GRILLS & GEAR - FOOD & DRINK - FANS & THRILLS
Spring 2015
SUMMER BEER DRINK SOMETHING NEW
TAILGATE WITH
THE BREW CREW Meet:
The Chicken Salad Chick www.insidetailgating.com
SCIENCE OF
WOOD PELLET GRILLS
ON THE COVER
24 Milwaukee Brewers
GRILLS & GEAR
Spring Breaks Breaks can be good or bad. Recovering from two surgeries related to a broken ankle and leg is a bad break. Going to the beach on spring break with my family is a good break. Going to Las Vegas in May to enjoy the scene around the Floyd Mayweather—Manny Pacquiao fight is a great break. (FYI, the Kentucky Derby, NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, NFL draft, World Championship of Golf and the Cinco de Mayo parties are all going on that weekend as well.) In this issue, we feature some good ideas for taking good breaks. Catch the scene at a Milwaukee Brewers game, head to a NASCAR event at Dover, enjoy new varieties of chicken salad, pick up a brand new Wood Pellet Grill, and try some new recipes along with a cold beverage of your choice. To quote rap legend, Kurtis Blow, from “The Breaks” “Breaks run cold and breaks run hot
5 Wood Pellet Grills It’s Science 11 Let’s Roll Rollors 12 The Brow is Back! Winnebago Goes Retro with The Brave
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FOOD & DRINK
16 The Chicken Salad Chick 20 Summer Beers 22 Beer Marinated Flank Steak Making marinade with Firestone Walker’s Parabola Imperial Stout
Some folks got ‘em and some have not
FANS & THRILLS
30 Must Go: Dover International Raceway 34 ATL Championships
But these are the breaks Break it up, break it up, break it up! Break down!” I hope your breaks “run hot” while “break it down” at home, in the bars and in the lots this spring!
you
Stacey “Lil Big” Moore Publisher @LilBig02
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5 INSIDE TAILGATING IS PRODUCED BY TAILGATING VENTURES, LLC:
FOR MARKETING AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, CONTACT:
W. STACEY MOORE III: Managing Director smoore@insidetailgating.com 704-595-7603
W. STACEY MOORE III: Managing Director smoore@insidetailgating.com
DESIGN & PRODUCTION BY Fiddlehead Studio & Press:
MICHAEL KEAN: Business Development michael@insidetailgating.com
Joanna Buono: Art Director joannambuono@gmail.com
CARROLL ROGERS: Content Director carroll@insidetailgating.com
For information about distribution, newsstand sales or investment and franchise opportunities, please contact Stacey Moore at smoore@insidetailgating.com. Inside Tailgating Volume 3, Issue 6, Spring 2015, Copyright© 2015 by Tailgating Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited. Inside Tailgating™ is the trademark of Tailgating Ventures, LLC. Printed in the United States of America.
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Wood Pellet Grills > Rollors > Winnebago Goes Retro
Grills&Gear
WOOD PELLET
by Stacey Moore (Twitter: @LilBig02)
GRILLS U
—IT’S SCIENCE
sually the first and most important question when buying a grill is this: charcoal or propane. Why not wood pellet? Grills that use wood pellets as the primary cooking fuel have come a long way since the 1980s. Ron Burgundy (Anchorman) might say, “Wood pellet grills are better…It’s science.” The science behind wood pellet grills, as well as the flavor attributes they create, make them a viable alternative to charcoal and gas grills. They’re eco-friendly too!
Some of the best reasons to own and cook with a Wood Pellet Grill? Temperature Control • The digital controllers work much like an oven in a
home. Depending on the grill, you can cook in temperatures in five-degree increments from 180 to 700 degrees. Choose to go slow and low, hot and fast, or stairstep along the way. And you can cook at temperature, at 225 degrees for example, in any weather conditions. Some wood pellet grills come with manual controllers that just go Low – Med – Hi, but why not just go digital? Set it and Forget it.
Convection and Cooking Versatility • Almost all pellet grills provide
indirect heat and work similarly to a convection oven. If you like to use a rotisserie on the grill, you don’t need to mess with that here. Cook large slabs of meat evenly and easily on all sides. Grill, smoke, braise, roast, bake and barbeque. The only limit to what you can do on a wood pellet grill is your imagination.
Taste and Flavors • The wood pellets provide both the fuel and the flavor.
There is no need to add any wood chips. There are many different varieties of pellets. Traeger, the godfather of wood pellet grills, sells eight different varieties under its brand: Hickory, Mesquite, Apple, Oak, Cherry, Pecan, Maple and Alder. The lower the temperature, the more smoke flavor in the food. Get really creative and become a pellet mixologist by combining different flavors. Play around with temperatures and pellet flavors to have something flavorful and unique at every tailgate.
Clean Energy • Wood pellets have no additives or fillers in them. If they get wet, they turn to sawdust. When they burn, there is very little ash left over so you can use the grill many times before cleaning out the burn pot.
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GRILLS&GEAR Meathead Goldwyn from AmazingRibs. com has a great explanation for how pellet grills work. And with a name like Meathead, he’s got instant
cred for knowing his stuff about grilling. He writes: “Bottom line: It’s all about control. And convenience. Oh yeah, taste, too. Set it and forget it. Great flavor. No brainer. Pellet burners are a real revolution.” Here are five key components that make the pellet grill work. They should be considered carefully when deciding which grill to buy.
