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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Da brew run run run …

Rick Bonino

John Griffith is making a beer run on Saturday, and you’re invited to come along.

The first official Spokane Brew Run Run starts at 1 p.m. at the garbage goat in Riverfront Park, then heads to seven breweries, beginning with No-Li and ending back downtown at the Steam Plant.

“It’s totally non-organized,” says Griffith, who’s been spreading the word via social media. “I’m just really curious how many people are going to show up.

“There could be 10 of us, there could be 100 of us – I just don’t have any idea.”

Be among the first 30 or so, and you might score one of the “crappy coasters” Griffith made up as a souvenir.

You don’t have to actually run to participate. You can walk, or bike, or even take the bus.

From No-Li, the route heads to Iron Goat, Budge Brothers, Ramblin’ Road, Black Label, River City and the Steam Plant (just in time for dinner, depending on your pace). There’s roughly a mile between each stop, except for the half-mile separating the last two.

Griffith plans to post his progress on Twitter (@spokanarama) and Facebook so folks can follow along. (He’ll be easy to spot in person – just look for the guy in the kilt.)

“It’s great if you can ride that fine line of having a slight buzz and running, but you don’t want to overdo it,” he says. “You can’t run too fast, and you can’t drink too much.”

Griffith is both an avid runner – he jogs to his job as a fire lieutenant, and trains for ultramarathons – and a longtime home brewer (one recent creation was a cayenne cranberry cream ale).

He and his wife, Sarah, gave the course a not-so-dry run last March, minus Black Label, which wasn’t open yet.  “I wanted to make sure we could really do it before I invited people,” he says.

Down the road, he’d like to have a website promoting the route, for visitors and locals alike.

“I just want people to get out, get some fresh air and see Spokane in a way they might not have seen it before,” Griffith says. “There are some great breweries around here.”

And it might even start to change the way people look at drinking and driving, he adds.

“People tend to see drinking as the demon in that equation,” he says, “but maybe the driving is the bad part.”