Brew Hiker

NOTE: In most cases, Brew Hiking is a social activity best enjoyed with good company. But sometimes travel and circumstances provide an opportunity that a dedicated brew hiker cannot resist. Veteran brew hiker Rick was recently faced with such an opportunity, and here he recounts his solo brew hike in Omaha.

I recently had a few hours to kill in Omaha, Nebraska on a beautiful spring afternoon and decided to embark on a three-brewery two-mile BrewHike, I was in Omaha on business a few days after the city being hit by some epic and record flooding, fortunately, the waters were receding, and the beer was still flowing. The route I chose began at my hotel, the downtown Omaha Marriott, highly recommended, and provided a scenic hike through the heart of Omaha.

From my hotel I ventured north past the CHI Health Center and TD Ameritrade Park, home to the NCAA World Series to reach my first stop; Zipline Brewing Co. located at 721 N. 14th Street. The location is actually a taproom for the craft artisan ales and lagers brewed with high quality precision in Lincoln, Nebraska. Zipline was born from their founders’ innate sense of adventure and their desire to connect with the thrill-seeking spirit in all craft beer fans. Accompanied by a sparse crowd for early afternoon day-drinkers, I sampled a flight of four; their Rye IPA, White IPA, Red Lager and American Triple. All worth the hike.

Upon departing Zipline I headed south back towards downtown and past Pioneer Courage Park billed as “the gateway into Omaha’s central business district is transformed into the gateway to the West with a one-of-a-kind tribute to the people who settled this great land. Pioneer Courage is a homage to the bravery, courage, and entrepreneurial spirit that defined the generation and left an indelible impact on the American character. This sculpture park is the largest installation of bronze and stainless-steel work of art in the United States and one of the two or three largest in the world.” Pretty cool! I continued through what remains of Gene Leahy Mall, the park was named after former Mayor Leahy in May 1992 and is in a sad state as all the trees had been cut down to make way for a sweeping $290 million renovation of Omaha’s downtown. I was on my way to Omaha’s Old Market where street musicians and artists offer entertainment as you wander in and out of the many boutiques and galleries that line the cobblestone streets.

My next destination was Brickway Brewery and Distillery at 1116 Jackson St. Brickway is billed as a “sophisticated yet untamed, extremely approachable, a gentleman rogue. It is someone everyone wants to be around. It holds the door open for the next person and smiles as they pass. It can hold a conversation in any crowd. It is everyone’s favorite host for the evening.” Okay. Being a distillery and a brewery, they had a lot of high-power brews on tap, being only my second destination, I shied away from the 17% ABV Epic Blackout Stout, most likely aptly named, and chose a delightful Pilsner to accompany my complimentary hot pretzel – nice touch!

Next up on the trail was Upstream Brewing Company at 514 S 11th St. (Actually, it’s just a stone’s throw from Brickway). Billed as “Omaha’s original brewpub, they’ve been making visitors feel like locals and locals feel like another round since 1996. I popular restaurant I decided to finish my hike with a delicious grilled New York Strip steak, it was Omaha after all, and a flight of their Firehouse Red Lager, Capitol Premium Pale Ale, O! Gold Light Beer and American Wheat.

Overall a great BrewHike that can be accomplished in a few hours with great sights, safe walking (all on sidewalks) and plenty of good beer. I chose these three breweries because I was short on time, if you have more Omaha has quite the craft brewing scene, with over ten breweries located within ten miles of the city center making the choice of longer, more adventurous BrewHikes numerous.

1.0 miles to

446 feet to

View all of Rick’s photos from his Omaha brew hike on Facebook.

BPM. It can mean many things, Beats Per Minute, Best Practice Methodology, or Bi-Phase Modulator, to name just a few. We have a new acronym for BPM to share.

With four brew hikes under our belts, we’ve thought of a variety of variables to quantify each, in a way that’s helpful to any prospective hiker that might follow in our footsteps, and beer quaffs. A brew hike might be rated on difficulty, scenery, and beer quality, among many others.

But the first vital measure for a brew hike must be BPM, or Breweries Per Mile.

BPM is the ratio of Breweries per Mile Hiked. A two mile hike that included two breweries has a BPM of 1.0. Our first four brew hikes had the following BPMs;

• Woodbridge: 0.57 (5 breweries/8.8 miles)
• Manassas: 0.58 (4 breweries/6.9 miles)
• Lorton: 1.30 (2 breweries/1.3 miles)
• Alexandria: 0.67 (4 breweries/6 miles)

Our planned route for the Leesburg brew hike, had a BPM of 5.74! Yup, that’s 7 breweries in 1.22 miles! This was destined to NOT be an average brew hike! So naturally, it made sense to do it on St. Patrick’s Day!

But our BPM changed from the outset. We learned on arrival at our first stop, MacDowell’s Brew Kitchen, that while they offer a fine selection of craft beers, they don’t (yet) brew their own, a change we were told is in the works. Tempted as we were to stay, the rules of brew hiking are clear, it is a hike between breweries. Our new starting point just 135 feet away, we departed with our thirsts intact, but we’ll be back!

New Leesburg brew hike BPM = 4.92!

And so, at 11:08 am on St. Patrick’s Day, there was a very obvious brew with which to start this brew hike at Crooked Run Brewing, and that was with a pint of their delicious Charm Milk Stout. It was breakfast after all! We followed that with just a taste of Skittlebrau, a collaboration Berliner Weisse brewed with 50 pounds of Skittles. Tart & tasty! We’d have happily stayed all day, but we had five breweries yet to visit.

Google maps said it would take us five minutes to walk the 0.2 miles to our next stop, and noon was fast approaching. We had to hurry!

