A new kind of race: 1K Beer Walk

On Saturday, Beer Geek and I participated in the Washington Wine Academy/DC School of Beer’s Beer Walk.   It was a walk through the Crystal City Underground with multiple beer stations.

After our designated driver dropped us off (and took our kids – talk about a good friend), we stopped at the registration table aka Station 1, where we got “race” t-shirts, bibs, tasting tickets and tasting glasses.  The volunteers were super efficient and we were quickly on our way.  

At the Station 2, I tried the Baying Hound Aleworks Long Snout Stout (which turned out to be my favorite beer all evening ) and New Belgium’s Snow Day.

Wonder just how slow this 1K will be…

The next station offered Port City beers where (as people who know me would guess) I enjoyed their porter.

Station 4 had Ommegang, Duvel, and Harpoon.  Why yes, I could have just moved in there.  They also had a decent selection of wine (not that I had any) and BBQ pork sliders  (YUM!) from Memphis BBQ.

Smiling big about the Duvel being poured for me

We skipped Station 5 because, umm, I don’t like light(ish) beers.  (It was Yuengling – perfectly acceptable if you are into that kind of beer.)

Station 6 was a winner.  Bathrooms, a few seats, and Spaten and Magic Hat.  Magic Hat Howl was definitely in my top 5 beers of the evening.

I think the camera man had a few beers too.

Station 7 was the water station.  Luckily I didn’t want any LOL.

They were trying to find the keys to the gate.

I think we skipped Station 8 (Anchor Steam and Bock), but I really don’t remember LOL.

Station 9 was Sam Adams, where I had a beer.  What beer?  Couldn’t tell you.  I also ate a bunch of Cabot cheese.  Kudos to WWA for free food stations along the way.

Station 10 was awesome as well.  I had two favorites – Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and Flying Dog “Gonzo Imperial” porter.  I also ate more than a few m&ms.  Just sayin’.

Woohoo, I finished.

Because of our DD arrangements, we “had” to walk the course backwards.  This worked out really well for me as I was able to get a second and third taste of my favorites.  We finished back at the Long Snout Stout, where I used my last two tickets to get a double pour and called our driver to pick us up.

I was feeling just a little blurry LOL

All in all, it was an awesome event.  It was sold out, but the layout made it so it never felt crowded.  I never had more than a minute or two wait for a beer.  The number of tickets was perfect for me to enjoy myself without imbibing too much (although Beer Geek said he saw that you could buy more.)  I highly recommend this event and will be attending next year.

And now I have a 1K PR to beat:  1:05  – yes that is one hour and five minutes LOL.

Disclaimer:  I paid for our tickets and Washington Wine Academy did not ask me to review it.