1. Hopper. The hopper connects to
the grill and stores the pellets. Size does matter because it is important to understand how many pounds of pellets are needed for any particular cooking plan. A smaller hopper could mean that the pellets may run out before the food is done and nobody wants that to happen. Pellet consumption per hour can vary based on the grill and temperature settings.
2. Auger. The auger rotates and feeds
the pellets into the burn pot. The speed at which the auger rotates is determined by the temperature controller. Having a high quality auger that will not jam up or quit working is very important. Before buying any pellet grill, know the troubleshooting protocol because if the auger don’t work, the grill don’t work.
3. Auto Start and Fan. Like a gas
5. Structure and Materials. As with any grill, materials used on the inside
are important. Pay attention to materials used for grill grates, box insulation and the hood. These materials can impact the long-term durability of the grill, along with pellet consumption and the evenness of cooking.
grill, an auto-start button will be pressed to ignite the pellets. A fan blows to feed them oxygen and then the igniter will turn off. Most grills initially require 300 watts of power, which is important to know for a generator or outlet capacity. After a few minutes, the power required drops down to 50 watts, the equivalent of the power needed to light a household light bulb.
4. Burn Pot and Deflector Plate. These components work together
to create and distribute the heat. When it comes to making the convection process work correctly and consistently, the quality of the materials is important and so is how they are used. The burn pot is usually the size of half of a beer can. It’s where pellets are fed from the auger and burned. The deflector is placed above the burn pot to absorb the heat and spread it out below the cooking surface. Not only does this create the convection-oven process, it prevents flame-ups.
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GRILLS&GEAR There are a wide variety of wood pellet grills available for purchase. The selection can vary quite a bit in terms of size and quality.
Max Good, a contributor to AmazingRibs.com, has tested more than 50 wood pellet grills and smokers. To get his technical report, check out their website. In the meantime, here are eight great options, categorized by their functionality and entertainment value.
For the Lots
Rec Tec Mini 300 >> >>
The RT-300 Mini is a great tailgating grill option for those who want to take the ease, convenience and flavor of cooking with a pellet grill to a tailgating lot. The folding legs make it compact enough to fit into any SUV, truck or car with a large trunk. One person can easily wheel this grill around and set it up by either unfolding the legs or using it as a table top. The pellet hopper can hold up to 18 pounds of wood pellets, which is more than enough for those who like it slow and low or high and fast. The temperature can range from 180 to 500 degrees and can be adjusted in five-degree increments for precise cooking. (www.rectecgrills.com)
<< << Green Mountain Davy Crockett
The â&#x20AC;&#x153;King of the Wild Frontierâ&#x20AC;? has had a tailgater grill named after him. This small grill weighs 68 pounds and has more than 200 square inches of cooking surface. It has a remote control feature that allows you to control temperature in five-degree increments from a tailgate chair using your smartphone. It also has three power adapters so you can plug it into a cigarette lighter or a car battery, in addition to a regular outlet. It has a two-piece drip pan to create its open-flame technology which is great for searing. (www.greenmountaingrills.com)
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GRILLS&GEAR
Visibly Fun Smokin Brothers “Barn-B-Que” >> >>
The Smokin Brothers have a history of family cooking and farming. These Missouri boys decided to make their own grills and created the “Barn-BQue” as a tribute to both their family heritage and to hard-working farmers everywhere. With 792 square inches of cooking surface, you can feed your share of hard-working farmers too. A key differentiator for Smokin Brothers is that their grills have center smoke exhaust instead of the more traditional exhaust on the side. (www.smokinbrothers.com)
<< << Traeger Lil’ Pig
Traeger, the original creator of wood pellet grills, has designed a grill that looks a pig, complete with three-dimensional eyelashes. Awwwwww what a cute grill. This is a great conversation piece for the backyard or put it on a trailer or truck bed to take to the lots. The cooking surface is more than 425 square inches, which is plenty of room to cook for an average-sized party. (www.traegergrills.com)
Big Boss Louisiana-Grills Country Smokers Super Hog >> >>
The Louisiana-Grills company is based in Canada—ironically—and has been making wood pellet grills almost as long as their neighbor, Traeger. They revamped the Country Smokers line of grills in 2014. The Super Hog is like having two grills in one. It has dual temperature controllers, dual hoppers, dual meat probes and dual lids. It comes with a removable divider and three levels for cooking, creating 3,105 square inches of cooking area. That’s room for about 200 burgers. You can feed your entire neighborhood. (www.louisiana-grills.com)
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GRILLS&GEAR
Unique Designs Traeger PTG >> >>
The most unique feature about this grill is the price. For less than $300, this small grill with just under 200 square inches of cooking surface can give you that wood pellet grill flavor and versatility. At just 40 pounds, it is easy to carry around. And the low profile makes it easy to store or to sit on top of any table. Obviously not great for big tailgate parties, but it can be a great second grill to smoke some fish or cook appetizers for a large group. If you like to tailgate at your truck or RV with four people, this could be the ticket. (www.traegergrills.com)
<< << Fast Eddyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s by Cookshack PG500
