It's Friday and that means it's time for Gear and it's time for Beer here on THE ROCK FIGHT (an outdoor podcast that aims for the head) and on today's edition of Gear & Beer we're loading up the bikes!
For the first time in G&B history both Justin and Colin are reviewing a piece of gear and today it's all about bike bags. First up Colin reviews the Oveja Negra Lunchbox handlebar bag and then Justin breaks down the Old Mountain Mountain Juniper Trunk. They talk about what makes them great and then they rank them on the official Rock Fight STUFFOMETER.
After that Justin, the official Cicerone of our outdoor community, pairs the bike bags they reviewed with the Cali Squeeze Blood Orange. The perfect beer to drink after hauling around a bunch of stuff (and yourself) on your bike.
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Episode Transcript
Colin (00:08):
Go, welcome to the rock fight where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head and today we are back with another piece of gear and another beer. That's right. It's your weekly dose of gear and beer. I'm Colin Tru and I spent over 20 years working for brands and makers in the outdoor industry with me, as always as outdoor journalists and professional gear reviewer Justin Hausman. Hey man. Is that
Justin (00:31):
A different intro?
Colin (00:33):
It is, yeah. I'm trying it out. I want to want to give our qualifications a little
Justin (00:37):
Authoritarian.
Colin (00:38):
Yeah, we know what we're fucking talking about on this show. Yeah. So anyway, today we're going to be reviewing, we're first going to be reviewing a piece of gear the way you would expect a gear to be reviewed on the rock fight. We don't talk about stack high geometry or with underfoot. We talk about the experience, the likes, the dislikes. And because we're the only gear review show that actually cares about the world, we'll rank each product on the stuff ter a scale where the best score means humanity in society would actually be losing something if this thing went away. And the worst score means that this thing, regardless of performance and just like puff and drinkware, probably shouldn't exist in the first place. And because Justin is the official Cicero, not just of the rock flight, but of the entire outdoor community, we will then follow up the gear review with the perfect post activity beer pairing. You don't know what a cerone is, what's Cerone? Justin?
Justin (01:25):
You know what it means. Whatever you want it to mean, Colin.
Colin (01:27):
It's true. I think it's like a wizard.
Justin (01:30):
It's a beer wizard.
Colin (01:31):
Bottom line here is you'll get the pairings that matter most gear and beer. And so Justin, what are we review? Actually, we each brought a piece of gear today, but what are we talking about today?
Justin (01:41):
We're talking about bike bags today.
Colin (01:42):
Yeah.
Justin (01:44):
Bike bags, not lame bike bags. Cool Bike bags, not saddle bags.
Colin (01:48):
Alright, so I'm going to be talking about the Veja Negro lunchbox. Which one are you going to be talking about?
Justin (01:51):
I got the old man Mountain Juniper Trunk.
Colin (01:55):
I think Old Man Mountain is the brand,
Justin (01:58):
Right? Old Man Mountain is the brand. The bag is called the Juniper Trunk. They actually use the word trunk.
Colin (02:03):
It's a great brand name.
Justin (02:05):
Yeah, it is Old man mountain. Old
Colin (02:06):
Man
Justin (02:06):
Mountain. Don't know. What if there is an old man mountain somewhere?
Colin (02:10):
Wait, are they from New Hampshire?
Justin (02:12):
Is there an old man mountain in New Hampshire?
Colin (02:13):
The old man of the mountain is used to be this face, this profile face up. I've heard of that, of Franco and not
Justin (02:19):
They're from Oregon somewhere. Probably. I think they're in bay or something,
Colin (02:22):
Man. You know what? Just like sea, you rip off Portland from Maine, Oregon. Now you're ripping off the old man of the mountain from New Hampshire. What is your obsession with New England, Oregon?
Justin (02:30):
They didn't say the face.
