Biking for Beers 2018!
So despite the UK plunging into complete and utter chaos weather-wise, our annual “Biking for Beers” – Brewery Bike Tour returned. A fantastic group of beer lovers rocked up ready to brave the rain, wet and what we would now madly describe as ‘cold’, with one thing on their minds… great beer!The event (in celebration of Birmingham Beer Week) was led by Lisa Jones (MyBikeAdventure.com) working with BeerYeti.com and CycleBirmingham, the aim was to get people out on their bikes and enjoy good beer for Birmingham Beer Week 2018 while raising money for this year's charity, Birmingham Mind.
Meeting at Gorilla Coffee Cafe, Kings Heath, we were really well looked after by owner James Connolly and his team, with some cracking coffee and sausage sarnies. Some of us even managed to get a cheeky brew in too! :)
Despite the exceptionally wet and windy start, we set off to blue skies and a bit of sunshine. After a short 15 minute ride we hit our first stop; Birmingham Brewing Company. Greeted by Paul Harwood owner BBC, we grabbed our brews and sat down for a meet the brewer session with Head Brewer Matt Buist. Giving us the low-down on Birmingham Brewing Company and the process of brewing and what inspired him to get into brewing.
Just getting started, we headed off to our next stop; Dig Brew Co. A slightly longer route of about 30 minutes, we arrived just as the weather was turning. With the gleaming vessels surrounding us, we sat down for a tipple from their huge range of brews. Head Brewer Donncha Burke was brewing their second brew of the day, after a quick intro on Dig Brew’s roots, he revealed that we had come just in time for Sparging, which is where hot water is run through the grain bed to extract the wort. He explained the process and showed us all what was going on, with everyone able to take a peek.
It was then time to head over to the final stop on our beer pilgrimage; Fixed Wheel Brewery. This last leg was the longest but the reward would be great, with a whole array of uber tasty keg and cask brews. It didn’t help that the rain started lashing down on us, but despite a puncture, we made it! Only 15 minutes late and grabbing our favourite brews, we listened to Owner Scott Povey talk about his love for beer, bikes and how this infused the idea to create a bike-themed brewery, with all but one of their beers being bike related.
The day had been a win and it was time for us to sit down, chill with some fantastic beer, while drawing the raffle that was raising money for Birmingham Mind. What a cracking day!
A BIG THANK YOU to all of our riders that took part, Lisa Jones (MyBikeAdventure.com), Esther Barnes for helping with the leading, Gorilla Coffee, Birmingham Brewing Company, Dig Brew Co, Fixed Wheel, Beer Burgers Bikes, Leftfield Beer and 3CJ Cycles.
Bring on the next ride… COMING SOON! :)
