Bog Iron Brewery and Shayne's Pre-Run

Saturday was the Shayne's run yard sale, where we all donate stuff we're looking to get rid of.  Hey, one man's trash is another man's treasure, right?  And even though we're selling this stuff for short money, it's amazing how quickly short change can add up.  (I believe this year we raised over $1,500, and that all goes toward offsetting the costs of the run.)

This year, though, I had an invite from Chrissy to go visit a new brewery that she and Aaron wanted to check out.  Matty joined us, as did another guy; a friend of Aaron and Chrissy's that they spotted on their way to the brewery.  He was on his way to work, but once he found out where they were headed, he scrapped that plan and tagged along.

I give you; Bog Iron Brewery!

That big guy on the left?  That's Jay.  He's the one who was on his way to work.

But he opted for the better plan of doing some sampling with us, instead.  7 beers on tap, 4 samples per flight...hmmm...one extra slot.  (So we filled it with a second pour of one that sounded good.)

Hey, this place has a mini version of that leg lamp from A Christmas Story!

Ta da!  Far and away, this was my favorite offering.  It's called "Joe" and was their stout.  It - was - delicious!!

Here's a listing of the beers they had available today.  As you can see from the high ABV's, they don't fcuk around!

A customer of theirs made this for them.  Took one of their bottles, ran a cord out the bottom edge and filled it with mini Christmas lights.  I liked the look of this so much, I'm gonna do it in my basement.

We didn't pay much attention to the various glasses stacked on this shelf...until one of the owners came up, retrieved his drinking vessel, had it filled and walked off with it.  Oh, his drinking vessel was a drinking horn!  (Ok, it wasn't an authentic one, it was made of plastic, but it was still cool.)

I asked the guy doing the pours how much they know to charge for filling up a customer's vessel, since they're all different sizes.  He said that when someone brings something in, they'll fill it with 16 ounces of water, mark the vessel, and then they'll know each time how full to pour it.  (Of course, I'm thinking about doing this, but then elevating the mark on the inside of the glass...)

We each selected the ones we liked and knocked a couple back before heading off in our own directions.  Jay was going to stick around as he'd texted his wife (also a beer drinking) and she was coming down to join him.  I was headed off to the Shayne's run yard sale, Matty was headed off to a cookout, and Aaron and Chrissy had a couple of errands to run and were then going to swing by the yard sale as well.

It was a great way to start a fun Saturday!


Now then, on to Sunday...

Each year, we do a pre-run of the Shayne's route to make sure there are no big construction issues or detours to take into account when doing the actual run.  Each year, we get about a handful of bikes and rip things up pretty well, all in the name of preparation.

This year, the stars must have aligned just right, for not only did the weather turn out to be gorgeous, but we have about 20 bikes!  This made it a bit interesting in trying to keep the whole column together (and more than once, there were more than a few bikes that took great liberties with the difference between a yellow light and a red light), but we all stayed safe and all had a great day.  Some pics...

I shoulda snapped a pic at the Post before we all headed off, but didn't, so here ya go; segmented groupings from our lunch stop;

These guys were smart and parked in the shade...

These guys were not smart, and lined up with me, in the sun...

And these guys were the smartest.  Shade, and closest to the door.

When we first pulled in to the parking lot, I had a bit of fear as there was only one car, and I wondered if they were even open.  But they were, and we soon had commandeered the bar.  The entire bar.  I think there were only two seats which we didn't fill, which meant that we were all facing each other across the bar, which meant we needed to utilize some Rendezvous shenanigans.

The bartenders thought we were a riot, which of course; we are.  The cook, though, was a bit overwhelmed and those of us who'd ordered last were left to drool as the rest of the crew munched down their lunches.  But the cook came through for us and before too (too) long, we, too, had happy bellies.  He came out after all our food was prepared (probably to get a break) and we all gave him a hearty thank you for putting up with us.

Cindy felt it necessary to respond to my Other Side Sux sign (you'll have to click on the pic to read it).

 

We still had the second half of the run to check out so we soon ambled back outside to the bikes.  Some folks had to head off and take care of other business so we said our goodbyes to those who were leaving, and the rest of us hammered back to the Post.

The route seems to be in really good shape this year, with only a couple of spots which are a bit rough.  Certainly nothing that we can't handle, so that's good news.  (The only not-great news is that we just heard back from the Sheriff's office and they won't be able to give us an escort this year.  We've got a couple of motorcycle cop buddies who are going to check with their local leadership to see if they can get approval to use a town's bike and then escort us on their own time.)

We tossed back a cold one inside and then a few of us headed off to the Road Captain's house.  He'd had a party the day before and had a cooler full of beer to get rid of.  Fortunately for him, we were up to the task.

That wrapped up what had been a very enjoyable weekend.  Too bad summer is winding down, I could use a lot more weekends like this!

Ride Hard, Take Chances