The plan was 6.2 miles ruck, starting at Curahee Brewery in downtown Alpharetta and work our way south stopping at Abbey of the Holy Goats, Variant and ending at Gate City. After a little pre-ruck transportation work, we dropped the escape van at Gate City and drove to meet the PAX at the starting point at Curahee.
4pm rolled around and 5 of the HCs were there, waiting on a few more. All HCs shortly arrived (except for Simba) and we initiated our Beer Ruck with our first round – mostly IPAs. YHC had not had Curahee beer before, but was happy to find it was quite good. About 15 minutes in and we downed the last of the beers and set off south through downtown Alpharetta.
Shortly after departure, YHC busted out the BT speaker for our Ruck sound track – nothing beats a little Skynyrd and beer. The map had us on main roads for just a short while, and we soon veered off onto the back roads. Thankfully there was sidewalk virtually the entire time. The ruck down to Abbey of the Holy Goats was about 3 miles. About .5 miles out, Simba informed us he had just arrived back at Curahee and was double-timing it to catch us. The plan was to enjoy our libations at the Abbey and meet up with Simba post-beer…. But there was a problem….
Rucking in to the Abbey, we all commented that it was a little surprising the office park environment it was located in and as we made our way around to the back, we breathed a short sigh of relief when we saw the brewery sign. Then, we got to the front door. Locked. The sign said “temporarily closed.” After a few “WTH Scrooge??” we all acknowledged Google had them listed as being open and it was only buried on their website that the tasting room was undergoing renovations. Fail on YHCs part. “Trust, but verify” rang in YHCs head… I won’t make the same mistake twice.
The only reassuring news was that we had to walk by here anyways to get down to the next stop, so our very slight detour wasn’t much of a detour at all. After quick contact with double-timing Simba, we back tracked a little to pick him up and turned south again pushing towards Roswell.
We rolled into Variant ahead of schedule, with many onlookers – some inquiring, some encouraging and others keeping their distance. The beer was great and the PAX who could down a dark stout beer in 90 degree weather after a six mile ruck have YHC’s respect. One round and it was a short Ruck (still with music) to GC.
The short ruck down Canton street at 7pm was quite enjoyable – the music and 8 sweaty PAX weaving through the crowd seemed to raise more eyebrows than anything. The only thing missing was old glory and an F3 flag. We rucked around the back to GC and then rucks off. Last round of beers before the escape van took us back to Curahee to get our cars. So, all told we got 3 out of 4 breweries – Curahee, Variant and Gate City. 75% is still a passing grade…
Then it was beers down, rucks back on and a laughter-filled ride home (cops not far behind). We had 8 PAX and 8 rucks in a 7-passenger 2.0 mini van – thankfully, our escape van came with a DD.
Great times were had by the PAX – many great conversations and a ton of laughter. The unwavering fellowship through pain is what binds these PAX together and keeps Iron Sharpening Iron.
If you feel you missed out – you did. BUT the good news is that we’re already planning a round 2. Look for that sometime in the Fall – but ruck in advance, because there will be more beer and more miles.
Scrooge
