Biking and Brewing
Today I went to the wonderful Tour de Fat festival held by the New Belgium Brewing Company here in St. Louis’s Forest Park. The brewery itself is in Fort Collins, CO, my home town, but they are traveling around helping out local alternative transportation initiatives, and getting people addicted to their wonderful beers.
There was a race at 9:00am this morning, which I slept through, but I did get to see live music, enjoy several cups of beer, talk to a bunch of other bicyclists, and other fun things. The beer was 2 bucks a cup, which isn’t bad, especially considering that all the money from beer sales (not just the profits, but all the beer money) was going to support local alternative transportation and alternative energy groups. The beer is delicious too. If you haven’t had a chance to try it, I highly recommend it. It can be found at finer establishments in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and California. They have quite a few beers, all of which are wonderful, but the ones you’ll commonly see outside of Colorado are their famous Fat Tire Amber Ale, and their wonderful Blue Paddle Pilsner.
Their brewery is fully wind powered, uses advanced water reclamation techniques to save water, recycles all recyclable waste products, and is all around a good place. New Belgium also donates one dollar for each barrel sold to a variety of charities around the country. They are a model of a company that can produce great products, have a great time doing it, and be responsible with our world’s resources, all at the same time. Makes you wonder why some other companies have such a hard time with it.
Perhaps the highlight of the Tour de Fat was that I got to ride an 1800s style bicycle, you know, the kind with the huge front wheel, and the tiny back wheel! They are very difficult to ride, since my natural bike urge is to lean to turn, which will crash you in a hurry on one of these bikes. I also got to see some other old bikes, one of which was an 1893 bicycle that had front suspension!
There was also a group there that was making t-shirts by laying bicycle sprockets down on the shirt and air brushing around it with neon paint. The same group had manufactured several crazy bicycles, one shaped like a big dragon, another with a huge banana on it, another like Elvis, one with a giant pink elephant around it, and another equipped with car batteries and blenders for making margaritas on the move. The group was named, appropriately enough, the Banana Bicycle Brigade. Funny people.
It was also the day for Earth Day celebrations, also held in Forest Park. More live music, and hundreds of booths hyping everything from solar ovens and water heaters, to recycled soy wax candles and healing massage.
The weather was great, and it was fun to go out and drink and ride bikes with hundreds of other fun loving bicyclists and Earth Day celebrators. Pictures of the festivities, including ones of me riding the 1800’s bicycle, are forthcoming!
Update: Photos are available in the gallery, check ‘em out!
Sunday 27 Apr 2003 | Sam | Personal
Sam, glad you liked the New Belgium sponsored event in Forest Park. It is true, they are a leader in community/employee relations. I would give credit to the vision of the owner/founder Jeff Lebesch. Jeff brings both vision and business sense together. I was at a meeting held in their free community room and we were invited to use the communal kitchen (free coffee, water bottles, etc.) and have a free cold one after our meeting. Like you said, a great model for other businesses. Why do other businesses fail at this? My single best guess: they don’t trust their employees. New Belgium does, it makes all the difference!!
New Belgium, aside from turning countless beer drinkers away from the dark (lite) side, has made endless contributions to Colorado and beyond with all sorts of really cool, fun, and thoughtful projects.
I wish I could support them more, but there are too many beers to give my allegence up
Well, they managed to catch my attention early, so they get a special spot in my roster. But you are right, there are lots of great beverages out there, and it will be a long time before I have opportunity to try even a modest number of them. I’m sure I’ll have a good time trying though!