On April 9, starting righty Joe Musgrove pitched his way into the record books, recording the first no-hitter in the 52-year history of the San Diego Padres franchise. Much beer was spilled as fans already elated to have a hometown hurler back in the rotation erupted in celebration. Now, Musgrove is doing his part to help replace some of those suds care of a collaboration beer he brewed with downtown San Diego’s Resident Brewing. Dubbed “No-No Joe”, that juicy West Coast double IPA is hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Strata, Citra and Simcoe hops, and sports stats referencing both the pitcher and the Pads. It registers 59 IBUs (international bittering units) and 4.4 SRM (standard reference method), and comes in at 8.206 alcohol-by-volume. Fifty-nine was Musgrove’s uniform number before he was traded to San Diego from the Pittsburgh Pirates, 44 is his current number (an homage to former Friars ace Jake Peavy) and the ABV is a nod to the 8,206 games it took the Friars to notch their first no-hitter. During the brew day Musgrove was very hands-on, milling grain, sanitizing tanks and even dry-hopping another fermenting batch of beer. No-No Joe will be released next week on draft and in cans, and a portion of proceeds from its sales will be donated to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. We caught up with Musgrove on his way home from a lengthy road trip, and he was kind enough to spend the flight back telling us more about beer, baseball and his monumental accomplishment.
Are you a beer fan and, if so, what are some of your favorite styles and local brews?
I’ve always been a beer drinker, but I didn’t really get into craft beer until I was about 22. I quickly became a fan of IPAs, but before I got into them, I was—and still am—a big Mexican-lager guy. I love an ice-cold Pacifico! My first true love, locally, was probably Ballast Point Brewing’s Sculpin IPA, but I was also big on Stone Brewing’s Neverending Haze IPA, AleSmith Brewing’s San Diego Pale Ale .394 and, of course, Resident Brewing’s Chasing Nelson and Solana Beach IPA.
How did you get hooked up with Resident Brewing for this collaboration?
To be honest, I didn’t know much about Resident up until this spring. Me and some friends spent a Sunday drinking some Chasing Nelson tallboys, and I spread the word on social media. The people at Resident reached out and invited me over. I went into the brewery, and they told me they’d like to do a collab on a beer. A week later, I threw the first no-hitter in Padres history, so naturally we landed on the name “No-No Joe”. I give the Resident team full credit on the creativity of including some of the history and numbers into the brew.
How’s it feel to join the ranks of Padres like Tony Gwynn and Heath Bell who also collaborated on local beers?
I think I have quite a way to go to reach the ranks of Tony Gwynn in the city of San Diego, but any time you’re mentioned in the same sentence as Tony Gwynn it’s a massive honor. I know Tony, as he recruited me to come play ball at SDSU—where I committed to play college ball—and I sure wish we could have the opportunity to sit and talk baseball one more time, and enjoy some cold beers honored after us.
What did it mean to you to not only pitch a no-hitter, but do it for the first time in your hometown team’s history?
I’d be lying to you if I said this is something I’ve always dreamed of or that this was a goal of mine once I was traded to San Diego, I’ve always worked my ass off to be seen as a solid Big Leaguer who sets a great example for those coming after me. For something like this to happen to me…a kid who grew up in San Diego and watched his favorite team come within one out multiple times…it feels meant to be. In a way it feels like a higher power is saying, “Hey kid, we see you,” which fuels me even more to continue to be me! This is something I’ll cherish forever and something the people of San Diego will never let me forget!