Colin (02:34):
Well, lemme kick things off with the Veja Negra lunchbox. So Veja Negra is a bike packing bag company. That's all they do. They're based in Sali of Colorado. They design and make all of their products there. They make frame packs, handlebar bags, seat bags. They even make some hips and backpacks and they just have an absolutely great vibe. I discovered them actually in my local shop here in San Diego, Adams Ave. They carry their bags and when I was getting ready for a bike packing trip that I went on last year to date my only bike packing trip, I discovered them and realized that a lot of the, I don't know if they purposely used the surly Karate monkey as a template for their bags, but it definitely fits the Karate monkey really, really well. The full frame bag. So I decided to give them a shot. So I got their full frame bag as well as the lunchbox. And the brand itself has this kind of a great vibe. If you go to their website and look at their social media, they've got a really kind of homey, we make stuff and have fun kind of vibe that makes you want to buy their stuff. And there's other brands out there like Orley or Blackburn or Auraura who kind of have a little more of a polished, maybe sort of big, big, big, what am I trying to say? Big brand.
Justin (03:48):
Okay.
Colin (03:49):
Not big brand, but just a little more of a larger presence that doesn't feel maybe as homemade. And this just feels like a little more like, I want to support these guys. This is a small business making great stuff and I want to be a part of it.
Justin (04:01):
It feels like your buddy down the street who started his own bag brand. And I don't mean that in a bad way,
Colin (04:07):
It just feels
Justin (04:07):
Very local and niche.
Colin (04:10):
Yeah, it's only a bad thing if you get it in. Their product sucks. And there's frankly a lot of those players in the bike bag space. Swift up in Seattle, I've got a bag of theirs that I really like. I got a large seat bag that actually can work with a dropper post from Outer Shell, which is a California company. And these people, they all make them pretty much in-house stuff. It's pretty, there's a lot of these kind of smaller players in the bike bag space. So I bought the lunchbox again when I did my first bike packing trip last year. But the thing is though though, I want to talk about the lunchbox because it's become an absolute necessity on all of my rides no matter where I'm going or what I'm doing. First of all, it's a $50 for the lunchbox. It's a relatively small little bag
Justin (04:51):
That's a good price.
Colin (04:53):
It attaches with Velcro straps to your handlebars. It fits all my bikes. It has straps for more gear that you can expand it out if you want to pair it with a big front end loader, like stuff sack, you can wrap it around the outside of that. So you have a little pouch on top or it can sit there on its own. I usually use it typically on its own and it just holds the perfect amount. I can get my entire repair kit, I can get a tube, I can get my spare pump, everything. And even I can even stuff a sun hoodie in there with all that other stuff. And the bag is small enough though, and it doesn't disrupt my steering. It just sits there. I take it mountain biking, I take it on my gravel bike. I freaking love this thing. It's a great, great little bag.
Justin (05:37):
I have a bag similar to this and I cannot remember who made it. It just kind of showed up one day at the house. Some PR firm is like, here, try this. And I got to shoot, I can't remember who made it, but I love the bag this size on the front of your bars. I don't use it all the time. I only use it for specific reasons and I'll, I usually will use this on my full suspension bike, which I don't have any other rack on, but I'll put binoculars in it or something. Yeah, totally. And something like that. This is a great thing to take your super lightweight shirt off and throw in there
Colin (06:12):
And then they do some crazy colors. They got their whack pack or whatever. If you want to get a little more creative in how it looks, I just have the basic, the gold one and it looks nice.
Justin (06:24):
Yeah, but did you already say what veja means?
Colin (06:27):
I didn't actually. I don't even know. What's it say on the website?
Justin (06:30):
It's sheep, black sheep. Oh yeah, that's, that's what it stands for. They're, that
Colin (06:33):
Makes sense because they're stickers they send you are black sheep stickers.
Justin (06:36):
I have one, I wouldn't say issue, but one thing I do want to bring up the label on the bag is freaking giant. It is big. It's a large label, but that's it.
