Going Suds Up: The Best Beers, The Best Soccer

By Kirsten Schlewitz / Senior West Coast Beer and Aston Villa Correspondent

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you: I’m sitting here wearing a “Beat LA” sweatshirt. Sure, it’s meant to be an anti-Dodgers sentiment, but it applies to Sunday’s match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo. We’ve got scrappy Houston, with no international marquee players, against the great Galaxy, starring Landon Donovan, Robbie Keane, and David Beckham. Plus, LA has the home field advantage. 

Granted, the last time these two teams met, Houston walked away with a 3-1 win, but they’re still not the favored team. If you’ve got no vested interest in this match, put on your orange and stand behind the underdogs.

MLS Final: Los Angeles v Houston, Sunday, November 20 at 8pm CET on ESPN

Fullers Golden Pride: What else than this, a strong beer from England, a tribute to the MLS Comeback Player of the Year. The alcohol aroma is apparent from the pour, which is red brown with a rapidly diminishing head. Golden Pride is fairly sweet and caramelly, enhanced with a hint of orange, a slight dry hop bitterness and a finishing alcohol burn.

Divine Reserve #11, Saint Arnold Brewing: Houston fans that can’t make it to the Home Depot Center will – if they have any taste – be sipping some sort of Saint Arnold brew come Sunday. This imperial IPA seems like a great choice, as its 8.9%ABV. The color even manages to be a reddish-orange; unfortunately, it doesn’t taste like citrus. But it does taste like peaches, which is even better! Well, it taste like hoppy peaches, but fortunately doesn’t leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Which is good, because Dynamo fans will likely already have to deal with enough bitterness.

And a third beer, for those who think they’ve earned the right to wallow:

Sour Apple Saison, Epic Brewing: This one tastes more like a standard Belgian than a saison with apple, but there is a hint of sourness to this brew. The aroma isn’t spicy enough – way too much bubblegum for a saison. There’s more bubblegum in the taste, as well as banana, which is followed by some apple and cinnamon.  And if you hadn’t caught the hint as to which fan base this might most apply to, well, Epic is based in Salt Lake City. My tears are still flowing.

 About Kirsten

I may be a law student at Lewis and Clark, but soccer is my true love, with beer coming in a distant second. That's not to say I don't love beer--I've tasted over a thousand different brews, and listed many of them onRatebeer. Living in Portland, Oregon, I attend quite a few festivals and tastings, and am able to argue passionately about the merits of Cascade hops vs. Chinook. 

As for the soccer, I'm the Managing Editor of SB Nation's Aston Villa site, 7500 to Holte, the Italy Editor for SB Nation Soccer, and cover the Seattle Sounders on SBN Seattle (don't judge--I'm from Seattle!) Finally, I write for Two Footed Tackle when I find words worthy enough for the site. Want more? Follow me on Twitter!



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