If the cool name alone doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sell you, the unique features might. Fast Eddy, a successful competition cooker, partnered with Cookshack to create a design that allows for multi-zone cooking. It brings commercial charbroiling to the average griller. Zone 1 is directly above the fire pot to provide the hottest area that is great for searing steaks. Zone 2 works more like a traditional convection grill. The convection actually happens from the top down rather than the bottom up with this design. It has some other cool features for cold-smoking and easy cleaning. Our only knock on it is that it should come with an autographed picture from Fast Eddy himself. (www.cookshack.com)
Yoder YS1500 >> >>
Yoder is a well-respected brand among competitive cooks and pitmasters. If you consider yourself a full-fledged pitmaster, or at least want to make a statement, the Yoder YS1500 should be on the shopping list. This grill weighs in at over 650 pounds and has a 1,500-square-inch cooking area. Yoder is best known for its integrated heat management system (HMS). The HMS gives the pitmaster outstanding temperature control from side to side, making it easy to grill for a large group and serve everyone at the same time. This grill is mounted on a competition cart with 10-inch pneumatic tires. Check the color choices to match your favorite team. (www.yodersmokers.com)
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GRILLS&GEAR
Let’s Roll T
by Stacey Moore (Twitter: @LilBig02)
he roots of the popular phrase “Let’s Roll” can be traced back to the 1908 cadence song, “The Army Goes Rolling Along.” It seems fitting then that U.S. Army veteran Matt Butler would dream up a game called Rollors during downtime of overseas deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. The man on a mission made his vision a reality with the help of some veterans possessing top-notch woodworking skills. Matt has successfully navigated the start-up waters, and people are picking up the game online and in stores.
The color that is the closest to its goal scores. That color gets the points for all rollors that are closer than the closest competing color. Rollors outside of a five-foot radius do not score. There is no scoring if all the rollors are outside five feet or both colors are the same distance to the goal.
What is Rollors? It is best described as a combination of Horseshoes and Bocce. There are three red and three blue wooden discs that have point values on each side of the disc. These discs are rolled, similar to a bowling motion, to a small wooden goal that is placed 25 feet away. According to the official rules, the blue color goes first and rolls to the blue goal—we would suggest arm wrestling or a simple coin flip to be fair about who goes first. During the round, the players will alternate rolls until all three of each colored discs have been rolled to the goal. There is a rule that the disc must touch the ground within four feet of the release to prevent anyone from trying to throw a disc like a Frisbee or blindly doing an over-the-head type of toss. Please pay attention to that rule and avoid using a roller as a Weapon of Mass Destruction.
The score is calculated as follows: • A rollor that is flat gets the points that are showing
• A rollor that is on its edge gets the points on both sides
• A rollor that is leaning against the goal gets double the points that are showing
The color that scores throws first in the next round. A game is played to 21 and won by two. To see some alternative rules and purchase a set for under $50, visit the Rollors website, www.rollors.com. LET’S ROLL!!!!
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GRILLS&GEAR
THE BROW
Winnebago IS BACK! Goes Retrowith
The Brave
F
ollowing in the footsteps of American automakers that have gone retro with their muscle cars, Winnebago has brought back the Eyebrow, the Flying W and a classic body shape to create a retro looking RV with forward-thinking features and comforts. The current Winnebago Braves and Itasca Tributes draw inspiration from Braves and Chieftains that were American RV icons 50 years ago. Back then those RVs cost about $4,000; today they’re between $75,000 and $125,000. For those tailgaters who want to make a statement without saying a word, this is an ideal RV. There aren’t any RVs this size and at this price range that can make the fashion statement of the Brave.
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by Stacey Moore (Twitter: @LilBig02) Winnebago currently offers three different sizes and floor plans for the Brave 26C, 27A and 31C. The 31C comes with two slides to give over 50 cubic feet of extra living space. One of the slides is almost full length down the driver’s side of the RV. This gives more space for the living area, kitchen area, bedroom and even the toilet. That is not a misprint: the bathroom is a split design with the shower on one
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side and the toilet on the other. The slide extends the wall space in the toilet area to give extra room around the sink and the toilet. Sliding privacy doors on the front and back of the split design give various options for both privacy and function. For a smaller-sized RV, the Brave has really good storage capacity and a large automatic outdoor awning that works great for tailgating. There is a large passthrough storage area in the back for tents, chairs tables and Cornhole boards. There is another small pass-through storage area in the middle. The doors open out and not up, which is another nice feature. The storage inside has great cabinet space. The cabinets over the seating area slide instead of opening up. This prevents doors from blocking light and makes it easier to store long items. The cockpit is a simple classic design with some high tech features. An aluminum rail on the top of the dashboard has a monitor that serves as the back-up camera and GPS. The rail enables the monitor to slide over the passenger area so that the co-pilot can program an address and then slide it back over for the pilot to follow. That is pretty sweet! The co-pilot area also has a pull-out table for a tablet or laptop. The cockpit has an automatic drop-down bed for additional sleeping.