Colin (06:46):
I never really noticed it as a detriment video. Right now that you call it out, you definitely see the label. Yeah, it's big. Alright, tell me about the old man. Well
Justin (06:54):
First of all, I didn't really look at what you were going to talk about. I'm glad that neither of us are talking about a classic frame bag, which is cool. Yeah, me too. Okay, so Old Man Mountain, we talked about them a little bit before. They make I think predominantly super burly rack systems for the front, for the back. They make fork mount systems I think too for water bottle stuff. I think I've had a couple of their different racks and they're great. I mean they are made for hardcore riding in the dirt. You can actually put some of their racks on suspension forks. They're set up for that if you want to do
Colin (07:37):
That. So this is a rack, right? This goes on the back over your rear wheel.
Justin (07:40):
Yeah. And I'm getting to the bag,
Colin (07:42):
But yes. Oh, sorry, sorry,
Justin (07:43):
Sorry. Yes. And they also old my mountains racks have a really nice through axle system that they ship with. So you take your, whatever you have, your through axle out and use theirs. It adds a little bit more rigidity and stability and just makes the whole thing a little bit more anyway, so you don't have to use the trunk with their racks. I just wanted talk up their racks a little bit, just so dang good. But they started
Colin (08:11):
Before you get to the back. I've always had a bias against racks on my bike. I don't know why I've never used one, so I can't say that I really even know. But there's just a thing when I see a rack on a bike that I kind of am like, eh, I don't like that. I don't know where that comes from.
Justin (08:25):
I don't either.
Colin (08:27):
Have you used a lot of them?
Justin (08:29):
Yeah, for sure. I always have a rack. Well it depends on the bike. I mean for just a regular around rolling around bike. Yeah, I always have a rack on the back because it's like I might go to the store, I might get a six pack of beer, I might. It's really, really helpful.
Colin (08:43):
But you have it on your Kona, right? Yeah,
Justin (08:46):
So I have mine on the Kona, but I also have one that I put on my Husky a lot on the back and I can't remember if these are universal. I think they are. I think you could put 'em on the front or the back. I'm 99% sure there's not differences. You don't have to buy a front one or a back one. There's installation ways to do both. Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't put one on my full su, but for a bike that I think I might take bike packing or that I think of as an adventure bike, pretty standard for me.
Colin (09:17):
Yeah,
Justin (09:18):
I don't always use it, but it's just nice to be there. That's the thing with these racks don't weigh that much and they don't make any noise. It's not like some shitty little rack that you bought it, like REI. That's just like all over the place when you're riding, you don't even know it's there. So that's why I like it. And honestly, so the Juniper trunk is exactly the same basic thing. It's just a burly bag and I want to say it's seven liters. There's not a lot to it. It's a roll top bag. It's made with a super, super burly waterproof outside. There's no logos. There might be one black logo, there's a Velcro patch and you can get an old man mountain Velcro patch if you want to stick on there. Or you can put whatever other patch you want. There's no branding. It has a waterproof zipper. It attaches really easily with some straps and buckles to the rack. And honestly it looks like it's designed for a six bag of beer. It's kind of that exact size, but because it's a roll top, you can stuff it with a bunch more stuff. So I love that. I've definitely put a six pack of beer in there and like a jacket. Oh good. It's raining again everyone, by the way. Everyone out there in the world. It's raining
Colin (10:25):
Again. It's April. It's not supposed to be raining anymore.
Justin (10:28):
Is it March? That's in a lamb out like a lion. Is that you? Have you heard that? Yes.
Colin (10:32):
That is a thing about that the other day. Yeah, that's March. Does that apply in California though?
Justin (10:37):
It did this year. Holy smokes. Yeah. What else can I say about this thing? It's a little pricey. It's 125 bucks.
Colin (10:45):
Now is that gets you the rack itself and the bag or that's just the
Justin (10:48):
Bag? No, hell no. How much of the rack, let's see how much the racks are,
Colin (10:51):
But is this kind of like the Ove Negra? Is this one of these brands where they make it all? I mean it's like,
Justin (10:56):
Let me look at that up.
Colin (10:57):
Lemme see. Yeah, let's look that
Justin (10:57):
Up. I saw that Ove Negra does
Colin (11:01):
A lot of these folks. I mean I think the ones I mentioned that don't the or leaves the epidurals, the bigger brands, I think they probably outsource stuff, but a lot of these small bike bag brands tend to make their stuff.
