I am sitting here trying to write a blog for this month but all I can think about is the river. You know what I am talking about, river rats. I am just a few days away from my first raft trip of the year. Oh man I am F’ excited. A little hard to concentrate on this blog. SOOO, I thought I would talk about river beer.

River beer has come a long way in the past 5 years. It used to be so difficult to find good craft beer in cans. Cans on the river are a must. The empties aren’t heavy and there is not breakage like with glass. You just can’t break a glass bottle on a blow up raft. That could get ugly quick. Quite a few of those ones in cans were IPAs and Stouts, and pale ales. Don’t get me wrong, I love those styles of beer, but when you are in the sun all day on the river and you are putting back 10 to stay “hydrated’ all those hops are a little too bitter and dry. I like hops but all day long, sorry I need something that can quench the thirst. You need a nice flavorful light beer. Now I used to go on the river with macro brews. Some light lager to hydrate me and get a buzz. These beer,s although they did hydrate me, did not fulfill my desire for good beer. There are light lagers out there that have flavor, but not from the macros. About 5 years ago I decided to only bring craft beer on my boat. You can drink whatever you want, but not on my boat, at least from my cooler. It was hard at first. There were some beers out there in cans but not a lot. There is one brewery in town that should have given me a river sponsorship I bought so much of their beer. Nice flavorful lagers. There were some pale ales and ipas in the mix to mix it up, especially at camp. That’s the thing about the river. You want the variety. So although the local brewery, Bohemian, make solid beers for me to take on the river, I need to find more. There were some out of state breweries that were making some fine beers for the river so I picked them up whenever I got the chance. Sockeye from Boise is one. They have Galena Gold, great river beer. Still I didn’t have the variety I wanted. When you are putting back 10-14 beers a day you need the change. Now there are so many beers to choose from in cans. You can drink the same beer most of the day but mix it up with a beer here or there that is out of the norm.
     For this river trip my cooler is packed, I mean packed. Most of the beer I brought is Three Deep, American ale. I made this beer specifically for the river. Nice and flavorful, without being too overpowering, great balance. Also not huge as far as alcohol. Double IPA’s are great but you can’t put back 10 on the river or you are in trouble. I threw in some of our Kensington Grand Saison and some gose I got from some brewery up in MT. You just gotta mix it up. Of course I have some IPA’s for camp and some Nights Out for late night. And a spattering of other beers, lagers and reds and pales, and browns. You have your work horse beer and then your treats. Well I guess I have babbled on enough for the blog, now it’s time to hit the river. Hope I see some of you out there. If I see you ask for a beer, there is always enough. Cheers