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GRILLS&GEAR
HERE ARE 10 PLAYLIST SONGS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED: Light My Fire—The Doors My Generation—The Who Bad Moon Rising—CCR In keeping with the throwback theme, the lounge area offers interior cabinet choices called “Cherry Cola” and “Cream Soda.” In the 31C, there is a sofa that turns into a bed and a dinette that can also double as another sleeping area. Three to six people can sleep (figure best not to put the word crash and RV in the same context? no fun, i know!) in the front area alone, depending on their sizes. By far the coolest feature in the lounge is the buffet area next to the dinette and under the window. That area hides a 46-inch flat screen TV which pops up with a push of a button. All the windows have MCD blackout roller shades to give maximum privacy and eliminate outside light when needed. The galley features a full-size residential refrigerator with an icemaker. It is powered by a 2000-watt inverter and three deep-cycle batteries. The dual stainless steel sink has a pull-out spring neck faucet that is more and more common in residential homes. The cabinets feature frosted panel inserts to give a diner feel to the kitchen area. It has a built-in microwave above the range, which has both a cooktop and an oven. There are two secret fold-out shelves that provide extra space for spices and sauces when tailgating.
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This retro RV comes in five exterior and four interior color schemes. On the outside there is Woodstock, Mellow Yellow, Crimson N’ Clover, Aquarius, and Bell Bottom Blue. Interior choices only go with certain outside choices. Choose between Corduroy, Moody Blue, Calypso and Good Vibrations to complete the retro look. The only thing left after making those choices is to create a playlist for the lots to go along with your new Winnebago Brave.
Georgia on my Mind—Ray Charles Come Together—The Beatles Respect—Aretha Franklin House of the Rising Sun —The Animals Under the Boardwalk—The Drifters Son of a Preacher Man —Dusty Springfield Stand by Me—Ben E. King
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The body of a tailgater requires special nourishment.
Food&Drink
C
hicken salad isn’t just for ladies’ luncheons anymore. Stacy Brown, founder of “Chicken Salad Chick” restaurants, has revolutionized the way people across the Southeast eat chicken salad. She has not only made it easy for tailgaters to grab by the pound and go, she’s brought the kind of variety to chicken salad that regional barbecue chefs have to pork.
The
Chicken Salad
Chick
by Carroll Rogers (Twitter: @CarrollRogers)
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FOOD&DRINK From the kitchen in her Auburn, Ala. home, Brown created 15 flavors of chicken salad, ranging from the “Classic Carol” with mayonnaise and celery to the tangy tastes of “Buffalo Barclay.” Some of her most appealing flavors for tailgaters are the spicy “Jalapeno Holly” chicken salad and the “Jazzy Julie” which features cayenne pepper, bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. For the indecisive eater, the “Kickin’ Kay Lynne” combines buffalo, jalapeno and bacon and cheddar flavors. Yes, the chicken salad varieties are all named for “chicks,” but Brown said they appeal just as much to men. She has the business to back it up. In the past seven years, Chicken Salad Chick has grown from an idea for one takeout restaurant in Auburn to 30 franchises around the Southeast, as far south as Orlando, Fla., as far west as Dallas, Texas, and as far north as Charlotte, N.C.. Brown said they’ve sold an additional 150 franchises that are yet to open. Recently, Brown spoke with Inside Tailgating about the hit Chicken Salad Chick was for tailgaters when they opened
seven years ago in the heart of the footballcrazed Southeastern Conference. Here are excerpts from that conversation:
Q:
Did football tailgaters take to your restaurant from the start?
A:
We weren’t sure whether people were going to think of us for tailgating, but the very first football season we were open, on that Friday before football, it was like our little restaurant turned into the floor of the New York Stock
PHOTO: SARA HANNA
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FOOD&DRINK Exchange. It was the craziest madness I’ve ever seen…Our very first football Friday was our first huge record-breaking day, and we knew every football season after that to prepare for football Fridays. So we cook over 500 pounds for a football Friday, and that’s just in Auburn.
Q:
What advice do you have for tailgaters who want to get chicken salad that men will enjoy too?
A:
The Buffalo Barclay and the Jalapeno Holly and the Kicking Kay Lynne and the Jazzy Julie are the manliest flavors, and they go nuts for football and tailgating. We say if you will just get a bag of Frito scoops and use that Barbecue Barclay, it’ll change your life.
Q: A:
Why do you think chicken salad is such a great option for tailgating?
What I don’t like about a lot of tailgate food is people want to bring a hot dip or something that’s going to sit there all day. I don’t want to eat food that’s supposed to be hot and eat it cold. But everybody has coolers at a tailgate spot. Our food is cold or it’s fine room temperature. It’s never something hot that got cold. So it’s always right for a tailgate. If you don’t want it sitting out then you can throw it in one of the coolers and bring it back out and dip out of it again. It’s very easy. You can dip a cracker, dip a chip, or dip a celery stick. It doesn’t matter. It’s so funny to watch—I have seen people gathered around a cooler like it’s a coffee table, with crackers in hand just passing a pound around.
Q: A:
So you sell it by the pound where it’s easy to buy in quantity?
