Having spent many years of my life in the close company of Argentinians and understanding much of the culture in South Florida, I can somewhat state soccer is life.
Actually, football is life, soccer is what we ‘uncultured’ Americans call it.
Regardless of what you call it, the Beautiful Game is starting to take a hold in the US.
Maybe it’s the influence of other cultures coming to and gaining more traction in the US. Maybe it’s just because of how utterly amazing Ted Lasso was.
But there we are, starting to become fans of soccer here in the US just like every other country on earth.
We even have tiers of leagues, with League One comprising part of the third tier of professional American soccer. That league is growing and one of those teams, currently enjoying a successful inaugural season, is FC Naples.
I hate to say it, but I’m sort of an instant fan. It was funny, when I found out about them they were actually about to play a home game later that evening. I quickly took a look for tickets and found their stadium to be completely sold out.
I found out about them at Hopsized Brewing, friend of the podcast and the Official Brewery of FC Naples, so much so that they had supporter flags on the walls, team collateral at the bar, and FC Naples Blonde (Blonde Ale, 5.5% ABV, 26 IBU) on tap.
Clearly this was brewed in honor of the team and was originally released at one of their rollout parties announcing the team months ago. With as much as the community seems to like the team, I would very strongly assume that this beer is not going anywhere, and Hopsized just created a brand new year-round release for themselves.
I mean, they could have done a worse job at it. It’s a very serviceable and very easy to drink blonde ale. Nicely pale golden in color, with a great bready aroma that is inviting and soft. The flavor has a bit of a lemony bite to it, with a faint earthy hop somewhere in the back.
It’s not quite as sweet as heavily malt-excessive golden ale I have consumed, but still has enough to be refreshing. It’s perfect for a session at a game, or even somebody who doesn’t traditionally drink beer, but is going to because of the festivities.
They still have many games left in the year, and can be seen on ESPN+ if you can’t get tickets. I would absolutely love to go, grab an FC Naples Blonde and a scarf (it’s a soccer essential) and watch a game live.
It makes me happy, especially since maybe this will be a fun team to get involved with. I have no problems jumping on this bandwagon, either.
But the scarf is a must.
Drink Florida Craft,
Dave
@floridabeerblog
[email protected]
Looking for more great Florida beer content? Browse all of our latest posts and podcast episodes, or follow us on some of our social media.
Listen to the Florida Beer Podcast – Powered by Florida Beer Blog on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more.
Get 10% off a new beer mini fridge from NewAir with code FLORIDABEER.