Justin (11:16):
It doesn't say so. Maybe they don't. They probably do, but maybe it's not made. You know what? I think that some of the racks are made in America now that I think about it for sure. Because there's two different kinds you can get. The ones that are made in the US have one particular setup and the ones that aren't. So maybe some of the things are, and some of them aren't Old Man Mountain is probably going to listen to this. They're friends of aj.
Colin (11:37):
It's up Old Man Mountain.
Justin (11:38):
Feel free to call me out on that. But I don't quite remember. I'm looking at your frequently asked questions to
Colin (11:44):
See. We're going to say you make it all. So if you don't, don't call Justin out on that because we're making you look really good.
Justin (11:52):
But I mean, we've talked about this before with some kinds of, some pieces of gear. You just hold it and you're like, oh, this is good. This is going to work. This is going to last a long time. That's how, this is the
Colin (12:03):
Lunchbox were as simple as it is, is the same thing. And Han Negras frame bags are the same thing too. But it's like, again, waterproof zippers like you described. I don't think the fabric that uses waterproof, but it's a burly thing, have all sorts of pointy objects putting in there. You never worry about it. I've had a thing busting at the gills, like I go out with a hoodie on, oh, that's actually warmer than I thought it was going to be. And you want to put it somewhere, you stuffing it in there. Yeah, I think, and that's really the mark of it, right? It's like that versatility.
Justin (12:28):
Yeah, and the thing that's nice about this is, so I ride a bike for the most part around town, everywhere I go
Colin (12:36):
Is that in Marin, Marin, California. That's where you are,
Justin (12:38):
Right? Okay. Alright. And the bike. I don't, oh yeah, I forgot. I have one on my priority too. I guess I have two or three of these things, but if I don't have the bag on it, I'll often have to bungee my loft onto the back or I'll go pick up something from the store without really planning on it and like crap, I have to, yeah, where are you going to put it? I got to carry the bag home. But when you just, it just kind of lives on the Kona. So if I ride that around to do whatever, just there's a bag in the back. I mean it makes everything really easy. And again, you don't really know it's there. I mean, yeah, it adds weight or whatever, but so what?
Colin (13:16):
The weight is obvious, right? But kind of like I was saying how I like this bag because it doesn't disrupt the steering on the handlebar. Do you notice that when, if it's fully loaded, do you notice a performance difference of the bike?
Justin (13:26):
Well, so I keep it on the back. I should probably mentioned that it's always on the back. No, but aware that if it's in there, I'm aware there's stuff back there, so I'm not trying to jump. So No, no, because I I
Colin (13:44):
Think you should try to jump more in that scenario.
Justin (13:46):
Well I would if there's nothing in it. Sure. I'll let you
Colin (13:48):
Should have the beer in one hand. One hand on the handlebar. Just ripping gaps.
Justin (13:53):
I'll put my toddler in there. Sometimes in that bag with the beer. Yeah. Hold this. How else is it going to stay in one spot? Well, and
Colin (13:59):
If she drinks, so then it gets lighter. It's like it's
Justin (14:03):
All
Colin (14:03):
Across the
Justin (14:04):
Board. Yeah, she's got to learn. But it's just great. I mean earlier I said I'm glad that we're not talking about frame bags because they're like the most obvious. But I mean, frame bags are so dope too. I mean, it's great. It's funny. I don't know. It's like I don't know why we didn't just always have frame bags and all of our bikes all the time. I mean it makes so much sense. They look cool too.
