DRAFT Magazine

The Beer Bell

You’ve heard the old joke about working out with 16-ounce curls.

Now you can actually get serious about bicep curls while drinking with the beer bell mug. It’s essentially a beer mug with a hand weight attached. It’s brilliant in its simplicity.

I’m not sure this item exists anywhere outside this obscure eBay auction, so you might want to hurry if you’re determined to exercise with beer. The lot also includes a yellow-paged book demonstrating exercises “in nice condition,” save for pages 16-17.

According to the seller’s description, this vintage item was recovered from an estate sale in the 1980s. Today it’s selling for about 25 bucks — beer not included.

“The beerbell is the most enjoyable exercise device ever created!” the seller promises. “Who says exercise can’t be fun?!?!”

Not us!

DrinkFit app for iPhone

If you want to know exactly how many calories you’re consuming with each craft beer, there’s an app for that.

Add DrinkFit to the growing legions of beer-related iPhone apps.

DrinkFit was recently featured on Mashable’s 10 fun iPhone apps for beer lovers, which had this to say about it:

“Drink Fit is a great app that provides users with full nutritional information for more than 1,600 drinks (including beer, cocktails, wine) and also offers a My Night feature where users can tally their caloric consumption for one evening of drinking.”

Maybe this means we have to turn our Beer Allowance into an iPhone app. Now that he’s done with the DRAFTmag.com redesign, maybe we can persuade our web director get on that.

The Beer Sweater

You may have stocked up on winter running gear for yourself. But have you considered the comfort of your beer as the temperature plummets?

Now you can, thanks to the The Beer Sweater by Melissa Martensen, “for when you love your beer enough to want to keep it toasty warm.”

The nice thing about winter is you can leave your beer outside, go for a run, and return to an optimally chilled beverage. As long as you don’t run too far and the temperature isn’t too cold. That’s where the beer sweater can be clutch.

Now someone just needs to come up with moisture-wicking base layer complete with balaclava and lobster claw gloves for those days your beer braves sub-zero temperatures.

Thanks to I Heart PGH via the Natural Stitches Newsletter for the link.

You know that a lighter, you teeth, even a piece of paper can work as a beer bottle opener in a pinch.

Portland Design Works introduces us to yet another option: A multi-use bike tool. As an added bonus it won’t decimate your enamel.

A video for the 3wrencho demonstrates its many uses as a tire lever and wrench to fix a bike flat with one tool. It concludes showing how effortlessly the 3wrencho pops open what appears to be a Deschutes brew.

According to the official product description:

the 3wrencho (raw) is your best buddy when you have a flat. unlike your other friends the 3wrencho is made of heat-treated steel, removes 15mm axle nuts and can pry tires off of rims. feel free to step on 3wrencho for added leverage when loosening axle nuts. other uses: spread peanut butter, open a bottle or scratch an itch.

Thanks to Joe Steve for the tip!

UPDATE with some more options from my friend Greg:

Surly takes it one step further with their wrench, but I personally like their tensioner. It’s like having a bottle opener on your rearview mirror.

Here for the Beer

Dressing in winter running gear is complicated.

You have to strategically mix sweat-wicking base layers, heat-trapping mid-layers, windbreaking outer shells, and whatever other cutting-edge fabric technology keeps you warm without pooling lukewarm sweat in various crevices.

Getting dressed is almost a workout by itself.

However, this winter (and it’s nearly upon us) I’m tempted to go with just a old-school 90% cotton (10% polyester) hoody sweatshirt.

That’s because my pals at Milwaukee’s own Brew City Beer Gear have developed the innovative hoody brew pouch.

Here’s a video of the beer pouch in action, including jogging. You can even use it for water bottle holding during your run, and swap it out with beer for your post-run reward.

According to the official product description:

This is the one original patented Beverage Pouch Hoody. Finally, you can carry around a bottled beverage without tying up your hands. These are great for going to sporting events, fishing, camping, or even hanging out around the house.

Thank you, technology.

Update: Here’s a version of the hoody from my favorite place to buy beer in Milwaukee.

"I run on biofuel"

My buddy Chris at Rizzo Tees tipped me off to the perfect Beer Runner shirt. (This one is a close second.) As Chris says, “Beer, running, and the environment - the tee is a triple threat.”

P.S. I’ll be at GABF starting Friday and will be sending updates from my Twitter account. See you there.

[UPDATE: I'd like to add this and this soap to the list.]

This morning I showered with beer, and I must say I am currently enjoying the smell of myself. I’m giving off a subtle hoppy aroma with citrus undertones. I’m making myself thirsty.

To be clear, I did not douse myself with a pale ale this morning. I cleansed myself with beer soap.

Milwaukee Beer Soap™ is handmade by Milwaukee Ale House brew master Jim Olen and comes in varieties like Hop in the Shower, Clean and Sober and Oatmeal Stout.

Olen told my old publication MKE that “You don’t smell the beer because (the beer smell) is kind of destroyed in the process,” but you smell the fragrances he adds like oatmeal cookies, sap moss and bananas. But I could have sworn I caught a whiff of brewery.

I picked some up for Christmas presents at the Sprecher Brewery’s on-site gift shop, but a little Google action will find you many other places to find beer soap.

What does this have to do with Beer Running? I think the answer is pretty obvious. You work out, you get sweaty and stinky, you have to clean up.

I used to think there was nothing more enjoyable than a post-workout beer. Now I found something something to make it even better.

via Beer N Bikes

I once ran a race that offered communist-themed athletic socks as awards for their finishers in place of lame, boring race medals.

This was a revelation for me. Socks — the most taken-for-granted item in anyone’s wardrobe — could potentially be awesome.

And so it is with Sock Guy’s Cycling Beer Socks. They are made with ultra-wicking micro denier acrylic, nylon, spandex and (one would imagine) maybe some hops threaded in there.

Side note: I discovered these socks on a cool new(ish) blog called Bikes N Beer, written by cyclist and craft beer fan Jeff Hammett of Durango, Colorado. You should definitely check it out here.

Is it any coincidence that a Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale fits perfectly in a bottle cage?

Via Chezeblog and The MAD House

It’s been a problem for the ages.

How do you bike while carrying beer that doesn’t end up the temperature of your fetid, sweaty back?

Timbuk2 resolves this issue once and for all with the Dolores Chiller ($110).

It looks like a regular messenger bag. It acts like a regular messenger bag. But it’s fully equipped with insulated, waterproof liner for all your beer transportation needs. And it comes with a built-in bottle opener.

“There’s just no need for warm beer,” declares the official product description. “It’s a beautiful day in the park and you deserve to drink a cold one that’s actually cold.”

If this isn’t a case of engineering at its most stunningly utilitarian, I don’t know what is.

Via BeerCritics.com, Chow.com