I joined the Hawks' board in 2011, and in those 13 years of being part of a truly great organization, the question each year was, “When will you be selling beer at concessions?” The truth is, that question was being asked long before I joined the board, and until a law was put in the books by Governor Walz, it was not an easy task to do.
Now, I will say, even with the law on the books stating that a city must allow baseball teams in the Minnesota Baseball Association to sell beer at their games, it was not easy. It was not easy for several reasons.
First, the property that is known as Veterans Park is not owned by the City of Hastings. It is actually owned by the State of Minnesota, more specifically, the MN State Hospital; it is just leased by the City of Hastings. That lease was signed in 1982 and is good for 50 years, so there are eight years left on the lease.
Having been signed in 1982, there were some pretty specific rules put in there, one very specific one prohibiting the sale of any beer stronger than 3.2% alcohol content by weight. Yes, we would be forced to sell 3.2 beer. For some reason, the State of Minnesota is afraid of regular beer. So afraid, it is the last state in the union to have laws requiring 3.2 beer.
The sad part of this is, many of the popular light beers in their normal strength are 4.1 to 4.2 percent alcohol by volume; 3.2 beer is alcohol by weight. When calculated using the “by volume” method like every other alcoholic beverage in the world, 3.2 beer is 4.0 percent alcohol by volume, so the argument is over 0.1 to 0.2 percent.
Another side of 3.2 is Miller/Coors completely stopped making 3.2 beer over a year ago. The only other major manufacturer of beer, Anheuser/Busch, is heading in the same direction; they are ready to stop making it as well. That means getting a supply to sell is difficult too.
Parks Director Chris Jenkins has been working with the State of Minnesota and the department that handles leases like this to get some of the language changed in the lease including striking the 3.2 requirement. But, for those of you who have never had to deal with the government, the higher up the totem pole you go, the longer things take, and this process is taking much longer than any normal person should expect it to take.
Before I go forward, it needs to be said that Director Jenkins, Deputy Clerk Emily King, the Hastings City Council, and other city staff have been amazing to work through this process.
With the delays at the state level, it was decided to move forward for this season with selling the allowed 3.2 beer because we needed to have the option for the upcoming regional tournament for the Hastings Hawks and the rest of Region 5C.
On July 11, the license arrived in the mail, and that night, beer was in concessions. To celebrate the event 32 years in the making, the limited stock we acquired on Thursday sold out. With more time to set things up on Friday, we officially have three different brews on hand for the remainder of the 2024 season: Busch Light, Grain Belt Premium Light, and a 4.0 ABV craft beer from Spiral Brewery called River Bum.