Biking on the Brew Crew Cycles Express

Flashback an entire year to July 4, 2014. Somewhere amidst the drinking, fireworks and barbeques, Vicki Clacherty and several other women in her family launched an idea. Less than a year later in April, Vicki and her family members were cutting the proverbial ribbons on their collective venture, the Brew Crew Cycles located in Riverhead, New York.

The Brew Crew Cycles is a unique experience, a 1.3 mile bike ride hitting three local breweries, Long Ireland Beer Company, Moustache Brewing Company, and Crooked Ladder Brewing Company. The bike is no ordinary bicycle. It is a contraption built just for Brew Crew Cycles by what Vicki says is an independent Southern entrepreneur. Brew Crew has two of these 14-seater bicycles, and its own riders power the trip.

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Clacherty says the idea came to fruition after her families’ trip to one of these bike tours in Portland, Oregon. Her family realized the East End of Long Island was missing something to combine its burgeoning beer culture with the community.

The women, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, cousins and daughters in Clacherty pooled together their skills to work out the logistics of running this kind of business. While each bring something useful from their day jobs- bankers, lawyers, and marketing professionals, their biggest asset is their flowing communication.

You’ll see the bicycles trudging up the backstreets near Polishtown in Riverhead on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Music sounds from the onboard speakers as the passengers peddle their way from brewery to brewery, or restaurant as recent tours have also including a stop at a local restaurant.

On our ride we were introduced to our guide, Jay. The guide is responsible for steering and braking the bicycle, so it really is all up to the riders to power their way through. We hung our bags on hooks on the interior of the bicycle, and there are bins for storing other things you may bring on board, such as growlers, picnic baskets and anything else you may figure will be useful on your ride. The ride itself is beer-less, as per New York State laws, but feel free to bring food.IMG_8753

 

The first brewery we stopped at was the Crooked Ladder Brewing Company. Brew Crew Cycles is partnered with this brewery (as well as Moustache and Long Ireland) and there are discounts for the tasting. At Crooked Ladder I tasted the Gypsy, Irish Stout, Summeritis and Ponquoque Porter. The small brewery is churning out some big tastes, and I left with my favorite being the Ponquoque Porter, a dark beer with a full balanced flavor.

After 30 minutes of drinking, we hopped back on the cycle and worked our way to Moustache Brewing Company. At Moustache I tasted the Milk & Honey, Get off My Lawn, Buffalo Theory and Mojito varieties. Boasting some of the most diverse craft brewery concoctions, Moustache is definitely a stand out on the Long Island scene. Coming away from the tasting room I found myself pining for another round of the Milk & Honey Brown Ale, a 6.0% brew that contains lactose.

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After another 30 minutes of testing and mingling with other craft beer aficionados, we loaded back onto the bicycle and charged through to our third and final brewery of the trip, Long Ireland. At this point, I did feel a bit tired but the amount of fun I was having eclipsed the exhaustion. At Long Ireland, I opted for a pint of the Raspberry Wheat that everyone had been recommending to me. It was a perfect ending to an exciting afternoon.

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As we rolled back to Brew Crew Cycles HQ, the verdict was in that Long Island has something extraordinary in the East End. Whether you hop on a train or find a designated driver, a trip to the Brew Crew Cycles is now a must in the Spring, Summer or Fall.

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Author: ciderella

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