This past weekend, I participated in the Ville to Ville Craft Brew Relay, a 72-mile run from Asheville, NC to Greenville, SC (Way to go Team Legends of the Drunken Temple). Two of my best friends from college were on the team, too, and my partner was our faithful driver (bless her for putting up with six stinky people for ~11 hours). Broken into 12 legs, I ran legs 4 and 12, 7.55 and 3.95 miles, respectively. At the end was a big party with music, food, and all the good stuff.
The night before, we kept it light, instead choosing to overindulge in pasta and bread and tuna steaks. As I was getting ready to meet up with the group, an idea dawned on me — bring some nonalcoholic beer. I had joked about carboloading, but the thought struck me that I could actually do as much with some NA beer without risking, you know, getting shit hammered and throwing up on the side of a random road in the mountains of North Carolina. Thankfully, I had gotten some Athletic Brewing Company beers back in January to try for Dry January which, while I made it 3 weeks into Jan, I never did try the ABC beers. This seemed like the perfect time.
I threw a six-pack of the Upside Dawn Golden Ale and the Run Wild IPA into our collective cooler and called it a night. Now, before this, I had mostly laughed off non-alcoholic beers. Not that I have anything wrong with NA options, but working in food and booze for years, I never wanted for beer, wine, or anything else. When I wanted to take a break from drinking, I’d just drink seltzer, if anything other than water, coffee, or tea. I had friends who had given up drinking for various lengths of time and had enjoyed NA beers, but the few times I had had them amounted to when I was a kid and would take St. Pauli Girl beers out of my parents’ basement fridge. I remember the cool, crisp taste and the bubbles. I liked the bubbles as a kid.
Now, though, with the ability to drink whatever I want, why would I bother drinking a beer without alcohol, I asked myself. Then, I ran 7.55 miles of straight hills in a light dusting of snow. My first leg was rated the second hardest of the 12, and well, yes. Yes it was. An initial big hill just led to what I thought of as a Limp Bizkit leg. It just kept rollin’, rollin’, rollin’.
Yes, I did make that joke.
My leg ended at a local Hendersonville Brewery, and I would’ve loved to sit with a beer (my next leg wasn’t for another six or seven hours), but we had to get to the next transition point. No beer for me.
On the way to the next stop, I grabbed a Golden out of the cooler and chugged it.
My god, it was everything I needed and wanted at that moment. Yes, one of my nipples was raw and dangerously close to bleeding. Yes, I smelled like what happens when you leave a boy’s locker room closed off without ventilation for a week. But its light and pretty balanced profile with just enough of a hop kick (it comes in at 15 IBU), was absolutely perfect. It was the definition of thirst-quenching. When I run, I sometimes envision air coming in through my mouth and nose and pervading every area of my body, a picture of a vascular system being pumped up with fresh oxygen. It helps me focus during a run. This beer did the same thing here. I felt its cool crispness pervading me. Attaching itself to my already tightening quads and calves. Replenishing my definitely empty stomach.
By the time we got to the next stop, and we were waiting for our runner to finish his leg, I cracked one of the IPAs — no NA beer left behind, after all. If it were warmer, the bright hoppiness would’ve been more appealing to me — I love a good, cold IPA on a hot summer day, especially here in South Carolina — but even though the temperature hadn’t yet broken 45 degrees, it was still enjoyable. I preferred the Golden, but my teammate preferred the IPA after his legs.
Sitting in a van for 10 hours, with some time running, gave me time to think about NA beers. While I probably won’t have them with regularity, I can honestly say I now see the value in them (outside of being able to offer someone who doesn’t drink an option beyond water, seltzer, or juice). I’m team Athletic Brewing now, and will definitely be packing more when we do Ville to Ville again next year, as we signed up as a team the next morning to do it again. It may have hurt at times, but we hurt together, and we did it (while also beating our estimated end time by 20 minutes).
Cough Athletic Brewing, want to sponsor us next year? Cough
Cough I’m not kidding, call me Cough