DRAFT Magazine

Brian Yaeger set out to visit 14 breweries across the country to cover 1% of the  1,400 American craft brewers.

The results was the beer road trip travelogue “Red, White and Brew.”

Like most journeys of discovery, this one turned out to be a journey of inner-discovery. To his own surprise, Yaeger became a Beer Runner.

“I hated running and would not say I love it now,” he said. “But now it has a hold on me.”

On Facebook, you list beer as your religious views. What is your holy trinity of beer?

Good beer, good food, good people. Can I get an Amen?

How did you get started running?

I found myself substantially upping my beer intake since I started ‘researching’ my book. I needed to burn it off. Setting out to write a book is daunting, and I kept in mind that the project was a marathon, not a sprint. So I told everyone I would run the L.A. marathon, just to ensure I wouldn’t back out. I decided to do it all at once. Burn calories. Get in shape. Raise money for the AIDS marathon. And turn the metaphorical marathon of writing a book into a literal marathon to prove to myself that all it takes is commitment.

You’d never run back-to-back miles in your life before this. How did it go?

I’ve always enjoyed cycling, and I did the California AIDS Ride from San Fran to L.A. But I felt running was something you did if a lion is chasing you, or if the ice cream truck is driving away. I knew zero about it. Then I heard about a running group that met early Saturday mornings — my favorite time because I could sleep through it — and I joined them on a 5-mile run. Miraculously, I kept up. I had no clue I could ever run that far (within a month). I was incredibly sore the next few days, but undeterred. Tragically, I discovered the following Saturday that the 5-miler was a recovery run for them! On just my second outing, I ran 10 miles.

How did you recover from that?

I took my first ice bath after the 10-miler. Imagine me explaining to the clerk at my store who was accustomed to me buying beer and muffins that I was buying two bags of ice to soak in. The 3rd week out? 14 miles! Needless to say, I did serious injury to my body. I had fewer than 4 months to train and basically had to take November off. Quitting was never an option. It was one of my greatest physical challenges and accomplishments.

Are you hooked on running now like you are with beer?

That’s the funny thing. In high school, I could nearly do a 6-minute mile. Today I can hardly do an 8-minute mile. And my half marathon times are getting slower, not faster (with the exception of 2:05 at last year’s Santa Cruz Half, which is an easy and beautiful course). So I’m neither graceful nor speedy. The hardest part is getting my running gear on. But once it’s on, I kinda, sorta love it. Essentially, as long as I drink this much beer, I need to run.

You visited 14 breweries in researching your book. Did you find many Beer Runners in those visits?

On the road trip that led to the book, I did a ton of walking around each town, but never had time for a run since I created a tight schedule. What pains me is that when I drove around the country again — this time to drink beer while promoting a book about driving around the country drinking beer — I planned to run every morning in a new city. Sadly, I broke my ankle–while running–2 weeks before the tour. I didn’t encounter any Beer Runners on crutches. But I’ve read about several brewery-sponsored races so I know there are tons of Beer Runners out there. I’d love to run in as many as possible.

Your chapter on New Belgium started with Tour de Fat in Ft. Collins. What were the highlights?

New Belgium kindly provided me with one of their Fat Tire cruisers and along with thousands of other riders, we set a Guinness world record for largest bike parade/ride. It was crazy fun. There were so many home-made bicycles including one family that turned a patio table and four bikes into a bar and grill on wheels. It’s an excellent way to promote the virtues of healthy exercise with healthy beer intake. Crazy costumes help.

In a glowing review of your book, Playboy called you “a great drinkin’ buddy.” If you could pick one drinking buddy to have a beer with, who would it be and what would you drink?

Tom Jones. No foolin’. The first time I saw him in concert I went as a joke, but the joke was on me. A dozen concerts later, I’d love to sit in a dark, Welsh pub with him and just chew the fat about his nearly 50 years in music. Any British (or Welsh) cask ale would do the trick. He just turned 69 and is pretty fit because, I kid you not, The Voice is (or at least was) a Beer Runner. Now he’s a Beer Ellipticaler.

Anything else to add?

I’m doing my first triathlon! Running long distance is troublesome, but spending an hour on an elliptical is murder. So I’m doing a sprint tri in Santa Barbara this August (and suckered my 67-year-old dad, 66-year-old mom and my girlfriend, aka Half Pint, into doing it, too). I love the cross-training and hope to do the occasional Olympic distance tri. That should earn me a few extra pints!