Tap Handle #779: Helmar - Big League Brew

June 03, 2021

Tap Handle #779: Helmar - Big League Brew

Tap size: 12.5"

Rarity: small scale, beer retired

Mounting: 3/8" gold ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

Helmar's tap is prized by tap collectors as well as by sports memorabilia collectors, due to the fact that it features the likeness of Babe Ruth, one of the most (if not THE most) well-known baseball players in history. I don't usually go out of my way to acquire sports-themed taps, but there's something special about this one. The uniform features the famous New York Yankee pinstripes with the number "3" on the back of the uniform. Ruth is in a pose suggesting he has hit one of his many home runs. He stands on a red base that features the name of the brewery in raised letters, along with the beer name, on the front and back. There is a curious design choice I'd be remiss if I didn't point it out, and that's leaving fill material attached to parts the sculpting. This happens in two places: the green patch between Ruth's legs; and also between the bat and Ruth's upper back. It contributes to a very odd look; from the back, the green, which is most likely represents grass, looks more like Ruth is having a severe case of diarrhea after eating green curry, while the bat looks like it has stuck to Ruth's uniform and is pulling it away from his body. I understand why it was done - to give the piece more stability and make it less prone to breaking - but it's still strange to see and I don't recall another tap where such a design is implemented to this degree. Given the brewery's small size, their difficulty landing accounts for draft (most of their beer was bottled), and the owner's focus on baseball trading cards at the expense of beer production, it's likely that not many of these were made. I've seen less than 20 hit the secondary market since they first appeared 2008, although some of those could be the same taps exchanging hands. Some have surely been damaged and discard over the years. And sports memorabilia collectors, if they possess this tap, are known to hang on to their treasures so you wouldn't see them for sale from such collectors. If I had to guess, maybe 25-50 were made. As little as 3 years ago the price point for acquiring one was approaching $200, but last year one sold for a quarter of that.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "The Bambino" and "The Sultan of Swat", he began his career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164); the last two still stand as of 2021. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" inaugural members. In 1914, Ruth was signed to play minor-league baseball for the Baltimore Orioles but was soon sold to the Red Sox. By 1916, he had built a reputation as an outstanding pitcher who sometimes hit long home runs. Although Ruth twice won 23 games in a season as a pitcher and was a member of three World Series championship teams with the Red Sox, he wanted to play every day and was allowed to convert to an outfielder. With regular playing time, he broke the MLB single-season home run record in 1919. After that season, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees amid controversy. The trade fueled Boston's subsequent 86-year championship drought and popularized the "Curse of the Bambino" superstition. In his 15 years with the Yankees, Ruth helped the team win seven American League (AL) pennants and four World Series championships. His big swing led to escalating home run totals that not only drew fans to the ballpark and boosted the sport's popularity but also helped usher in baseball's live-ball era, which evolved from a low-scoring game of strategy to a sport where the home run was a major factor. During Ruth's career, he was the target of intense press and public attention for his baseball exploits and off-field penchants for drinking and womanizing. In his final years, Ruth made many public appearances, especially in support of American efforts in World War II. In 1946, he became ill with nasopharyngeal cancer and died from the disease two years later. Ruth remains a part of American culture, and in 2018 President Donald Trump posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Babe Ruth info courtesy of Wikipedia.

Helmar Brewing was founded in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan in 2001 by Charles Mandel. A Michigan native, Mandel graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in advertising. A baseball card collector, he manufactured card supplies for two decades and then became an art and antique importer, but he spent too much time traveling and not enough at home. This led Mandel to look into brewing, or more specifically, using contract brewing since he didn't have the capital to start a brewery. By not having to run a production brewery, he was able to focus on marketing and sales instead. He settled on the name Helmar, which was the same name as a tobacco company that gave away baseball cards in packs of cigarettes, at a time when baseball cards were a new novelty. Mandel settled on producing a single pale ale.

The beer was contract brewed by Michigan Brewing Company and was a critical success, as Mandel's Helmar Big League Brew won a gold medal at the 2005 World Beer Festival. Commercial success, however, was more elusive. He had hired artists to create striking labels and caps for the bottles, as well as for advertising posters, using player portraits as some old style baseball card manufacturers had done. However, retailers told Mandel that they didn't have space for his beer on their shelves. Instead, they mentioned multiple times how much they loved the advertising. Pivoting his career path once more, he temporarily suspended the production of Helmar Beer and turned instead to creating baseball cards with the same artists that had done his advertising. He hoped to boost the Helmar brand, and subsequently increase demand for his beer.

The trading cards did achieve moderate success among card collectors who prized the artwork, and combined with a Helmar potato chip business that sold bags of chips with cards inside them at multiple ballparks, were enough to help sustain the brand through the years. Brewing was soon resumed, and by 2009 production had reached an estimated 500 barrels per year, although that number had dropped to an estimated 400 barrels in 2010. Michigan Brewing Company went out of business in 2012. That, combined with the declining production numbers, likely spelled doom for Big League Brew, which has not been seen for years.

Helmar's Big League Brew is an English Style Pale Ale featuring the images of old-time baseball greats on the bottles and 24 collectible caps. It won a gold medal at the 2005 World Beer Festival.