We can sell it as a lunch, by the plate, by a scoop, but in bulk we sell it by the pound, so if somebody wants five pounds, 10 pounds, it’ll be in larger containers. You’re not going to take home 10 small individual pound containers. We can do anything that we do on the menu by the pound, so our broccoli salad, pasta salad, grape salad, fresh fruit, cookies, pimento cheese—we do all of it by the pound.
PHOTO: SARA HANNA
Q: A:
Why else do you think chicken salad is so great for tailgating?
I think that we are the perfect food for tailgating because for one thing, it’s also finger food. If somebody wanted to get a platter of sandwiches, it’s something they can just pick up and walk around with. Most people have coolers at a tailgate to put pounds in if they want to, and just like barbecue, our food is proteinpacked. It’s meat. It’s not just like some
cheese dip or a broccoli platter. It’s a very filling, protein-packed food which I think goes right along with football and tailgating, especially with our flavors that are geared more toward men. The buffalo and the jalapeno and the Kickin’ Kay Lynne, which the men really dig because it doesn’t have a “fru fru” name attached to it. They can order with confidence. They’ll say, “Give me the Buffalo Barclay.’ It’s like it’s OK to say that.”
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FOOD&DRINK
Summer Beers
by Derek Buono (Twitter: @BeerMagazine)
S
ummer. It was much more important to us when we were in school, but as we get older, it’s just a season that fills the time before fall. Thankfully, beer has made the seasons more fun. To accompany the trips to the beach, the BBQ weekends, family vacations, and longer days, we have beers that fit right in. Most are looking for deep, heavy, complex beers, so breweries have created lighter ways to enjoy the world’s best liquid. We could have just said “drink summer beers” and been done with it, but we found a few of our favorite summer styles. Check out some of these and then pack them in your cooler tomorrow.
Saison Cream Ale
Buffalo Bill’s Orange Blossom Cream ales aren’t super common, but their lighter body and silky mouthfeel make them perfect for summer. This one adds a touch of orange blossom and a huge carbonation to deliver a pool-friendly beer.
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Blonde Lagers
Maui Brewing Blonde Lager The original summer/ party beer is a lager, and Maui’s version fits right into the picture. Many will only dream about sitting on a beach drinking a cold one, but now you can do it at home.
St Feuillien Saison This somewhat confusing style screams summer. Dry, with complex flavors, yet not overpowering in any way makes saisons perfect for summer. The fact that now even breweries from Belgium are canning means summer is official.
Pale Ale
Shipyard Brewing American Pale Ale For those who like IPAs, double, triple, any multiplier of the IPA, it seems we forget the Pale Ale. Filled with delicious hop flavors, dry and a bit of bitterness make this style the perfect “lighter” beer for beer geeks.
Session IPA
Lagunitas Brewing IPA We don’t really like this term, but this super hopped-up Ale isn’t as malty as a pale ale, and the slightly thinner mouthfeel and lower ABV make it … well, sessionable (we call it drinkable). The hop bill can be intense, but find a good one, and those giant 24-ounce mugs aren’t so intimidating anymore.
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FOOD&DRINK
Helles
New Belgium Summer Helles Don’t call it a Pils; the Helles is light and refreshing, and it can lead to hours of ring toss or any summer BBQ games you want to play with a refreshing beer in hand. Many domestics fill this void, but supporting craft breweries is what we want to do.
Kriek Sour Mash
Hangar 24 Brewery Belgian Summer Not really a style, but if you put the word summer in the beer’s name, it best be ready to party. This lower ABV and slightly tart Belgian beer delivers bold flavors and stays easy drinking. Makes you want to ride a bike to town and have a beer with your dog at a café.
Pils
Firestone Walker Pivo Pils Hops are addictive, so adding a nice bitterness and hop flavor to a pilsner seems as natural as bacon on everything. Firestone made this beer easy to drink but also with a nice range of flavors to satisfy yet not take up too much space. The next round of burgers is coming.
Liefmans Cuvee Brut This beer is amazing all year round, but we really like it for summer. Aged with cherries and blended with a sour brown, the result is a perfectly balanced beer that looks pretty in a glass and tastes wonderful. There are lots of Kriek options, but this is by far our favorite.
Can or Bottle?
Either container is great, but for summer, cans seem to have the edge. You can carry more of them, you won’t have to worry about broken glass and bare feet, and they also block out that terrible thing we call the sun. Sunlight is the enemy, so cans win!
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FOOD&DRINK
Beer Marinated
Flank Steak
S
urprisingly impressive considering it’s simplicity, beer marinated flank steak should be on your grill this tailgating season. Just toss your marinating steak into the ice chest and head to the game, it’ll be ready to grill when you are.
by Joanna Buono (Twitter: @BeerMagazine)
Making Marinade with Firestone Walker’s Parabola Imperial Stout
Ingredients Flank Steak
1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup Firestone Walker Parabola Imperial Stout 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons peeled and finely minced fresh ginger 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh garlic Salt and freshly ground pepper for seasoning 1. Pat the flank steak dry with paper towels and lay it on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, make quarter- to half-inch slices at an angle against the grain into, but not completely through, the steak. Season with salt and pepper. 2. Combine the olive oil, beer, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a bowl or liquid measuring cup, and whisk them together. 3. Place the flank steak in a zip-lock bag, pouring the marinade over the steak. Squeeze out most the air from the bag while sealing it. The steak should marinate for at least 8 hours or overnight. 4. Remove the bag from the fridge about an hour before you plan to grill or broil it, and let it come to room temperature. 5. Discard the marinade, and grill or broil the meat to your desired doneness. We highly recommend medium-rare, always.
