Tour de Fat - 🚲 Bikes & 🍺 Beer Festival
Most of you probably have not heard of this Festival, but those of you in some of the major cities across the US might know what it is. Its the world's greatest bicycle parade and event to celebrate 2 of the most wonderful creations in the history of mankind: BICYCLES & BEER!
The event is sponsored by New Belgium Brewing. Its a full day event that includes the bike parade, live music, a beer garden, food, games, and a custom New Belgium Brewing cruiser bike giveaway. The purpose of the Festival is to focus on several things:
- community
- bikes
- beer
- music
Always a family friendly event, but without a doubt the majority of the participants are college students. We saw everyone from newborn babies in a sling riding with their mothers (yeah, probably not the brightest idea) to a woman who was 95 years old dressed as a Pokemon being pulled in a wagon.
🍺 History of New Belgium Brewing
New Belgium Brewing began in 1991 in Fort Collins, CO buy a husband & wife team and since inception their focus has always been on employee ownership and eco-friendly business practices, from using wind energy, to energy efficient kettles for brewing. As of January 2013 the brewery has become 100% employee owned.
The Beer
They are always making seasonal and special brews, but have a large handful that are always available year-round. Some of their most popular include:
| Beer Name | Style | ABV |
|---|---|---|
| Fat Tire Amber Ale | American Amber / Red Ale | 5.20 |
| 1554 Black Lager | Euro Dark Lager | 5.60 |
| Ranger IPA | American IPA | 6.50 |
| Sunshine Wheat | American Pale Wheat Ale | 4.80 |
| Blue Paddle Pilsner | Czech Pilsener | 4.80 |
| Abbey Belgian Ale | Dubbel | 7.00 |
| Citradelic Tangerine | American IPA | 6.00 |
| Abbey | Dubbel | 7.00 |
| Rampant Imperial IPA | American Double / Imperial IPA | 8.50 |
| Trippel Belgian Style Ale | Tripel | 8.50 |
sources:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/192/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Belgium_Brewing_Company
🚲 History of Tour de Fat
As defined on New Belgium Brewing's website: "Tour de Fat is New Belgium Brewing’s traveling celebration of all things bicycle, honoring humankind’s greatest invention."
It originated in my hometown of Fort Collins, CO, also the home of New Belgium Brewing. The Festival was created "to increase awareness and participation in cycling as a sustainable form of transportation." As the brewery began to grow and distribution of their flagship beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale (for which Tour de Fat was named after), started to make its way across the US, other cities have adopted the Tour de Fat and host their own Festivals. The list of cities that currently host Tour de Fat is ever-growing and currently includes:
- Fort Collins, CO
- Denver, CO
- San Francisco, CA
- San Diego, CA
- Tempe, AZ
- Washington, DC
- Durham, NC
- Chicago, IL
- Boise, ID
Experiencing Tour de Fat
The best way I can describe Tour de Fat is like Halloween with 90% less ghouls, goblins, vampires, etc. 80% more beer, and 100% more creativity. There are riders who spend 364 days planning and plotting their costume for next year, and others who throw something together the night before the parade. This is the most amazing place to see creativity at its finest, from custom built bikes, to mash-up costumes, and a combination of both!
Some of the costumes "themes" that you can always count on seeing:
- Super Mario Bros.
- Drunk frat boys in banana costumes
- Star Wars
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Super Heroes of all kinds
Some of this year's most popular included The Joker from the movie Suicide Squad, Chewbacca, & Swiss-style Lederhosen. I can honestly say there weren't nearly as many Pokemon, Game of Thrones, or Politically-driven costumes as I expected to see.
How about some pictures? Here are some of my favorites I took this year:
(Amazing custom built dragon)
(This guy sang and played music the entire parade)
(Bob's Burgers)
(Ash from Evil Dead)
(Beer Samurai)
(Even some of the spectators dress up)
(95 years old and still enjoying life!)
(This guy was literally couch surfing)
(Crashes happen)
(Old school)
(Wonder how long it took him to build this?!)
(It never fails. Every year you can count on a drunk guy dressed up as a banana to cause a wreck)
Some of the custom bikes people build for Tour de Fat are amazing!
The rest of the pictures I took this year can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/SeOl5