High Rollers: The Thrilling Ups and Downs of Beer and Amusement Parks | Imbibe

Belmont Park in San Diego / Photo: Gary Allard

Eating and imbibing are interlinked with amusement and theme parks, from funnel cakes to cotton candy, Dippin’ Dots to icy sodas. Not all drinks are for kids, or kids at heart. Across the country, concession stands sling cold beer to help of-age parkgoers cool off during summer’s heat and unwind in between rides. (That’s me!) “The relationship has been around almost as long as amusement parks,” says Jim Futrell, the historian for the National Amusement Park Historical Association. “It was common for breweries to open amusement parks to create demand for their product and sell beer.”

Today’s amusement and theme parks prioritize selling beer from area breweries, in addition to partnering with breweries on collaborative beers for concession stands. “People are coming to San Diego and Belmont Park for the weather and the rollercoasters, so we should also include local beer,” says Alvaro Cruz, the beverage manager at Belmont Park. It partnered with AleSmith Brewing on a West Coast IPA celebrating the park’s 100th anniversary this summer. “It’s great to have a local amusement park tapping into working with a local brewery,” says Kristen Ballinger, the AleSmith marketing manager.

Additionally, beer festivals are becoming bigtime park events, combining IPAs with splashing trips on log flumes. And groups are coalescing around visiting Walt Disney World for drinks, no need for a Mickey Mouse photo op. Epcot’s World Showcase features 11 pavilions themed around nations, and visitors will do international bar crawls known as “drinking around the world.” One lager in Germany, please. “It’s a different way that you can approach Disney World as an adult,” says Arya Gold, a co-founder of the website Drinking Around the World, about drinking at Disney parks.

For Imbibe, I took a deep historical dive into amusement parks and beer. It’s a fun one!