Colin (14:23):
Well that's why I wanted to talk about one reason we wanted to talk about these when I wanted to talk about bike bags. And you're right, I'm glad we didn't do the frame, but the frame bag. Yeah man, it could store so much stuff in a full frame bag. It's incredible. I like to use water bottles though, so I actually prefer a half frame bag if you can. The category itself, the way it's been growing and the way you see it more and more out there, these different types of bags. Like I said, I grew up just understanding little tiny saddlebags and you could fit a two cartridge. Yeah, multi-tool, maybe a tube. I'm here to lobby for the handlebar bag or some sort of bag like this on your bike for all cyclists. I never liked wearing backpacks when I was back wearing backpacks as a mountain bike. Hip backs were okay, that was an improvement. I like those. But no packs is the best. That's what you're striving for. And usually if you want to go out for a longer ride, it's like, all right, well I need a couple layers. I need food and need water, whatever it is. So to have a solution that is on your bike, but you're not bike packing, so it's kind of like you don't need something that's huge. I don't know. And I like water bottles, so I am all about having a bag on my bike now.
Justin (15:31):
It is so nice to be riding around and for some reason go like, I'm going to stop at the store, or here's a free thing on the side of the street or whatever. Just have a place to put it. That's great. I mean that's not even the point of these obviously. The point is to go out in nature and do cool shit and have to bring your stuff with you. I mean what's interesting is if I was going to go bike packing, I almost certainly wouldn't bring this. Well, maybe I would, but I think it would get in the way of, it would probably get in the way of my saddle bag bike packing bag.
Colin (15:58):
But you wouldn't need it then probably you can store so much in that money you have on there.
Justin (16:01):
That'd be interesting. I feel like it might get a little, the roll top thing, it makes a lot of sense if there's lightweight stuff in there, but it would be kind of weird if you had it all straight up full.
Colin (16:09):
What if you had your sleeping bag and down coat in there? That be great. That was
Justin (16:13):
Kind of it. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you're right. Maybe I guess I
Colin (16:15):
Would then you put your tent and other stuff in the handlebar bag or something like that.
Justin (16:18):
Yeah, I guess I probably would. Yeah. I don't know. I have a really nice rogue rogue panda frame bag, but the only downside at all is it was made custom for a Marin bike packing bike I used to have. And so it actually, the bottle or the mounting screws thread through the bag specific. Yeah, so so many times I've looked at that thing, but okay, I cut holes in it and put some Velcro straps and it'll fit it. But I'm just like, what am I going to do that? So anyway, yeah, bike bags. Good stuff.
Colin (16:49):
Alright, so let's talk about again, the St. ter, right? So if you google handlebar bags from my end anyway, there's a ton of options. When I compare what VEA Negro has, I mean so many, right? And this is where now we're talking about the smaller bags. So it's not even going to be from bike packing bag companies, just it's going to be, hey, specialized has one and everybody's got some sort of handlebar bag. I really love Ave Negro's vibe and their products, but there is no shortage of handlebar bags out there. And I like supporting them as a brand because I think it's cool that here's this little sali Colorado homemade maker, you can tell, you see photos of the staff, it looks like the folks you'd want to go biking with and hang out with. So I love you of a homemade negra. At the same time, I'd say my product rating is kind around a 7.9, but I kind of have to get a 4.9 on the stuff ter, and I think that's almost being generous. I probably should be more like a three nine given how many freaking bar bags are out there.
Justin (17:46):
I mean the thing with the stuff TER is it's a tough because it actually has no in any way, shape or form bearing on the usefulness or well crafted of the product. So I mean it's
Colin (17:59):
Just an acknowledgement of that we make too much stuff. Totally.
Justin (18:03):
But I feel like for any brand that's listening to the show and thinking about, I can see why you might be bummed, but I mean the fact of the matter is most of the stuff doesn't really need to be made. Well,
Colin (18:13):
I think we've typically, given you've said everything you've reviewed so far, I think as a product or as a category. You said 10 on a couple of things, right? Yeah,
Justin (18:21):
For category wise,
Colin (18:21):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean the bag is a 7.9, 7.9 out of 10. And it's only because it's a bike bag. I mean, I can't go probably over an eight for a small bike bag, but in terms of how much I use it, I mean I use the bag more than I use some of my bikes. I take my bikes out different times and I always have the bag on whatever bike I'm riding. So it's a great addition to my kit, but it's just the category is just stuffed.
Justin (18:45):
So for me, I got to pick different numbers. Seven nine's pretty high. Is that the highest you've given anything?
