DRAFT Magazine

Hood to Coast movie trailer

The craziness of the world’s largest relay race  will make its bigscreen debut this week at the South By Southwest Film Festival.

“Hood To Coast is basically a party for most of the teams on the course,” said Anna Campbell, producer of HOOD TO COAST and a veteran of the race. “And the beer tent on the beach is all the motivation people need to make it 197 miles from the top of Mt. Hood to the ocean.”

She added: “I should mention I also both run and drink beer.”

HOOD TO COAST follows four unlikely teams — including one whose training consists of beer drinking — among the legendary Oregon race’s 1,000 teams and 12,000 runners. Director Christoph Baaden (Campbell’s husband) ran the HTC race for the first time in 2007, and when he finished he vowed to shoot his first feature documentary about the event.

The film makes its debut on Saturday, March 13 at SXSW. You can see the trailer here.

“We’re madly putting finishing touches on the film now,” Anna said, “but by Thursday we’ll be in Austin for the festival.”

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

Via Chezeblog and The MAD House

Photo from bikesnbrew.com

Biking 100 miles is tough. Biking 100 miles with 8,600 feet of elevation gain while making four stops for beer is juuust a bit harder.

But that’s the challenge for riders of the Bikes ‘n’ Brew Century next Saturday (July 18). The “unofficial group ride” — so as not to cross any authorities — will climb 26 miles, conquer Mt. Hood and stop at four local beer spots en route to one epic 102-mile day.

According to BikePortland.org:

The ride is the the idea of Dan Tochen, a self-described “beer geek” who told us that “beer and cycling have always gone hand in hand with me and my friends.” He says that one inspiration was New Belgium’s Tour de Fat (coming to Portland on 8/15) . That event gave him the idea, but after attending it one year he thought, “Out of state beer and a 2-mile ride? This is Oregon, we can do better than that.”

The tour is scheduled to stop at the Hair of the Dog Brewing (tentatively), Mt. Hood Brewing Co., Elliott Glacier Public House and Double Mountain.

And you thought the Tour de France was a challenge.

Via BikePortland.org

Flickr photo by Rich115

I never quite understood the concept of the triple jump.

Why not the double jump? Or quintuple jump? Why three jumps? It seems such an arbitrary number to measure multi-jumping prowess.

However, I am willing to overlook the peculiar characteristics of the triple jump on behalf of the Eugene City Brewery Track Town Triple Jump Pale Ale.

Rogue (which owns the Eugene City Brewery) introduced this beer for last year’s Olympic trials in Eugene, but I just discovered it yesterday at my neighborhood grocery store.

I would hop, skip and jump any sand pit to get my hands on this beer. It has old-school racing spikes on the label, hits you with plenty of hops and has a nice malty aftertaste. That’s a triple win.

And for any triple jumpers out there, I apologize. I’m sure you think that running an oval track over and over again is weird. Let me assure you, it is.

Photo from beerporn.blogspot.com

I have not even tasted this beer yet and I already know I’m a fan.

Yes, brewers, all you have to do is put a track shoe on your label. I’m that easy.

This brew hails from Eugene, Oregon. Now in addition to beer, Eugene is most prominently known as the birthplace of Nike, the town where Steve Prefontaine became a legend, and a place where many people bike, kayak, and run today.

So it’s very fitting Track Town 200 Meter Ale is made there.

This beer would make the perfect drink to go with my track shoe tattoo. Or if I dress up like Steve Prefontaine for Halloween again.

So it has the sweet label and the rich heritage. But how does it taste?

“Man was it good,” proclaimed Jeff over at Beer Porn.

Part of the family of Rogue Ales, Track Town Brewery also makes a Honey Orange Wheat beer. They have won 40 international and national awards.