Ever wanted to drink in some football history?
Some folks will be able to do just that — literally — in light of the NFL Draft coming to Pittsburgh later this month.
Partnering with Pittsburgh Brewing Co., Nemacolin Resort is offering a special pilsner, The Divinity Draft, which will be available only at the resort in 16-ounce cans.
The beer was made using DNA taken from the Immaculate Reception football.
It was the first time Mike Carota, Pittsburgh Brewing’s brew master, had received such a request when creating a beer.
“At first I thought ‘no way,’” Carota said.
He said uncontrolled yeast growth can produce unsavory flavors in beer and he wasn’t sure how well a yeast culture would grow with bits of DNA swabbed from the more than 50-year-old football.
“The heart of the beer is yeast,” Carota said. “They were wanting me to do something with the football and yeast. … When I went down there and everything, I thought, ‘Well, we’ll take a chance. Grow the yeast and see if anything grows in it.’”
Carota was told about the idea in February, and his team began mapping out a plan for the brew. The first task was getting DNA from the football.
“Whatever was on that football is now in their beer,” Carota said.
Carota went to Nemacolin, where he swabbed the ball. It’s is kept in an isolated, sterile and temperature-controlled room, Carota said. He dry swabbed the ball’s thread, points and laces to collect what he could for the yeast culture.
“We were going to see what we could get off of that football that we could use in our fermentation cycle,” Carota said.
The swabs were brought to the brewery in East Deer to see if a culture could be successfully grown in their lab.
Carota explained they took material from the swabs, sterilized and filtered it, then added yeast to see what would happen.
The DNA-infused yeast was able to start a culture that could be used for the beer. Carota said the brewery always takes its yeast through phases of testing and growth. After the culture with the DNA began growing, Carota saw there was nothing odd or hazardous about the swab, so they continued the fermentation process.
He said Nemacolin asked him to create the pilsner with some cherry flavor. Having been at Pittsburgh Brewing for more than 50 years and making flavored beers for 40 of them, adding some mild cherry flavor didn’t throw Carota for a loop.
“Then they hit me with another surprise,” Carota said. “They said, ‘and if you can get it to taste like a football.’ Never was I asked to make anything to taste like a football.”
Carota said to accomplish that feat, they made an all-malt, craft-style base brew to start. They used a 2-row premium pilsner brew malt and added a roasted specialty malt to achieve an amber color. The hops he used were smooth with a low bitters value, just enough to give a mild, tingling bite, Carota said.
“It’ll be a creamy, mild, malty flavor and has a caramelized, nutty character to it,” Carota said.
Carota added the cherry flavor and a secret blend of spices to the brew.
“If you use your imagination, you might pick up a football character to it,” Carota said. “When you swallow, that’s when this complex set of flavors kind of hit and, hopefully, they’ll make you visualize a football.”
A black-and-gold history
A born-and-raised Yinzer, Carota witnessed the famed Immaculate Reception play in 1972.
In an AFC Divisional playoff game, the Steelers trailed the then-Oakland Raiders 7-6 with 22 seconds left, facing fourth-and-10 at their 40-yard line.
Running back John “Frenchy” Fuqua was Terry Bradshaw’s intended receiver for a 66 Halfback Circle Option play. Bradshaw threw down the middle to Fuqua at the Raiders’ 35 yard-line. Fuqua and Raiders safety Jack Tatum collided, sending the ball careening back toward midfield in the direction of Franco Harris, who snatched the ball just inches above the Three Rivers Stadium turf near the Oakland 45 before he outraced several stunned Raiders defenders to score.
Harris’ touchdown secured the Steelers’ first-ever playoff win. The play is considered a pivotal moment in franchise history, eventually leading to four Super Bowl championships in six years.
“It was amazing,” Carota said about seeing the ball in person. “I guess I was expecting some kind of special kind of football. It actually looked like a football we used when we were younger. It didn’t look any different than what I used all my life.”
Carota said he was surprised the ball was at Nemacolin.
“I imagined it being in (Acrisure’s) stadium museum,” Carota said.
The ball was gifted to Nemacolin founder Joseph A. Hardy III on his 100th birthday and remains on display at the resort.
“This is an extraordinary moment for Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania,” said Maggie Hardy, owner and CEO of Nemacolin, in a release. “Football is woven into the very fabric of this region, and the Immaculate Reception Weekend is our tribute to that enduring legacy. It is a celebration of the game’s history and its heroes, thoughtfully designed to bring people together through powerful storytelling, meaningful connection, and the elevated hospitality for which we are known.”
Before the Hardys got the ball, it had been in the possession of Jim Baker of West Mifflin for decades. Baker attended the Steelers-Raiders playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium.
According to a previous TribLive report, Baker fought to get the ball after Harris’ renowned touchdown and subsequent extra point by Roy Gerela ricocheted off the stadium facade behind the goalposts and landed in the end zone. Baker emerged from an ensuing scrum with the ball and, with the help of his 14-year-old nephew, Bobby Pavuchak, Baker ran out of the stadium with it.
The beer is just a part of the Fayette County resort’s aptly named Immaculate Reception Weekend, which will be full of football-related events, live music, dinner parties and more. It will all take place from April 23 to 26 to coincide with the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. Packages at Nemacolin range from $10,000 to $30,000.