Colin (18:56):
That's the first time I've been able to review something. This is my first review here on here in
Justin (18:59):
Beer. You start right out there with the 7.9.
Colin (19:01):
Well you said those scarpa's were tens or whatever, so I can't feel that bad
Justin (19:04):
Shoes. No, you're right. God,
Colin (19:10):
I think I definitely am waiting it because they're a cool brand. I'm going to
Justin (19:13):
Go just straight seven. I think I've had bags that for whatever reason, hold on now, for whatever reason, I'm super into this really cheap state bicycles frame bag I have right now and I can't really explain it. It just looks cool. It fits right, it's easy to put on. It's just a fricking canvas I guess, or whatever, cotton, whatever. Maybe it's Corda bag and it's just like, I love that little thing. I rate that really high is this is a much better made bag. It's absolutely awesome, but it is also just a bag.
Colin (19:45):
The old man bag is better made than the
Justin (19:47):
Other one. The old man mountain stuff is the best made stuff you're really going to find. The bag is made incredibly well, but at the end of the day it is literally a bag. I mean it's like a grocery bag with a zipper. So it's hard to get super fired up
Colin (20:00):
Given that part of the candle bar bag is kind of like the saddlebag, right? You're going to find little things that everybody makes. Is it a little more unique, the old
Justin (20:08):
Man bag, I guess I would say. I assume so. I mean, ask the bike packing.com guys. I haven't been in this world for that long, so I haven't seen, I'm surprised I didn't make that comparison earlier. It really is like a roll top grocery bag. It's a flat bottom.
Colin (20:27):
I kind of appreciate the utilitarian nature of that. Right,
Justin (20:30):
Exactly. It's nice. Yeah, I don't know. I want to say seven just because I feel like it's not doing anything that revolutionary. But on the
Colin (20:38):
Stuff you should dock them a point for ripping off New England, like we talked about at the beginning.
Justin (20:42):
I bet these people have never been there. I vaguely know what you're
Colin (20:46):
Talking about. How dare you. I have a tattoo of the old man in the mountain on my leg. I just wanted, you know Really? Yeah, I do.
Justin (20:51):
So this is a mountain where there's a vague shape of the face in it, like Jesus on coast.
Colin (20:56):
Is it? If you look at the license plate of New Hampshire, the little icon on there is the old man of the mountain. It looks like a face it, but it fell off in 2004. Shame. Yeah, it was a big deal.
Justin (21:06):
Anyway, I don't even know if I stuff vomit or Yeah, I guess I'll give it a seven. Seven. Yeah,
Colin (21:14):
That sounds about right.
Justin (21:15):
Sounds right. Feels right.
Colin (21:17):
Okay. Now let's turn our attention to after the activity at the break, the put in the trailhead, we're going to crack open the cooler and imbibe a beverage so we can celebrate our wins and losses in the back country. Let's have a beer. So, all right, we're wearing our jorts and our hipster bike caps. We're riding around on gravel bikes loaded up with trendy colored bike bags. And when we're doing that, what are we drinking, Justin?
Justin (21:36):
Well, it just occurred to me, probably should be drinking. I mean, what you
Colin (21:39):
Described. It gives me a headache though. Or
Justin (21:42):
Like ucky cold snap. I dunno if people are drinking that down there.
Colin (21:45):
Okay, so now we're on our full suspension mountain bikes.
Justin (21:52):
I picked because we've already done Budweiser, which is pretty refreshing, obviously. And so I wanted something similar, something that you would probably take in a bike bag on a long bike ride and kicked around the idea of a Rattler. And if you don't know Rattlers, it is usually, well almost always, it's like a lager of some kind with traditionally it's like a lemon, a lemon, lime soda. It's a German thing. But people are exploring different ways to make 'em. You can get love from lots of different breweries, but there's not really a more refreshing beer in the world, I don't think. I mean, there's something other than beer. There is some kind of soda in it, but holy smokes, they're refreshing. In the summertime when it's hot, they're dangerous because it really does taste like you're just drinking like a LaCroix, or not even that.