For more BEER check out www.thebeermag.com 22
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Milwaukee Brewers > Monster Mile > ATL Champs
Fans&Thrills
BREW CREW KNOWS TAILGATING
I
by Carroll Rogers (Twitter: @CarrollRogers)
n a baseball town like Milwaukee, where
the major league team is named for beer makers and the between-innings entertainment features a sausage race, tailgating is engrained in the culture.
Cooking brats on the grill and cracking open a can of Miller Lite are just as much a part of Milwaukee’s baseball tradition as Bob Uecker’s “Up, up, outta here, gone!” home run calls, and fans singing “Roll out the Barrel” after their seventh inning rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Opening Day is nothing short of a holiday for Wisconsinites. Some three-quarters of the 46,032 fans who attended the Brewers’ sold-out April 6 opener against the Colorado Rockies tailgated in parking lots around Miller Park beforehand. “Brewers fans are professionals when it comes to tailgating,” said Jim Bathey, Brewers vice president of consumer marketing. They wrap bratwurst in bacon and cheddar cheese. They deep fry calamari. They stock portable martini bars. They celebrate their own Latino Holiday, “Cerveceros,” Spanish for “Brewers,” with fajita spreads.
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“Brewers fans, we do it like college football fans down south do it, but we do it 81 games a year,” said Erin Koth, ringleader for the Brewers “TailG8ers,” a fan group with its own Facebook page. “It’s pretty ridiculous. It’s a lot of fun. I think a lot of it stems from Milwaukee being a big blue collar town. As soon as the snow goes away up here, everybody wants to get outside and start firing up the grill. You drive by the lots (on Opening Day), people are in line for two hours before the parking lot opens, ready to start.” Brewers fans like Kevin Kelsay used to cut class in junior high school to go to games, even if it meant watching a few pitches at a time through a knot hole in the fence or waiting until security opened Milwaukee County Stadium gates in the seventh inning. Kelsay and his buddies coined themselves the “Stadium Rats,”
and he’s been tailgating since he could “tie his shoes.” Kelsay has been to every Brewers’ home opener since Bud Selig bought the Seattle Pilots and moved the team to Milwaukee in 1970. The only Opening Day Kelsay missed? PHOTO: ERIN KOTH His first year of law school at Marquette, when he was trying to do the right thing, only to arrive at the law school and find a note on the Frying calamari in cast iron fryer.
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“Brewers fans
are professionals when it
comes to tailgating.”
—Jim Bathey, Brewers VP of Consumer Marketing
door: “Closed for the day. Why aren’t you at County Stadium?” The year was 1982 and the Brewers made it to their one and only World Series before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals. No jinx was going to stop Kelsay from tailgating at Opening Day the following year, though. It’s part of a lifelong tradition for the 56-year old, now a legal secretary for the Milwaukee public defender’s office. “Starting at age 15, you’d grab a big beer mug and a plate and just walk around, and people would throw food on our plate and say ‘Go ahead, hit our tapper,’” said Kelsay, who pointed out that the drinking age was still 18. “We could walk around and drink all day long, and I’m talking well into the game—the third, fourth, fifth inning. They’d finally come around and say ‘Look, go into the game or go home.’” One Brewer fan, Adam Meszaros, has
PHOTO: SARA STATHAS, MILWAUKEE BREWERS BASEBALL CLUB
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FANS&THRILLS
PHOTO: SCOTT PAULUS, MILWAUKEE BREWERS BASEBALL CLUB
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FANS&THRILLS been tailgating for more than 20 years, starting as a kid with his father and brother. For the past 12 years, he’s organized his own annual guys’ weekend, which now includes two days of golf leading up to the tailgate. They call themselves the “Tailgating All-Stars” and print T-shirts every year. Meszaros figured the “All-Stars” had lost one of his college buddies after he graduated from Marquette and moved to Mississippi. But his friend drove more than 800 miles back for the tailgate the following year, bringing a little bit of Mississippi back with him—15 pounds of Gulf shrimp. Now every year, their tailgate is a shrimp boil.
Kelly and Eddy Medero getting engaged.
