Although producing only 0.4% of the world’s wine, California’s Napa Valley is on almost everyone’s list of the world’s must-visit wine destinations. I enjoy visiting wineries. But truth be told, I’d rather visit breweries. So when I was doing some research for an upcoming trip to Napa, I was pleased to learn that beer has very successfully infiltrated wine country. A May 2018 article entitled Napa Valley’s Blossoming Beer Scene listed ten breweries in the valley, six of which were located in the city of Napa, where I would be staying. As I was researching the Napa beer scene, I discovered that my early-February visit would coincide with the inaugural Napa Beer Mile. I was particularly excited to discover that the Napa Beer Mile was not a traditional beer mile, which requires consuming a twelve ounce beer, followed by a one mile run, which is punctuated every quarter mile to consume another twelve ounces of beer. This has become a serious sport of sorts. The current beer mile world record holder is is Corey Bellemore, a Canadian who has completed four quarter-mile laps and consumed four beers in 4 minutes, 33.6 seconds. I was excited to learn that the Napa Beer Mile would involve no such exertions, requiring nothing more than visiting six breweries over an eight hour period and downing a beer at each. I feel that I could achieve that, even though the distance separating the two outlying breweries (St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery and Tannery Bend Beerworks) was 1.7 miles. The four remaining breweries were geographically clustered in a small section of downtown Napa.

Six breweries partipated in the Napa Beer Mile – St. Clair Brown Winery & Brewery, Trade Brewing, Napa Palisades Beer Company, Downtown Joe’s Brewery and Restaurant, Stone Brewing Napa, and Tannery Bend Beerworks. A ticket to participate in the Beer Mile cost $35, and provided you with discounted beer at each of the six breweries, as well as a commemorative ball cap for those visiting all six breweries. The event ran from noon until 8pm, on February 9. My son-in-law, Marrek, accompanied me on my tour of Napa breweries. Our “mile” started at St Clair Brown Winery & Brewery, where participants were required to check-in and pick up their passport card, which would be stamped at each of the six participating breweries.

After St Clair Brown we visited the remaining five breweries in the following order – Napa Palisades Beer Company, Trade Brewing, Downtown Joe’s Brewery and Restaurant, Stone Brewing, and Tannery Bend Beerworks. It rained periodically during the afternoon, and an Uber was required to to get to our final stop, Tannery Bend.

Overall, the Beer Mile was a fun experience. As expected, each brewery was quite different, with their unique line up of beers and unique ambience. We met and chatted with other Beer Milers along the way, most of whom were from the local area. This did get me thinking that the city of Napa May consider promotimg the Beer Mile to individuals living outside the city and region. Beer Tourism is a rapidly emerging phenomena, and the opportunity to promote the Beer Mile to potential beer tourists is one that should be acted upon. At our third stop, Trade Brewing, there was a Beer-It-Forward board on the wall. The idea of Beer-It-Forward is simple – you pre-purchase a craft beer for a friend. His or her name is placed on a board in the brewery. Next time they walk into the brewery they see their name on the board and can sit down and enjoy the beer that has already been purchased for them. As I perused the Beer-It-Forward Board at Trade Brewing, I was particularly pleased to see that some customers had pre-paid for beers for any police officer, fire fighter, or member (active or reserve) of the military. What a great gesture.

Upon completion of the Beer Mile at Tannery Bend Beerworks, we collected our Napa Beer Mile ballcaps. My hat will be added to my collection of brewery ballcaps. The hats did prove an attraction to a number of Beer Mile participants. In one brewery we did overhear someone saying that they were only doing the Beer Mile to get the ballcap. In another brewery, we sat next to three Beer Mile participants and watched them order three Coors Light. I am guessing they were there for the hat and not the beer.