Which Craft Beer is your Favorite Orlando Player: Pride Edition

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Greetings, Mane Landers! Longtime readers will remember that last year we compared Orlando City players to various craft beers. Well, we’re going to do that again this year, but not quite yet. First, we’re going to do the same thing for many of your favorite Orlando Pride players, but this time we’re going to limit it to Florida-based craft beers.

Rachel Hill — Bumby Blonde Ale, Ocean Sun Brewing

Rachel is indeed a blonde, but that isn’t why we chose Ocean Sun’s Bumby Blonde Ale. Let’s see what Ocean Sun has to say about their brew:

“Belgian blonde ale, gold in color, slightly sweet with a complex, spicy finish.”

While Rachel is not Belgian, we certainly expect she is at least slightly sweet, but most important is how she finishes. Rachel might have only scored three goals for the Pride last season, but she’s scored eight with Perth Glory in the Australian W-League. That sounds like a spicy finisher to me.

Ashlyn Harris — Last Stop IPA, Brew Bus Brewery

Ashlyn is one of the best keepers in the world. Given that, we figured that Brew Bus Last Stop IPA would be a good choice as she is the last one to stop opponents efforts from scoring. According to the Brew Bus description:

This 7.2% ABV, crushable IPA is the perfect blend of the refreshing notes of tripical fruit and citrus, along with the clean finish of fresh pine. Hopped with Magnum, Centennial, and Columbus hop additions give this IPA a strong citrusy, floral base with little hints of spice. And dry hopped with Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra hops, the Last Stop IPA is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

We know that Ashlyn is indeed a crowd pleaser for Orlando Pride fans, and so is Last Stop IPA.

Toni Pressley — Spear Pressure, Deep Brewing

Toni is a Florida State University graduate, and as such, we felt a Tallahassee craft beer would be appropriate. Let’s see what Deep has to say:

“The name may sound intimidating, but this is our refreshing interpretation of a British-style Golden Ale. Our flagship ale is brewed with a solid base of malted English barley and generous dosing of the finest Kent Goldings hops, lending the impression of toasted biscuits with a hint of wildflower honey. The crisp finish will leave you in need of another!”

I’m not certain that it’s a truly accurate description of Toni, but the name has Spear in it, and she wore the Spear on her uniform at FSU, so it was too easy to pass up.

Marta — Wavemaker Amber Ale, Big Storm Brewing Co.

When Marta arrived in Orlando she certainly made some waves. She also made quite an impact on the field. She showed us why she is one of the greatest soccer players of all time.

“Big Storm’s very first brew was this amber ale. It presents a wave of flavor with two row Canadian barley coupled with Munich and chocolate malts. Wavemaker® Amber Ale is malt centric and highly drinkable year round with minimal hop bitterness.”

Anyone have any bitterness about Marta being on the Pride? Anyone? Didn’t think so.

Alex Morgan — Wild Night Cream Ale, Swamphead Brewery

Ok, I’ll admit that I chose this one because of the Epcot incident. But if you can’t laugh about stuff after a while, then you really need to relax. Here’s what Swamphead says:

Along the rivers, in the fields, and through the forests of Florida, thousands of bees are hard at work, producing some of the sweetest honey in the world. We like to think they’re proud that all of their hard work has ended up in our award winning honey cream ale.

Wild Night is light and delicate, yet bursting with flavor. We add local honey to a traditional cream ale, and a touch of hops to update this American classic. Enjoyable anytime you’re thirsting for a crisp, clean beer. Our honey cream ale is what light beer should bee!

LIke the ale, Alex has put in the hard work, and should be winning awards. She is an American classic, and fortunately for us, she is on a scoring tear.

There you have it. We didn’t get to everyone, but that just means you get to come up with your own pairings in the comments below. Let me know what you come up with for the other players!