Fits for Men: Craft Beer Festival

By Jessie

It seems very timely that LL just wrote about beer and running here, and then the next night, my husband and I were at a local Craft Brew Festival  I have titled this post "Fits for Men" because even though I enjoy a good microbrew, my husband is definitely the beer "connoisseur" of our relationship. He loves beer- loves drinking it, brewing it, talking about it, reading about it; this event was right up his alley.


The festival was held at the beautiful Minnesota History Center in downtown St. Paul.

Tickets sold out in about 10 minutes, but like I said, the D-man really likes beer, so he ensured we had two tickets in hand for this event.

This craft beer sampling event celebrates beer brewed in Minnesota by the breweries and brew pubs that are current members of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild. Chase out the winter chill with a multitude of Winter Warmers, hearty food, beer education, entertainment and music.


The participating breweries are listed below. Each one offered up endless 2 oz samples of some of their most unique and limited brews. We tried quite a variety of different brews, some good...some not so good. But fortunately the not so good ones could go straight into this "dumping bucket"

A casual event like this craft brew festival was the perfect opportunity for me to try out my new Stella and Dot necklace!

In fact, these two "German" beer girls said they loved my necklace...or did they love my husband?

There were quite a few people at the event. It spanned three floors of the museum. 

We also talked to some local "celebrities", like Omaur Ansari, owner of Surly Brewing. He also loves beer. And he is a runner. He ran the NYC marathon last year- check out his time here)

It was a fun event, especially for people who are interested in all the different varieties of beer.


And did I run better this morning, as LL's article would suggest? No, I definitely did not.

Participating Breweries:

• August Schell Brewing Co.
• Barley John’s Brew Pub
• Big Wood Brewery
• Boom Island Brewing Co.
• Brau Brothers Brewing Co.
• Carmody Irish Pub & Brewing
• Castle Danger Brewery
• Cold Spring Brewing Co.
• Finnegans
• Fitger’s Brewhouse
• Flat Earth Brewing Co.
• Fulton
• Granite City
• Great Waters Brewing Co.
• Harriet Brewing

• The Herkimer
• Leech Lake Brewing Co.
• Lift Bridge Brewing Co.
• Lucid
• Mankato Brewery
• Olvalde Farhouse Ales
• Rock Bottom Brewery
• Staples Mill Brewing Co.
• Steel Toe Brewing
• Summit Brewing Co.
• Surly Brewing Co.
• Third Street Brewhouse
• Town Hall
• Vine Park

Fundamental Fit: Beer and Running

By: LL
An ideal topic for the end of the work week!

For many of us, the light at the end of a long (heck, even a short) road race is the requisite beer. It doesn't matter how early in the morning, or how grueling the course. For many runners, a congratulatory beer is part of the experience. The famous Hash House Harriers have made worldwide clubs based on the mutual enjoyment of running and a cold brew.

Cool J and I are definitely amoung the group that adds some "hops" post run. So, imagine our delight when Cool J came across this Runners World article on beer, running, and (gasp) performance enhancement.

Putting together a study of 5 men and 5 women, ages 29-43, all moderate drinkers (as defined in this study as less than the recommended daily limits of two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women), who ran at least 35 miles per week. The study started by figuring out what the "normal" amount of beer consumed post run would be - staying below 0.07 BAC.

The study consisted of a "beer run" of 45 mintues at a steady pace on a treadmill, followed by a cold beer or placebo and a carb loaded dinner. Then, the following morning was an "exhaustion run," where the runners ran at a fast pace for as long as possible. Researchers measured heart rate and metabolic factors. After calling it quits, the runner could go home and rest, only to return that evening for a second "beer run," followed by beer or placebo and carbs. The next morning, the runners would complete their second "exhaustion run."

The author of this article said that even though she felt as if she did worse on the second "exhaustion run" because of her beer consumption the night before, she was wrong. She was actually served a placebo the night before that second run, not beer.

The study, even though small, found that the overall difference between the two "exhaustion runs" was zero because the women in the study were able to run at that fast pace for longer (22% longer) after drinking beer, but the men actually ran shorter (21% shorter) time after drinking. Ratings of perceived exertion, however, showed no significant difference between the two runs.

So what does this show? Keeping in mind that it was a very small sample size, it showed that beer is good for women and bad for men! Well, kind of. But more importantly, it shows that if beer has a negative impact on performance, it is a modest one.

So quit worrying about a few beers post run!