Drinking Barrio Brews After The Granite Games Throwdown!
I know this probably sounds crazy to most, but cold beers after an intense work out is very satisfying, I’m not talking about grabbing beers after hitting the gym, I’m talking about grabbing beers after a tough day of competing. I have ran some half marathons and a cold beer after that race might have been the best thing to happen to me. Last month I decided to try out the Granite Games in Tucson to test my Crossfit skills and I gotta tell you, it was brutal. Not sure I’m cut out for that, but it was definitely worth the experience. I had been training Crossfit at a gym in Tucson (https://boxingincorporated.com/) about 3 days a week. I wasn’t taking it super serious, I have a family and a business to run, so my free time is never free. Throwing kettle bells a few days a week though was enough for me to feel like I was ready to compete in a Crossfit tournament. You can view details of the workouts here (https://thegranitegames.com/throwdown-compete/). As you can see it’s no walk in the park and I don’t think I’ll be doing it again. The highlight of the afternoon though wasn’t the Crossfit competition, it was the the nectar of the gods that we consumed at the best brewery in Tucson.
Okay, enough about my pathetic efforts with Crossfit – let’s talk beer!
The Throwdown Games were on Saturday August 18th, when we arrived at Barrio later that afternoon we were ready to drink some beers. As I do wherever I travel, I always look for the brewery the locals consider to be the best. I asked around at the Granite Games, some guys looked at me a little weird, others knew they would probably be bellied up there after the competition and shared the wealth of knowledge they had about local breweries in Tucson. The Barrio Brewery sounded like a cool place and it happened to be near where we were staying in Tucson. A few folks that I traveled with were with me and we hunkered down at the bar for a few hours to taste the beers. They had a lot of beers in comparison to some of the other breweries we have visited and were excited to taste brews from the Barrio. There were 11 beers in their brew portfolio with 3 season beers.
My favorite beer was the Copperhead Pale Ale. This IPA had a lot of flavor, had a copper color, and was extra hoppy just how I like it. It was medium to full bodied and had a dry clean finish to it.
Copperhead Ale Attributes: ABV:6.2 IBU:30.5 SRM:8.5