OnTap Magazine

FEATURE HOW TO EARN Some say the perfect pairing is oysters and dry stout, others claim it’s IPA and a spicy curry. Not so, says Murray Turner . The greatest pairing of all involves stray trees, two wheels and a whole lot of spandex… T here’s something to be said for barreling around the mountains with your mates on your mountain bike feeling like you should be featured in the newest Red Bull video because, well, you feel like you’re going that fast. The reality is that you’re probably not and in the moment, while dreaming how good you look to your GoPro- wielding mate behind you, you misjudge that tree that “literally came out of nowhere” and now you better represent those dudes in bat suits flying through the Alps. Yep, you’ve been launched over your handlebars, leaving your prized mountain bike firmly wedged to that miraculously appearing tree, and now you find yourself being dragged along the dirt trail. Face first. Your GoPro-wielding mate arrives and after an initial “ouch, that hurt, anything broken? No, not you. The bike?” the heckling begins. On the limp back to the car the best he can muster is “I’ll buy the beer at CBC”. He’s not doing this because he feels sorry for you but because he doesn’t want to wait for you to clean the bloody mess that you have become before ordering the beers. With your ego in tatters, you limp out of the bathroom at CBC and find an ice cold Amber Weiss waiting for you. And suddenly, things are not so bad anymore. On that day – oh yes, this is a true story – there was no double shot, skinny, red, triple frothed flat white coffee that could have possibly had the same effect. The truth is that mountain biking and craft beer go together like chai lattes and “no thank you”. It just works. Mountain biking doesn’t tend to be a short affair; you generally find yourself out for several hours, in the middle of nowhere with a group of mates, none of whom seem to have ever brought enough water. But then at the end of many kms of climbing, who wants to drink water? H2O just doesn’t refresh the way a nice cold beer does. Mountain biking and craft beer go together like chai lattes and “no thank you”. YOUR BEER 36 | Winter 2018 | ontapmag.co.za