Tour De Brew
The Tour De Brew Bike Ride this weekend was a success. We started by gathering at the Motley Cow (across the street from John’s) at 11am. We had a few beers there, and some nice conversation. After an hour it was time to put our gear on and start the ride to North Liberty. We had about twenty people, plus another twenty who took the bus from Amana to John’s Grocery and started a bit later than us.
I wanted to get a head start on the main body, because I was hauling this 1/6th barrel of Pale Ale. I had it strapped into a burely, with a keg blanket strapped over it. I was pretty impressed at how well the keg blanket did at keeping the beer cold! However the keg was heavy, and the wind resistance on the burely was high, so it was really something else to haul it up the hills of Dubuque Street to North Liberty. I cranked away though, and made it in good time.
We stopped at Bob’s Place for a few drinks. It was a nice place for that. But soon it was time to head out, because we needed to get this keg into position infront the main party. My brother Eric was a huge help in this, hauling the burely 16 miles past Greencastle Airport to the junction of Old Highway 6 and Highway 6. He hauled it, and I tried to keep up! There is a stand of tree’s at the junction known to the local’s as Crofta’s Corner. This is where the old bootlegger cars used to gather to collect whiskey from the local stills before they made their runs into Iowa City during Prohibition.
Naturally it was a perfect place to stop and tap the keg. The beer was cold, but very shook up from some of the bumps on Old Highway 6! After awhile it settled down. I was sort of annoyed that the sankey tap would not go all the way down on the 1/6th barrel, that is a problem with some of the old style tappers and these new steel kegs. So it was a two man job to tap the keg and pump it to serve the beer. We persevered though, and waited an hour and half for nearly everyone to come by and drain the keg. I sure was not going to haul that keg 6 miles down hilly Highway 6 until it was empty. That way, everyone would be helping to move their own portion of it!
Back at the brewery we enjoyed some brats and sunshine. Thanks to Team Wimpy for their bus and help with the ride. They are a ‘drinking club with a bicycling problem’. We let the riders all have a free glass of Radler (beer mixed with lemonade) to help refresh them. Most everyone seemed to enjoy it best mixed with Pilsner. I made two kegs of lemonade, so that will be around at the brewery for a few weeks if you would like to try it.
Next year we will do it again! There was some talk of taking a different route.. but all the other ways are even more hilly.. Leave your suggestions/comments below!
Here are some more pictures!