(22:43)Or like a spin drift, some kind of fruit juice with sparkling, I mean, they're pretty dang good, but they're beer. It's just a lovely combination of slightly sweet and bitter. Oh, they're good. So today we're doing Cali Squeeze, which is apparently a Firestone. It's actually kind of hard to tell if you go to their website, it does say Firestone Walker on it, but it sounds like they used to be made by Slow Brew, which is a near and dear to my heart because I grew up in the San Luis Obispo area and Slow Brew is been around forever. They've probably changed hands a few times, but their brew
Colin (23:17):
Also, maybe Firestone acquired them or something like that. I
Justin (23:19):
Don't dunno if they acquired Slow Brew or if they acquired this, but that's what it, and I'm only guessing because on Beer Advocate, which is a huge website for beer reviews, a couple of people mentioned they think it was Slow Brew. And in fact, actually I think if you Google it, you might even see cans of sales say slow brew on it. But anyway, I've always known it as a Firestone. It's one of my go-to beers in the summertime. I actually had one just the other day, my local bike shop slash beer place, which I, it's just a wonderful thing to have that this is literally a bike shop with a bar in it. It's so fun. I mean, you just get
Colin (23:53):
Your beer daily actually reported on somebody. People try that, but they usually get it wrong. They don't kind of treat the beer or the coffee part of the business as an actual beer or coffee shop. You know what I mean? It's like you got to do it right.
Justin (24:05):
This is obviously not an uncommon thing. One of my favorite places in San Francisco, it's not there anymore, but it wasn't mountain bikes, it was just a bike, kind of cool road bikes, but just regular bikes in the back and a cafe up front and it would be awesome. I love that would be wheeling their bikes to get a tube fix or something through everybody's having glasses of wine anyway, but this place is called Split Rock and it's amazing, but they have shout out
Colin (24:29):
Split
Justin (24:30):
Rock. They almost always have this on draft, at least in the summertime. So that's where I'm going
Colin (24:33):
Anyway, so it's a blood orange. So what, I've not had this, this is my first time trying it. So what should I be expecting here, Mr. Crun?
Justin (24:41):
Okay, so it's a wheat beer first of all, which means it's not like a traditional Rattler, whether that is even a real thing or not. So it's going to be a lot softer than wheat. Beers tend to be a bit softer, a bit more, I hate to use the term bready, but they have a bit.
Colin (25:00):
Is it tangy? No,
Justin (25:01):
No, no, no, no. The mouthfeel itself, to me, it's just a little bit softer than a beer that's made traditionally with just regular barley. So this actually obviously has wheat in it, so maybe a bit starci, I guess possibly, but with a good dose of blood orange. And so it's not just pure blood orange juice, I don't think it's a little bit sweeter, but yeah, it's just a nice and refreshing. It's a nice summer drink.
Colin (25:27):
All right, let's go for it. You ready to open this up?
Justin (25:29):
Pull it out of the bike bag. There you go.
Colin (25:31):
All right, I got it right here. Tell me when you're, you ready? Ready. Let's do it. 3, 2, 1. That was loud in my earphone, so I know we got that. All right, here we go. Get a little sniff. All right. Oh, cheers. Oh yeah.
Justin (25:45):
Cheers. Well, we can can't really, it's hard to make the two cans click cans clink. Don't think about it. We can't really open any can. And then Clint glasses. Anyway. All right, here we go.
Colin (26:01):
Hold on. What am I going to do one more here?
Justin (26:02):
It doesn't like it.
Colin (26:06):
That's not true. Okay. Very easy drinking.
Justin (26:10):
See?
Colin (26:11):
Yeah, very easy drinking. Yeah, it's actually, I said before we started this bit that because of the blood orange, the logo on it, I'm just getting that sand Pellegrino vibe.
Justin (26:22):
Oh, big time. Yeah, it actually kind of tastes like that a little bit.
Colin (26:24):
It does taste like that, but frankly it's more drinkable than that because sand a lot of times are really, really sweet.
Justin (26:30):
Really sweet and overcoming.
