Okay, that headline is a bit of a dumb question. Of course craft beer goes well with sports. In my mind craft beer goes well with everything. However, one does not normally hear serious talk about beer on the various sports shows on radio and tv. Most references to beer in such contexts is about quantity and temperature, not quality and what beer pairs with what events.

That changed for 30 minutes last night. I was asked to be a guest on Inside Sports with Reid Wilkins on 630 CHED to talk about all things craft beer. I found the invitation intriguing so took him up on it. A half hour talking about beer on a radio talk sports show. It was fun.

By the way you can listen to the whole segment here – the interview begins at the 21:00 minute mark.

I think the whole thing happened because the host, Reid Wilkins, is a bit of a craft beer fan himself and he wanted  to merge the two things he loves. Besides it is a slow month for sports in Edmonton, so he had a segment to fill. I was happy to oblige.

The interview is fairly wide-ranging. I update people on the latest with Edmonton’s craft breweries and the growth in craft beer generally, we talk about why beer is a good fit for sports and I offer some ideas for people who want to take that first step from macro lagers to craft beer. We also tried a couple of summery craft beer that I thought might interest people – Alley Kat’s Scona Gold Kolsch and Red Racer India Session Ale. I even got my favourite pet peeve in, reminding people that Alexander Keiths is NOT an IPA. Plus we took a couple of spontaneous phone calls, which was a surprise.

In hindsight one topic I would have liked to raise was the question of beer selection at Edmonton sporting events. I have touched upon this topic before (here), but I think we need a more serious conversation about what beer gets sold at Commonwealth, the Corporate-Name-Here hockey arena and other sporting venues in town. Go to Boston and you will get to sip on local craft beer. Same thing in New York. (Of course, at prices higher than in your average pub – nothing is perfect.) Yet here, because of exclusivity contracts with the big boys, we get the standard fare of Canadian, Coors, Kokanee, etc. It is time we opened up our sporting events to a wider range of beer. Imagine quaffing an Alley Kat Full Moon at an Oilers game, a Yellowhead lager at a football game, or Hog’s Head Baby Back IPA at the rodeo (even if it had to be at inflated prices). That would create a more satisfying experience.

Overall, I found the interview interesting and enjoyable and it does have me wondering if more could be done with sports and serious beer talk. For now it was a pleasant change of pace for me and, hopefully, for the listeners as well.