Everett, WA (Funko Field and At Large Brewing)

Funko Field

Team: Everett Aquasox

Affiliate: Seattle Mariners (High A)

Ballpark Basics: A historic ballpark that does not show its age but is facing change. 

Originally opened in 1947 as Everett Memorial Stadium, Funko Field is now a part of a sports complex that also includes a football stadium and track that is used by Everett High School. The ballpark has gone through multiple renovations and it does not seem like it is over seventy years old. One historical aspect is the hand operated scoreboard houses in the outfield wall. Another aspect of the ballpark that shows its age is the concourse.  The main concourse sits behind the seating area so fans are not able to see the action while heading out for food or drinks.   

There are multiple seating options at Funko Field. The main grandstand surrounds the infield with Diamond Club seating behind home plate, which includes servers for your food and drinks. There are a set of bleachers further down both baselines and the Miller Lite Good Taste is in the right field corner for larger groups. There is also a small berm behind the right field wall for additional seating.    

Best Spot for Beer: The main concession stand can be found behind home plate on the main concourse.  Here you will find Great Taste Beer Booth with options from Fremont, Hop Valley, Firestone Walker and the team’s own beer, the Aquasox IPA brewed by local brewery Lazy Boy Brewery.  

The ballpark is named after the local company that makes pop culture figures.  You can visit the headquarters and retail store in downtown Everett. Funko’s partnership with the team does not end with the naming rights of the field. Funko figures are sold in the team store, The Frog Shop, every Friday home game is Funko Friday with a figure give-away for fans and there is a giant Funko figure behind the right field fence.    

Located just 30 miles north of their parent club in Seattle, Funko Field is a great spot to stop on any baseball trip to the PNW. The Aquasox were one of the few teams that benefited from the 2020 MiLB reorganization when they went from a short-season rookie league team to become the Mariners’ High A affiliate, but this brings other challenges in the form of stadium compliance. Toward the end of 2023, it was reported that a committee to explore three possible plans to upgrade, or potentially move, the Aquasox stadium had been formed as (like our hometown Richmond Flying Squirrels) the current stadium requires significant upgrades to meet the 2025 standard requirements set by MLB. 

 

At Large Brewing Company

Rating: Double

Brew Basics: A throwback to the earlier days of craft beer.

At Large takes up a single story cinder block building that overlooks a car graveyard and a port, which at the time of our visit had a large trawler and a full on Navy Cutter docked. The color scheme is white with black accents, light paint on the walls, exposed loft style ceiling and concrete floors, with chestnut colored wooden tables and doors. A separate 21 and up party/game room can be closed off from the rest of the brewery if one chooses, but the rest of the building is all ages; in fact our visit coincided with a 5 year old’s birthday party. Food is bring your own or order from binders, and entertainment wise there were several large scale (think air hockey and foosball) tables in the 21+ room, and a pile of board games and cornhole set in the main area as well. A huge deck seems to double the public space available and the sunsets alone make it worth the trip. 

Beer Breakdown:

While they have put in effort to decorate, overall At Large is reminiscent of standard breweries from the earlier days of the craft brew era, with less of an eye on branding, appealing to foodies or other “artisanal” aspects and the like. Appropriately, their focus is on the beer, and accordingly, they have many – 17 – options on tap, with additional cans of cider available as well. With so many to choose from, we ended up trying six, we weren’t wowed by any of them, but they were all solid options; you could say like the rest of the spot they were standard. Strangely on our visit all beers had the ABVs listed, but IBUs were only listed for non-IPAs. Here’s how our tasting went down:

Lawn Job (4.2/19) Very light and bright yellow, with a white lacing ring and lots of fizz; so much so, you might have thought it was Champagne. Lawn Job was crisp and clean in palate and aroma, and despite being a cream ale, it wasn’t at all sweet and just ended with a bready, cracker finish.

Alibi Amber (6.3/31) True amber in color and a bit cloudy. Alibi is an amber lager has a touch of honey malts which is most apparent in the aroma but also noticeable in the end notes. In between, it’s all malts –  both bouquet and tastewise.

Porter of Everett (7.1/35) This robust porter lives up to its name, pouring so dark that even in direct sunlight it’s still a dark, chocolate brown. While The Porter comes off as roasty and smooth to the nose, the palate proves less (but still) roasted, and mainly dry with oatmeal malts and chocolate.

Melbourne IPA (7%) Part of At Large’s “City Series”, Melbourne is a west coast IPA with Ella hops. For all appearances this was along the lines of a traditional IPA, sitting golden, clear, visibly fizzy and not at all cloudy in the glass. Sparkly and grassy to begin, with an earthy bite in the end, the hops are prevalent throughout but not bitter. Both the final palate and overall smell came off as slightly tropical, but mostly hopped.

 The Cannonball Run (7.5%) We found At Large’s entry into the NEIPA family (or at least the one available during our visit) to not be terribly robust. With the color and consistency of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, and a pleasing blend of hoppy and juicy on the nose, there was a lot of promise. However, the white grape taste and funky finish, while good, just didn’t deliver the punch you’re used to getting with the New England style.

Coattails (5.2%) Though identical in color to the Cannonball, the Coattails was slightly thinner in viscosity, which was interesting to note only because this was billed as the hazy. Unlike the Cannonball, Coattails delivers on the promise in the aroma of citrus, tropical goodness and was one of our favorites on this stop.

 

At Large Brewing Co. 

2730 W. Marine View Drive

Everett, WA 98201

(425) 324-0039