CHEERS AT THE FINISH LINE
ATHLETES ARE FLOCKING TO SUFFERFEST AND OTHER NEW “PERFORMANCE BEERS.”
“ALL OF A SUDDEN I HAD THIS BOOTLEGGED NETWORK OF SWEATY PEOPLE AROUND THE COUNTRY SAYING, ‘WE NEED THIS.’” —Caitlin Landesberg, Sufferfest CEO
Mirna Valerio would not describe herself
as a beer person. The ultra-runner is more of a cabernet sauvignon drinker. But the beer cravings do kick in occasionally—namely, after a long day on the trail. Over the summer, for instance, Valerio competed in the Broken Arrow Skyrace, which involved running 26 kilometers nearly straight uphill in California’s Sierra Nevada, trudging “through snow and scrambling up rocks,” she says. It was a challenge that merited something cool and celebratory at the end.
Happily, there was a cold can waiting for each of the roughly 3,000 runners: a pale ale made by Sufferfest, which quenched Valerio’s thirst and marked the occasion without impeding her training for the 50 kilometer dash through the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia River Gorge that she was competing in a few days later.
For years, beer and running have been closer exercise buddies than you might think: Marathon bibs often come with tickets you can trade in for a brew after crossing the finish line; running clubs often end their treks at a bar; and local microbreweries hand out new IPAS at the end of a race. But with Sufferfest, runners now have someone from within the community addressing their needs.
Sufferfest was created in San Francisco in 2016 by Caitlin Landesberg, who wanted to make a beer that would work with trail runners like herself after grueling training sessions—often called “sufferfests”—and not set them back. The brewery’s FKT (or Fastest Known Time) pale ale, for instance, has a 5.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) and is low in gluten—like all of Sufferfest’s beers—and