Celebrate 50 years of Pirates baseball in Bradenton with a new, local beer on tap at games this spring

Gold is the traditional gift for a 50th anniversary.

As the Pittsburgh Pirates prepare to celebrate 50 years of spring training in Bradenton, a local, family-owned brewery is spinning some gold of its own.

To commemorate the golden anniversary, Darwin Brewing Company brewers created a golden ale on Tuesday.

Though still in the brewing process, Jorge Rosabal, an owner and the brewmaster at Darwin Brewing Company, said the new golden ale will be ready in about 22 days.

That’s more than enough time for the Feb. 24 spring home opener against the New York Yankees at LECOM Park.

The specialty beer is a combination of malt and hops that will give the beer a golden color with a balance between sweet and bitter and a five percent alcohol by volume (ABV), Rosabal said.

The beer will measure between 22 and 25 bitterness units, a scale used to measure a beer’s bitterness. According to TheBrewEnthusiast.com, most beers have a rating of 5 and 120 on the International Bitterness Units scale.

“It’s going to be bright gold with a beautiful, vibrant white head on it and we’re super excited to be pouring it at spring training, here in the taproom and across the street at LECOM Park,” said Matt Cornelius, an owner and general manager of Darwin’s.

His father, Bill Cornelius, also owns the brewery.

“We want to continue to build a partnership with you guys and try to improve it every year and take it to the next level,” said Jeff Podobnik, the Pirates’ senior director of Florida operations.

“It’s a classic example of a win-win,” Podobnik said.

This marks the second year of a partnership between the local brewery and the Pirates’ Florida operations, but it’s the first time a specialty beer for spring training has been done, said Chuck Knapp, the team’s concessions manager for Florida operations.

Cornelius took Podobnik and a small group of Pirates staff on a short tour through the Darwin brewery Tuesday so they could see where the golden anniversary ale was being prepared. Pirates staff members took turns taking a small part in the brewing process: scooping out some of the spent grains from the beer, which Cornelius explained would be sent to local farmers who use is as food for their livestock in another community partnership.

Darwin Brewing Company has been around for about seven years, Cornelius said, and expanded from a Sarasota restaurant, Darwin’s on Fourth, that specialized in pairing their beers with food on their menu. They expanded the brewing, started taking beers to shows, won awards and brought the production to Bradenton in May 2014.

The golden ale will be available on tap at LECOM Park and Darwin Brewing Company, 803 17th Ave. W., Bradenton in about three weeks. With LECOM Park directly across the street from Darwin Brewing Company, it’s an easy jaunt to get more of the golden ale. The public will get a chance to weigh in on naming the beer as well, with more details to come from Darwin Brewing Company.

The Pirates also have unveiled a commemorative logo to celebrate 50 seasons of spring training in Bradenton.

This story was originally published January 16, 2018 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Celebrate 50 years of Pirates baseball in Bradenton with a new, local beer on tap at games this spring."