Poulsbo Beer Run

I live in Kitsap County, Washington State.

 

Mt. Rainier and Seattle Skyline and Ferry. This is where I live.

 For those unfamiliar with this territory it is a peninsula across the Puget Sound from Seattle. We are the country to Seattle's town. I, personally, live here because my husband is in the Navy stationed at Bangor. While Seattle is only a ferry ride away it might as well be a ocean. We rarely go there except for beer fests (fewer now than we'll admit), Emerald City Comicon and to get to the Sea-Tac airport.

Kitsap County has it's own benefits - small towns, affordable cost of living (except Bainbridge Island), lots of hiking, kayaking and outdoor activities. The Pacific Northwest is known for three things - Coffee (Hello, Starbucks!), Beer (A microbrewery a mile) and Serial Killers (probably not the best export). I do love coffee and I have a slight obsession with reading true crime serial killer biographies, but my real passion lies in that glorious combination of hops, wheat, barley, malts and water.

Slippery Pig the Day of the Run - Taken by Amanda McNeil

There is a microbrewery the next town over that I visit on a regular basis - Slippery Pig Brewery where the men wear kilts and the brewery is set up on a working farm. Their beers are more experimental. using elements of cucumber, stinging nettles, cedar and rhubarb, their brews are as complex and rewarding as a Neil Gaiman book. We attended their Big Cocktoberfest beer event (It's Red Rooster Farms - brilliant name for a festival). We met some other beer loving people who are now our BFFs and on a random visit to sample some of their new brews I discovered "The Poulsbo Beer Run" on St. Patrick's Day, 2012.

Poulsbo has 3 lively microbreweries - Valholl, Sound and Slippery Pig. They are all within a mile of each other and they do collaborative events. For $25 you get 4 beers and a T-shirt and you get to drink a beer, run to Valholl, drink a beer, run to Sound, drink a beer, run back to Slippery Pig and then drink another beer. I am what my father calls a "Cheap Date" and what I like to call a two-beer chump.This was going to be interesting.

Yay! Friends and Beer!

The morning of the PBR it was freezing and raining and as we waited to register, drink and run I was slowly becoming a Leila Popsicle. I was regretting my decision and since you couldn't choose your first beer at Slippery Pig it was an overly hoppy beer which I didn't enjoy as much. But then the run began and there's something about running that makes me ... happy. I love it. When I reached Valholl I picked a lager and with some added water I ran to Sound Brewery, picked the beer that shared my last name - O'Regan's Revenge, a nice amber, and after chatting for awhile began my final run back to Slippery Pig. I had to walk up part of the long sloping hill but ran most of it. By the time I crossed the "finish line" I was all warmed up, drunk and excited. I drank my final beer - a rhubarb concoction - with vigor.

Ah, Slippery Pig, How I love Thee

While running or walking (whichever you chose) as you passed other PBR participants they all yelled out a "Woo-Hoo" or a high five or a little word of encouragement it was nice and welcoming and I appreciated it. It kept me going.

At one point it snowed that day but my drunk booty didn't seem to notice. All I noticed was that the beer was flowing, the ones I picked were delicious, I was learning about the microbreweries in my area and I had a marvelous day with friends and that most eloquently designed form of liquid the hand crafted micro brew.