PHOTO: ERIN KOTH
Meszaros said it doesn’t usually matter who the Brewers are playing, and frankly, not every tailgater comes with a ticket for the game. “Some (guys) would be OK not getting a ticket and just staying in the parking lot the entire time,” Meszaros said. While some major league teams might shy away from all the food and beverage sales they lose to tailgaters outside the fences, the Brewers have embraced the tailgating culture. They offer group tailgate packages every Saturday and Sunday for organizations and companies who typically buy up 10,000 to 15,000 tickets to host events in the designated East River lot. The Brewers are among the top five teams in Major League Baseball in terms of group ticket sales. The Brewers also host an official “Arctic Tailgate” every February when singlegame tickets go on sale, giving out T-shirts, hot dogs and donuts to fans willing to brave the cold temperatures. PHOTO: KEVIN KELSAY
The trend for many major league teams is to build new ballparks in urban areas, preferring convenience, public transportation and downtown views to wide open spaces. But when the Brewers opened Miller Park in 2001, they chose the same site five miles west of downtown where Milwaukee County Stadium used to be. Miller Park can accommodate 10,000 vehicles over an expanse of 18 parking lots, which are named for Brewers Hall of Famers like Rollie Fingers and Robin Yount, Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn. “The (Los Angeles) Dodgers have a large parking lot,” Bathey said. “But there’s not more than a handful of teams that have parking for 10,000 vehicles that is surface parking as opposed to garage parking, which is not conducive to tailgating.” The Brewers have catered to fans’ tailgating needs by providing two permanent bathrooms for their use. The team brings in 120 port-a-potties for Opening Day and about half that for the remaining regular season games. The team has its mascot Bernie Brewer and the four Racing Sausages out mingling in the parking lots before every game. Fan Appreciation Day, which is always the last home game of the season, doesn’t just give fans a chance to line up in stadium concourses for autograph sessions like
Brewers fans play cornhole in the shadows of Miller Park.
PHOTO: SCOTT PAULUS, MILWAUKEE BREWERS BASEBALL CLUB
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FANS&THRILLS some teams do. The Brewers’ players come to the fans. Team representatives load players onto golf carts and drive them out among the tailgaters to greet Brewers fans in their most natural habitat. “Our experience here in Milwaukee is phenomenal,” Kelsay said. “If you want to have a fun way to spend a couple hours, get there two hours before game time and just walk around and experience it. It’s just a wild scene. Everybody is real happy, real festive… “Nowhere have I seen tailgating on the level it is in Milwaukee in terms of baseball,” Kelsay continued. “Alabama football, you might get an argument. They start on Tuesday and go until Sunday and then take Monday off and they start again. Those people are insane. But in terms of baseball, you could come out on a sunny day in July or August in Milwaukee and if the Brewers are still in the running, you will have a minimum of a crowd of 30,000, and at least 20,000 of the 30,000 are out in that parking lot having a tailgate.” Brewers’ faithful mark many of life’s big events at tailgates. Eddy and Kelly Medero got engaged at a tailgate after meeting each other through the Brewers “TailG8ers.” One of the Racing Sausages delivered a bouquet of roses to the bride-to-be. Going to extremes is nothing new to Brewers fans. Dave DeBruin, a technology teacher at Kohler (Wisc.) High school, tasked his engineering club with building a grill that was a replica of Miller Park. The project was sponsored by a local technology college to encourage high school kids to consider manufacturing as a career: “Project G.R.I.L.L.: Growing Readiness in Leading and Learning.” More than a dozen high school students started the project in September of 2012. Eight months later they hitched it to the back of a trailer, drove 60 miles south, and were showing it off at a Brewers game, complete with retractable roof like Miller Park and a charcoal-fired grill where the playing surface is. “A lot of people couldn’t believe what they were seeing,” said DeBruin, who is trying to sell the grill in return for a donation for his engineering club. The only real guarantee of what you won’t see at a Brewers tailgate? Budweiser products. “The St. Louis Cardinals are our hated enemy, and they are Budweiser, so their product is not allowed at Miller Park,” Kelsay said. “It’s Miller, not Anheuser-Busch. That’s very clear.”
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PHOTO: SARA STATHAS, MILWAUKEE BREWERS BASEBALL CLUB
PHOTO: ERIN KOTH
PHOTO: KEVIN KELSAY The “Bacon Explosion” ready to be slow-cooked on the grill.
PHOTO: ERIN KOTH
Kelsay jokes that sometimes he wishes he could sneak in some Michelob Ultra Light, an Anheuser-Busch beer that has a good ratio of alcohol to units of carbohydrates for a diabetic like himself. Last season, though, he went with a
sentimental beverage choice. He and an old tailgating buddy bought a bottle of Maple-flavored Crown Royal for the season shortly before that friend passed away. “I could pick up the phone any time and say ‘You know it’s nice out, I’m going to blow off the afternoon and go to the ballpark, do you want to go?’ and it was a guaranteed yes,” Kelsay said. “Every time I go to a baseball game, I break that bottle out and do a shot in Jeff’s honor. We’re about three quarters of the way through that baby. Got a little bit to go.”
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FANS&THRILLS
MUST GO: Dover International Speedway by Michael Reed Kean (Twitter: @michaelreedkean)
Spend your after-Memorial Day weekend with friends, family, and a healthy dose of pure adrenaline at The Monster Mile.
D
over, Delaware boasts one of the most exhilarating racing venues in the country, right in the center of the sales tax-free state of Delaware. The Dover International Speedway, or The Monster Mile as it has come to be known, is the fastest one-mile oval racetrack in the world. The drivers regularly reach speeds of 170 mph while turning laps in less than 23 seconds. Opened in 1969 as Dover Downs International Speedway, Dover International Speedway has a rich and significant track history that all race fans and visitors should get to know. A long list of important and magical milestones highlight this great speedway’s resume of racing excellence. The first race, the Mason-Dixon 300, and all subsequent races until 1995 were run on asphalt. From 1995 on, all races have been on concrete. Since 2007, the Monster Mile has been undergoing additional upgrades—The Monster Makeover—which have greatly enhanced the overall appeal of this racing venue. A short list of extensive improvements includes the Monster Bridge, an updated Sky Box complex with executive suites, a Victory Plaza area, vastly improved fan restroom areas, and most recently a brand new catch fence to improve fan and driver safety. Fan experience and safety seem to have been the focus of this major improvement project, and the rewards are already quite evident.
