Beer Barrel Brewers Roll Out Local Flavor

The Milwaukee Brewers won 100 games this season for the first time in franchise history and clinched their fourth straight NL Central title along the way. This means the "Beer Barrel Polka" is heading into October.

If you have never been to a Brewers home game, here is what happens in the seventh inning. The crowd sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and then American Family Field rolls right into the "Beer Barrel Polka" while the whole building sings and claps along. This is unique to Milwaukee and something you will not hear in any other ballpark in America.

The Brewers adopted the song in 1970, their very first season in Milwaukee, and it has been part of every home game since. It was a nod to the team's original Beer Barrel Man logo and to the Polish and German heritage that runs deep in Wisconsin, where polka is the official state dance. That first season the grounds crew wore lederhosen, and fans at County Stadium used to polka dance right on top of the dugouts. By reflecting the local culture, the team created an important audio landmark that helps build its sonic identity, and those are the things that create an immediate bond between team and fan. I'm sure the number of polka fans in the stands might not be enough to fill a community dance hall, but in the moment, everyone loves polka and that nod to the past.

The song did not even start in Wisconsin. It was written in Czechoslovakia and became a U.S. hit for The Andrews Sisters in 1939, but Milwaukee made it THEIRS. Today you will hear it at Packers games in Green Bay, Bucks games in Milwaukee, and all over the state, where it has become one of Wisconsin's unofficial state songs.

This season the Brewers took it a step further with Mike Schneider, a Milwaukee polka musician who picked up the accordion at age six after seeing Frankie Yankovic play at a parish festival. In 2025 he recorded a series of short polka prompts for the team, including "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and the "Beer Barrel Polka" for the seventh-inning stretch, and in 2026 he started playing live accordion at select home games. A real musician playing the music of the region turns a baseball game into a MILWAUKEE experience.

Every team in every league has access to the same big songs. "Seven Nation Army," "Thunderstruck," and "We Are the Champions" are permanent fixtures in buildings everywhere, and they work, but the songs that belong to ONE city are the ones fans carry home with them. "Sweet Caroline" is the Red Sox, "I Love LA" is the Dodgers, "New York, New York" is the Yankees, and the "Beer Barrel Polka" is the Brewers. Those are moments you can't replicate anywhere else.

So take a look at your own market. What is the heritage of your fan base, and which artists grew up in your city? Is there a regional sound, like Texas country, Detroit Motown, or Seattle grunge, that your fans already claim as their own, and are there local musicians who could bring it to life in your building the way Mike's accordion does in Milwaukee?

Local flavor still has to be cleared, and the "Beer Barrel Polka" is a perfect example. Jaromír Vejvoda's original instrumental, first called "Modřanská polka," dates back to 1927, so you would think its age means it could be used without a license. It can't. The familiar English version, "Roll Out the Barrel," with words by Lew Brown and Wladimir Timm, was registered and renewed in the U.S., and between those renewals and the added lyrics, the version fans sing is still protected and requires a license to use with video content. A hometown band's new single or a local musician performing live in your venue comes with its own rights questions too, and that is how we help teams every day. One of the things I love most about my job is helping create those memories for people.

If your team is looking for the sound of your city, or you are a label with an artist who has hometown roots, send me a note at john.adams@thescore.us.