Napa Valley Cricket Club and Tannery Bend Brewery release collaborations beer, The Night Watchman
Join the Napa Valley Cricket Club at The Garage at Tannery Bend Brewery - 1721 Action Ave, Napa, CA 94559 - on Saturday July 13 from 3pm.
“The Night Watchman” beer, a Pale Ale, is being brewed for the Napa Valley Cricket Club (“NVCC”) by local brewer and club sponsor Tannery Bend Beerworks. Another cricket club sponsor, John Fearless, has collaborated in the project by donating the hops and malt. In a nod to the cricketing theme, John Fearless has provided ingredients from traditional cricket playing nations: English malt and hops from New Zealand and South Africa.
While cricket is not widely played or understood in America, it has been in the spotlight recently with the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup. The World Cup was hosted jointly by the USA and West Indies nations and the USA team generated considerable attention by defeating established and cricket-mad Pakistan. Along with defeating neighbor Canada this saw the USA advance to the second round. While their run ended there they surpassed all expectations and generated media attention across numerous sports networks.
While cricket is a minnow in the US sports world, it is the second largest sport by participation and viewership in the world, behind soccer. The history of cricket in the USA also goes back a long way; the first ever international game of cricket was between the USA and Canada in 1884 in New York. Abraham Lincoln was said to be a fan who attended games and matches were played by the troops at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War, with records showing George Washington played at least one game.
This is the third beer the NVCC has produced in collaboration with local Napa breweries; the first was the Wicket Keeper brewed by Stone Brewing, and the second was the All Rounder brewed in collaboration with The Napa Barrel Project.
Continuing the theme of naming the beer after cricket playing positions, the Night Watchman represents a position very unique to cricket. At the traditional professional level, cricket matches can go for multiple days. A cricket team is made up of specialized batters, a wicket keeper (the equivalent of the catcher in baseball,) bowlers (pitchers in baseball) and all-rounders, those who are equally skilled in batting and bowling.
When a match is in progress near the end of the day, with play to progress the following day, if the team that is batting loses a wicket (a batter is out,) that team may elect to send out a bowler, who is less skilled in batting, to bat for the remaining few minutes of the day. This is so the more skilled batter who is due in is not exposed to just a few minutes of play and risk going out as well.
This bowler, the less capable batsman, is known as the Night Watchman; their role is to preserve their wicket (not go out) before the end of the day’s play and so be “not out '' overnight - hence the Night Watchman.
This position is very much the opposite of baseball’s pitch hitter; the night watchman’s role is not to score but simply to stay in and survive until the following day. Any score they may get is a bonus to protecting their skilled team mates.
The first batch of the Night Watchman will be available on draft from Tannery Bend’s The Garage at Action, 1721 Action Ave, Napa and at The Garden by Tannery Bend Beerworks, 1500 First Street, Napa. The club hopes to have a second batch available in cans. A label has been developed by local designer, Chad Vaughan, of BlueJeanBlack. The design includes a grim reaper silhouette in front of a full moon and holding a cricket bat in place of a scythe.
Phil Bourke, NVCC President, says “We’re very excited with the pending release of our third collaborative cricket-themed beer. Tannery Bend has been great to work with and we can’t wait to enjoy the beer at the end of a day of cricket.” Rob Bolch, of John Fearless, said “This Pale Ale should be an easy drinking beer, perfectly balanced with Southern Hemisphere aromatic hops and English malts - perfect for summer.”
The cricket club will be holding a launch party for the Night Watchman at the Garage at Action on Saturday, July 13th from 3pm. The launch is open to the public. The cricket club also releases a sponsor-appreciation t-shirt each year and this year’s t-shirt features the Night Watchman label on the front; the t-shirts are available to purchase online at local business FanWearZone HERE.
Night Watchman Pale Ale Launch Party
FREE ADMISSION - Saturday, July 13th, 2024 from 3:00pm onwards
The Garage at Tannery Bend Brewery - 1721 Action Ave, Napa, CA 94559
Sponsors
The Napa Valley Cricket Club wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the following sponsors;
19 Crimes Wine, ASL Print FX, Bill Wagner Realtor, CLARET by vinoEZ, Crown Hill Stone Supply, GVM Law, John Fearless, The Garden by Tannery Bend, St. Helena Optometry, Seguin Moreau, Adam Electric, 3 rock marketing, Blue Jean Black Design, Left Coast Wine Packaging, Napa Gourmet Foods, The Shade Home, GTG Financial, Golden Limo.
Matt Cromwell and Julian Nelson - Tannery Bend Brewers