When you鈥檙e tired, carbohydrate-depleted, and in need of a celebratory toast, there is no wrong answer to 鈥渨hat do you want to drink?鈥 But some beverages just seem perfectly suited to certain activities. Here鈥檚 our totally unscientific but carefully curated guide to finding the perfect sip.
Just Bagged a Fourteener
The Drink: Imperial stout
You just ticked off a big accomplishment. This is a time for celebration, not light beer and regret. You need calories, and sweet high-ABV beers like imperial stouts are more than happy to deliver. Just make sure someone else is driving you home.
Our Pick: . Super dark, super malty and full of chocolate, caramel and coffee notes, with a 10.5 percent聽ABV. Prepare yourself for a hangover, but it will be so worth it.聽
All-Day Singletrack
The Drink: Canned ros茅
Just because you鈥檙e an animal on your bike doesn鈥檛 mean you can鈥檛 spend your evening enjoying something civilized like chilled, blush-colored wine. If you鈥檙e not drinking canned wine yet, you鈥檙e missing out. We鈥檙e especially infatuated with the ros茅s showing up in cans. They manage to be dry and fruity at the same time鈥攊deal for thirsty bikers who want refreshment without sickly sweetness鈥攁nd, of course, they鈥檙e easier to take with you to the trails.
Our Pick: , which uses a blend of California-grown pinot noir, Carignane, and zinfandel.
Float Trip
The Drink: K枚lsch, k枚lsch, and more k枚lsch
Oh, you let nature drag your weight down a river today? That sounds fun鈥攂ut not like the kind of activity that earns you an imperial stout. Since you鈥檝e been baking in the sun all day, you want something crisp and quenching.
Our Pick: Sufferfest鈥檚 new , a low-calorie but totally legit k枚lsch. It鈥檚 brewed with bee pollen, which will help you recover from all that strenuous floating.
Six Hours of Gravel Grinding
The Drink: Alcoholic seltzer
When you need to rinse hours of dust out of your mouth, refreshing spiked seltzer is the way to go.聽Just don鈥檛 forget that this stuff is loaded with booze.
Our Pick: Spiked Seltzer鈥檚 . Shotgun it cold from the can or mix it with the herbal aperitif for a twist on the now-ubiquitous Aperol spritz.
The Perfect Day of Bouldering
The Drink: Canned sake
No one would fault you for drinking beer in this situation, but cans of cold, unpasteurized sake feel more like a treat. And one tiny can goes a lot further鈥攁 bonus if you鈥檙e packing it in.
Our Pick: . Unpasturized, this golden puck of goodness is more floral than sweet and perfect for slow sipping. Canned sake isn鈥檛 widely available in the United States just yet, but you can find this one online or in a . Oregon-based also sells some of its products canned.
Campfire Happy Hour
The Drink: Whiskey cocktails
Around a campfire, it鈥檚 all about having something you can sip intermittently as you swap stories. Beer takes too much tending and will end up flat and warm if you don鈥檛 drink quickly. Wine is fine, but it鈥檚 hard to feel rugged with a glass of pinot noir in your hand. Whiskey? That鈥檚 where it鈥檚 at.
Our Pick: Hochstadter鈥檚 84-proof whiskey in a can. It鈥檚 excellent whiskey mixed with just a touch of honey and navel orange juice to form a cocktail that鈥檚 near perfect.
Hiking with the Kids
The Drink: Kombucha
Less blood-sugar spiking than soda and way less fraught than explaining to the little ones why you get beer and they鈥檙e stuck drinking the dregs at the bottom of the Nalgene.
Our Pick: Brew Dr. . Brew Dr. puts its 鈥檅ooch through a special distillation process that removes the alcohol. Aside from a small amount of caffeine, it鈥檚 safe to share with children.