Our #Leesburg #BrewHike passport gets its second stamp!

A post shared by Brew Hiker (@brewhiker_) on Mar 17, 2018 at 10:55am PDT

Black Walnut Brewery had a growing mid-day crowd, but still an open table by the window, Ireland vs. England rugby match on TV, and a menu board of tasty sounding brews. It was time for a flight! My favorite was the Mango Pale Ale. We’d have happily hung out all afternoon, but we had four breweries yet to visit, and the next one was a daunting 0.3 miles away!

BUT, experienced brew hikers know that we cannot survive on beer alone, try as we might. With four breweries ahead of us, lunch was in order. Fortunately the Leesburg Diner was perfectly situated by our next brewery, and provided a welcome pause for sustenance as a gentle snow started falling outside.

Having extended our hike by at least 25 feet to get to the diner, and 25 more to get back on course was tough, but freshly fueled by burgers and fries saw us through, and we made it next door to the Black Hoof Brewing Company with but a few snowflakes on us. Now almost 1:30, the crowds of Irish were growing, but again, we still easily found a table and quickly took flight! All the beers were great (my favorite was the collaboration Midnight Rhapsody dark lager), best of the day in Rick’s opinion. While Shane was impressed by the drinking Dad who fested with a sleeping child strapped to his chest. Or maybe it was a drunk leprechaun. Regardless, we’d have loved to stay all afternoon, but we still had three breweries yet to visit, and 0.1 miles to hike to reach our next one.

And reach it we did, and despite the happy and growing crowd we found at Bike TrAle Brewing, we still easily found a table and quick service (and pretzels!). The bar stools were all taken, so we didn’t get to see if the bike pedals on them actually did anything… pedal powered taps maybe? And despite being a day to celebrate our Irish-ness, I’m also mostly Czech, and so enjoyed celebrating that side of my beer heritage with a tasty Gold Velvet pilsner. We’d have really loved to hang out the rest of the afternoon, but we still had three breweries yet to visit, and 0.2 miles to go to reach our next one!

Along that 0.2 miles we passed a statue of American soldier and statesman George C. Marshall, who lived in Leesburg and whose home is now a historic landmark and museum. He seemed to want to join us, but being a statue, he could not, and we proceeded on, leaving George leaning against his fence.

We quickly reached our penultimate stop, the Loudoun Brewing Company. By now, St. Paddy’s was in full swing, and we had to venture upstairs to find an only recently empty table. We felt a bit out of place without a stroller in hand, or a toddler in tow, but we are older sorts with almost empty nests. But if we had enjoyed such a wealth of craft beer options in younger days, we certainly wouldn’t have shied away from pushing strollers on a brew hike. Our beers came in a celebratory green cup, which was great, as was the Molly’s Folly Irish Red that it contained! We’d have liked to stay for the rest of the afternoon, but we had one brewery yet to visit, and the longest leg of our hike ahead, a daunting 0.4 miles!

Wisely, we had started our day at the end point, leaving a car, and making a dinner reservation, as we were to be met by our lovely designated driver wives as well as a full on Casey family convergence. So despite the fact that St. Paddy’s festing was in full swing, we arrived at the Dog Money Restaurant & Brewery to be met by waiting wives and soon joined by adult kids, and met by a delicious dinner and some excellent beers. An Oatmeal Stout blended with a Red Ale into a tasty Black & Red? was a fine way to finish strong.

Loudoun County, VA is blessed with many wonderful breweries which you can find and plan your visit to on the LoCo Ale Trail. If you’re interested in a foot friendly trail, one that tips heavily towards the brewery side of the BPM ratio, without a lot of bothersome miles, you would have a hard time doing better than the brew hike we enjoyed on a snowy St. Patrick’s Day in Leesburg, VA.

(See all the photos on Facebook)

0.2 miles to

0.3 miles to

0.1 miles to

0.2 miles to

0.4 miles to

Is there such a thing as a bad brew hike?

Honestly, what could possibly bring down a walk between breweries with good friends? The weather? Maybe. One thing we’ve learned from our trail hikes is that persevering through whatever weather Mother Nature dishes out is part of the adventure. Of course we don’t recklessly head out into any crazy weather. But neither are we to be deterred by the chance of some rain or a little wind chill. And we’re out to prove that brew hiking IS a year round activity!

And so, facing freezing temperatures, we set out on our first  brew hike of 2018, our fourth overall. This time in Alexandria, Virginia (ok, technically the first two breweries weren’t IN Alexandria, but for simplicity’s sake, we’re still gonna call this the Alexandria brew hike), covering six miles and visiting four breweries along the way.

Continue reading Alexandria, VA – 6.0 Miles

Is Brew Hiking a year round activity? We weren’t sure. We enjoyed excellent weather for our brew hikes in October and November, but would December cooperate? Available daylight hours matter. On our first hike, we arrived at our final brewery after dark. It wasn’t really an issue for us on that hike. But keeping safety in mind, adding ‘after dark’ to the recreation of drinking and walking isn’t a plus. So with daylight getting shorter, and weather getting colder, we had to wonder, is brew hiking a year round activity.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Continue reading Lorton, VA – 1.3 miles

Brew Hike the second was accomplished on a Sunny November Saturday, and provided the perfect opportunity to walk off our Thanksgiving feasts, and recharge with some final local brews. Two new Manassas area breweries make this hike possible, with 2 Silos brewery which opened in October 2017, and Sinistral having opened just last week. These newcomers join two Manassas craft brew pioneers, Heritage and Bad Wolf which each opened in 2013.

Continue reading Manassas, VA – 6.9 Miles