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FANS&THRILLS
Historical Highlights
If Dover International Speedway itself isn’t hair-raising enough for you, there are some other interesting spectacles that call The Monster Mile their home. Take the family out there to see the “Monster Monument” in Victory Plaza. Miles the Monster looms over the concrete track at 46 feet tall and has an actual retired stock car in his powerful clutch, as well as a colossal FEDEX package, which must contain the replacement racing parts he just ordered. Constructed of fiberglass, Miles is the largest structure of its kind in the country. Be sure to stop by and read up on some of the more important historical racing legends who have graced this amazing track and get your photo taken with your favorite racing legend, or Miles the Monster for that matter. There are plaques honoring two former driving legends at the base of Miles the Monster. Great debates abound regarding which legend will next adorn the base of the speedway’s iconic “brand ambassador of smash.” As of now, only “Sir” Richard Petty and Bobby Allison have received this esteemed honor. My money is on Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 car. Who do you think it will be? There is an expanded Fan Zone area, camping and glamping, RV areas, and most importantly….TAILGATING. Dover International Speedway encourages friendly and neighborly tailgating, which is what we encourage at ALL times as well. “Get there early, and leave as late as possible” is our motto and we are sticking to it. Be sure to take a stroll over to Lot 10 for a taste of what it is really all about. All in all, there are approximately 800 square acres of tailgating and NASCAR hallowed ground to explore for three or four days. So load up whatever you can fit in your vehicle (no extensions) and head on out to The Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware this Spring. We will see you there!! DoverSpeedway.com
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Kyle Bush
FANS&THRILLS
ATL CHAMPIONSHIPS by Stacey Moore (Twitter: @LilBig02)
T
he American Tailgating League held the 2015 ATL Championships in the port city of Wilmington, N.C. Teams traveled from across the country to compete in Cornhole, Phloops, and Pong-O. There was non-stop action starting at Tavern 14 on Friday night and ending with the final match at the Coastline Convention Center late Sunday night. Hole Patrol (Dale Smith, Lester Price, Jimmy McGuffen, Derrick King) raided the port city with air mails and phlingers. They left with the title from the 2015 ATL Tailgating Game Championships. The team won four of the eight tournaments (three Cornhole, one Phloops), earned 71 points and collected $1,833 in cash over the two-day event. Dale and Lester were tied for first in overall individual points while also earning 40 points each toward their team total. They partnered together in Cornhole Tournament #1 and finished in third place. They paired up again for the Phloops tournament and went all the way through the
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winners bracket to finish in first place. A pair of Carolina boys (Cameron Jones, Brandon Jones) and Ohio girls (Stacia Pugh, Christine Papcke) came together like the Wonder Twins to form Vitamin Water. The mixture proved potent, and by winning two of the six Cornhole tournaments, Vitamin Water earned 63 points and a second-place overall finish. The fight for second came down to the final match of the final tournament. Stacia and Christine partnered up in Cornhole tournament #6 and won it after earning the final two points to break a tie with Guy Nation. They pocketed $1,389 for their efforts. Guy Nation (Matt Guy, Bret Guy, Jay Dotson, Kyle Malone) won Cornhole tournament #3 and played well enough in the other tournaments to get 61 points and a thirdplace finish. The team participated in several tight matches along the way, providing some of the most entertaining play. They earned $1,001 for finishing third. After all was played and done on Sunday night, more than $6,700 was paid out in cash to the 21 teams that participated. Nobody left empty-handed. The team that probably left saying “should have, could have, would have” was the Coastal Baggers (Elvis Orr, James Baldwin, Allan Rockwell, Greg Vajda). After winning the Pong-O tournament, and being in the top three starting out on Day 2, they were in prime position to win some of the overall cash. They finished with 57 points and in fourth place. The luckiest team of the weekend was Sacks of Fury 1 (Chris Green, Joe Tadder, Melvin Williams, Raymond Scott) because they claimed the
overall L-Dog drawing prize of $336. The Pong-O and Phloops games were new to 90 percent of the players. However, the skill it takes to master Cornhole and beer pong is similar to the skill it takes to master these games. The top overall teams were highly competitive in both Pong-O and Phloops which proved to be a difference-maker in the overall points race. Steve Goebel, the founder of Phloops (soon to be available at a retailer near you), was on hand to offer some tips and guidance to players who had never seen the game. Those who assumed Pong-O, created by our friends at Bag Toss, was just like beer pong quickly learned that the points system and defensive opportunities provided a twist that required some adaptation and additional skill. Who knows what games the ATL will bring to the next Tailgating Game Championships? Keep up to date and find out about more cool games at www.iplayatl.com.
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