 barrels a year.

Regardless of their status, Yuengling is currently the largest and oldest American owned brewery.

Top 50 Breweries by volume, both craft and overall.

Thank you 8.3

Nice to see that in writing. It's sad that I've had at least one beer from ea h of those breweries, almost, anyway.

I love the comments. Talk about airing your ignorance. Note: all comments are directly copied and pasted, spelling errors and all.

"There is no reason for this except to make a buck !!" And all the rides are there for charity?

"A family park shouldn't be serving beer or any other substances." Um, soda, cotton candy and fried potatoes are substances too, aren't they?

"The kids have to get in the car with unresponsible parents on the way home that may have been drinking a little to much," You got it all wrong. "Unresponsible" parents will leave their kids locked in the basement at home while they go out drinking. Why waste good beer money on amusement park rides?

"Do you really think they want "mommy or daddy" to come along with them to Kennywood, only to have them cop out on all the fun to go sit in the "Beer Garden". Even that name sounds stupid...trying to gamorize it with a oh so pretty name." I can hear mommy and daddy now, "Please kids, let us come along with you to Kennywood, so we can get s***-faced." And, oh blame Germany for that stupid name.

"It's probably just a money-making ploy." What is it with all these business expecting to make a profit? Although ploy does make it sound more sneaky and under-handed.

I bet you there are any number of church festivals, union picnics, and other things going on all around the Pittsburgh region where kids go and they sell beer. But this is a "furrin-owned" business, so it has to be bad.

I get where some of the people are coming from but it's mostly all overreaction and ignorance. I have a lot of these saved in a blog post that I have saved as a draft.

Do you really think they want "mommy or daddy" to come along with them to Kennywood, only to have them cop out on all the fun to go sit in the "Beer Garden". Even that name sounds stupid...trying to gamorize it with a oh so pretty name.

This one has to be one of my favorites. Yes, Kennywood made up the name "beer garden" to glamorize it.

eightdotthree said:

...draft.

I see what you did there.

People who are against this probably have had a problem with alcoholism in their family. While I understand why someone would be against this, I certainly understand that not everyone is an irresponsible drinker. I'm sure park security will be on top of the very rare publicly inebriated troublemakers.

I ate at The Mellow Mushroom in Pigeon Forge a few days ago. They offered a family atmosphere, and a (GASP!) bar that served alcohol. Adults can still be good parents while enjoying a beer with their pizza.

Everywhere you go in the area outside of Eat N' Park and Kings has beer on the menu. I don't know what world these people live in.

Not sure how I feel about it. I have yet to find a day when Kennywood isn't packed to the gills with people. To be honest, as many people leave that park angry as happy. Not because of anything the park does wrong, just due to the crowds and subsequent hour plus waits for most popular rides. Not sure alcohol is going to improve the over-all mood that goes along with that.

Although, I suppose the lines could go quicker if people need to drop out to use the facilities, LOL.

I will be curious to see if they enforce the designated areas here any better than they do at their sister waterpark, Sandcastle.

While I've not really seen anybody get out of hand, Sandcastle has a designated adult area but people routinely leave the area, livations in tow.

Most days you will find them with their pitcher of whatever floating around the lazy river. Just not sure that it's safe to assume that it will be enforced there, either.

If not, sooner or later, with that many people wandering around, it's safe to assume that underage drinking is going to be an issue.

I didn't find the article so I didn't read any of the details of how they intend to do this. In general, I don't think it's an awful idea if enforced and regulated properly.

I highly suggest, though, that they limit the per person sales somehow.

I think the comments are idiotic. Yes, Kennywood is a family park, but not all "families" consist of young kids that aren't at the age of consumption. As a parent, when I visit a park with the kids I don't drink. Same goes for a restaurant, ball game, picnic, party, etc. That's my choice and honestly parents who are supposed to be supervising their kids in public shouldn't be drinking either.

On the flip side if I'm somewhere without the kids, I'll have a drink. I don't speak for all parents of kids but a good majority seem to do the same thing. Yes, there are a few who think its okay to drink in front of their kids. But whatever.

I don't get the backlash against a family amusement park for selling beer when "family" places like ball fields or restaurants can do it.

Out of all the arguments/explanaitions/opinions on beer at parks, I really like yours, Rob.

Probably because it comes closest to my own views. :)

The thing about drinking beer is that you don't have to get drunk every time you drink it.

TJinPgh said:
While I've not really seen anybody get out of hand, Sandcastle has a designated adult area but people routinely leave the area, livations in tow.

Neither have I which leads me to believe it's not an issue. Don't tell this person that there is beer at Sandcastle though.

Please don't ruin it for the kids by having drunks walking around in the park learing at the teenage girls! I think this would be a huge mistake. You are just asking for there to be problems with fights with people who can't handle their liquor and other issues!

Better watch out, once I hit the devil's juice I become a child predator.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having a drink in front of the kids. It's pretty common for me to have a beer at or after dinner at home. I rarely drink when I'm with the family in public places, but that's usually because I don't feel like having a drink, not because I think it's immoral or will be a detriment to the kids in the future.

My parents never drank when my brothers and I were kids, for similar reasons--they just didn't like it. They did smoke in front of us, in the house, all the time. While I would never have smoked around my kids (times have changed considerably), I don't blame them for me picking up the habit years later. That was my own stupidity, and they had long since quit. So have I, thankfully.

Oh lord. People are so ignorant.

Beer isn't going to turn people into raging frat boys. It's pretty light on the alcohol for the most part. As an example, Bud light is the most popular beer in North America, and it's 4.2% alcohol. It's not like people are going to be pounding back a liter of Jack Daniels, then going and getting on the scrambler. Really, for beers that are creeping closer to 9/10/12%, you're not going to find that on mass-market amusement-park draft.