Tucson Weekly: Yer Out! (April 1

Local Micro Brewskies Get The Boot At The County's Expensive New Ball Park.
By Chris Limberis
THE DOMINANT HITTER at Tucson Electric Park during last year's inaugural Major League spring training schedule has been shut out this year.
Nimbus Brewing Co., which led beer sales during the month-long spring training season in 1998, was not invited back. Nor were any of the Tucson area's six other microbreweries.
Home Run Red, the ale offered by Nimbus at Tucson Electric Park last year, was benched this year in favor of Killian's Red and a typical lineup dominated by Miller, Budweiser and Coors as well as some of the usual imports.
Currents "This is not a sour grapes case. A presence at Tucson Electric Park is very important to us or any other microbrewery," said Michael McGuire, the Nimbus sales manager. "If it's not us, then it should be Breckenridge (Brewery), Pusch Ridge Brewery, Gentle Ben's, Dark Mountain Brewery or Thunder Canyon (Brewery). It should rotate.
"Everybody wants Tucson Electric Park to succeed," says the affable McGuire, a former Chicago firefighter. "But how much local support are they giving? We can't compete if we don't have equal access."
Access last year, to just five of the 65 tap handles at the Pima County-owned park, helped Nimbus sell 60 kegs in 30 days.
But there was no Major League Home Run Red this year, nor will there be any for another important market--the AAA season the Diamondbacks' affiliate, the Tucson Sidewinders, begin April 8 at Tucson Electric Park.
For a business that counts its victories, according to McGuire, "one face at a time," ballpark presence is critical.
"We have to pose the question, are local merchants being shut out?" McGuire asked.
Well, not all of them.
El Saguarito, local hot dog vendors, and others have worked Tucson Electric Park. But when it comes to suds, the only local presence comes from distributors.
The lineup is made up by the county's concessionaire, Sportservice Inc., a Buffalo, N.Y., firm that has a five-year contract to manage concessions at Tucson Electric Park.
Jeff Greenleaf, Sportservice's manager in Tucson, says the decision on Nimbus was simply one of the "bottom line dollars and price.
"Their product is excellent," Greenleaf says of Nimbus. "Truthfully, it came down to the price. They're welcome to come back. It's not a closed book by any means."
McGuire says he and his Nimbus colleagues were not deluding themselves when they made their pitch to sell beer at Tucson Electric Park, the cornerstone of the $36-million spring training complex the county built for the Diamondbacks and White Sox.
"We knew we were dealing with a nationwide concessions-management firm," McGuire said.
Price, McGuire adds, should not have been a deal breaker.
"We slashed our price below cost just so we could have a place," McGuire says.
Ray Carroll, also a Chicago transplant, enjoyed a few sips of a Miller beer at the White Sox-Padres game on St. Patrick's Day. The Republican Pima County supervisor says he wants to see a little more competition and no bullying from big national brands.
"Baseball and home brew go together," Carroll says. "I don't want to offend the big distributors, but there certainly is room for our local micro breweries. There are a lot of tourists in town for baseball and they want a little local flavor."
Pima County is well behind and struggling to meet expenses for its spring training facility, part of the Kino Veterans Memorial Sports Park. It received nearly $330,000 for its 43 percent share of the gross spring training concessions sales last year.
Provisions to identify and lure local vendors are in place. But the concessions contract excludes the county from any part of the beverage side. The Diamondbacks and White Sox get a say in what fans will drink at Tucson Electric Park.
For the minor league lease, the county cut itself out of concessions in a package that favors the Sidewinders, owned by wealthy speculator Martin Stone.
The shutout seems particularly odd given the county's stance during the site selection and planning--dating back to 1992--for a major league facility on the southside. A major thrust of that effort, throughout site selection and construction, was the boost for the southside and for southside businesses.
Contracts prevent direct county intervention.
"We don't deal with the beverage side, but we can certainly advocate for (Nimbus and other micro breweries)," said Dan Felix, who leaves his job as director of Pima County Parks and Recreation on April 10 to begin as city parks director the following day.
Hi Corbett Field, the city ballpark that is the spring training home for the Colorado Rockies, also is dominated by major beer brands.
The 2-year-old Nimbus Brewing Co. is a picture of laid-back hustle nearly every day. In a factory/warehouse on 44th Street off of South Palo Verde, the partners and crew may be doing some touch-up painting, lunch preparation, or beer packaging.
"We're right out of Laverne & Shirley, " McGuire says about production of such ales as Rillito Red and Palo Verde Pale that are distributed throughout Tucson, Bisbee and Flagstaff to the tune of about 1,000 cases a month.
A mostly blue-collar clientele enjoys a tap room that is a secluded, unlikely lunch setting as well as a scene for live music. There's pool, darts and foosball. The brewery is out in the open, as are the ingredients.
The mellow comfort for Nimbus partners is pierced, however, by the thought of the nearby Tucson Electric Park and the customers lost.
"The people of Tucson have shown they're really beginning to support us and the microbrews," McGuire says. "This is a very competitive business. Not being in the ball park hurts. Those are a lot of people we aren't able to allow to become familiar with us."

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