Colin (26:31):
And this is kind of drinking a blood orange sand Pellegrino. But with that little beer, it's almost like finishes. The initial taste is more seltzer and it finishes beer.
Justin (26:41):
That's kind of how a rattler is. Your first taste is like, oh, this is like a soda. And then you're like, oh, hold on, because the bitterness comes in at the end.
Colin (26:49):
This is really good. I actually like this a lot.
Justin (26:51):
Yeah, I want to say it's 5%. So it's pretty chill in terms of the alcohol level.
Colin (26:56):
I said. Yeah, because reading it on the can, as you said that,
Justin (26:59):
Oh, there you go. Yeah, so Callie Squeeze makes a bunch of other ones, which is interesting. I've never seen any of these other ones. They make a tangerine, a passion fruit, a peach pomegranate, a lemon chill, I an extra lemon chill. I wonder what that means. So that would probably taste a bit more like a traditional, Ooh, it's really strong. That would probably taste a bit more like a traditional Rattler, I would suppose. I don't know if they're all wheat beers or not. Dunno.
Colin (27:23):
So pairing it with the bags, I kind of look at it as, yeah, if you have these in the mountain stream that you carried around all day while you're bike packing or whatever, you pull it out of the bag. This would be just kind of an epic beer after a day. If you pulled this out of your bike bag, you'd be kind of a hero.
Justin (27:41):
So the first one we did the first gear and beer, we did founders all day. IPA, and that's kind of traditionally my go-to camping beer. But I will always have a Rattler with me. And I often, if I'm going to go backpacking, I usually get a tall can either of this or a Siegel Rattler, which is really, really good. I think that one's grapefruit. Usually they make lemon as well, and I'll throw that in my backpack and then if I'm camping somewhere next to a river, throw it in there. I mean, it takes a long time for it to get cold. It's just more the joy of putting it in the river and pulling it out later, but Right, because
Colin (28:15):
Something that season's coming buddy.
Justin (28:16):
I know, dude, it can't go soon enough as I look out and just see torrential downpours. Yeah, just something so nice about the fruitiness. It's just so refreshing. But that's what you want. You don't want to pull, I mean, part of me is like, okay, we're doing kind of burly bike bags. You think maybe stouts or porters or something and that's fine. But if you're riding and you're hot and you're sweaty, you want something like this, this is a very bike friendly beer.
Colin (28:40):
Or you just skip the bags, you just pull up to split rock and roll it
Justin (28:43):
Together. Or you just go to split rock, take a squeeze.
Colin (28:46):
You say, I know Justin. And they'll be like, oh, that
Justin (28:49):
Guy, they won't know who I am. But if you mention my girls, they'll know who you're talking about. Oh, the girls with the Fritos and the chocolate milk. Oh yeah. Their dad. Yeah, he's great.
Colin (28:59):
He's talking about his kids folks.
Justin (29:00):
Yes, I have children. Yes. And I live in Marin, have I? Not that.
Colin (29:04):
Not just his heroin,
Justin (29:05):
Not just random girls. Yeah, good point.
Colin (29:07):
Oh, I know about Justin's girls. Lemme tell you.
Justin (29:12):
I hadn't really thought about that, how that sounded.
Colin (29:15):
Well you turned into you in full dad mode. You don't think about that stuff. But you would've connected those dads right away. Absolutely.
Justin (29:21):
Five years ago. And I will again in five years. But now in five years, right? Not right
Colin (29:24):
Now. Is Firestone available nationwide?
Justin (29:27):
I has to be Firestone's pretty big.
Colin (29:30):
Trying to remember. I remember always, I mean obviously I learned about it probably drinking. I learned about drinking it. I probably learned about it traveling for work and coming to California and like, oh, Firestone.
Justin (29:41):
Yeah, but it's big. It's bigger now. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get it. And you definitely can get it nationwide, but I dunno how easy it's to get, but it's pretty big. But honestly, any Rattler would kind of work with this. And again, this isn't technically a Rattler because it's a wheat beer, but any of these sort of fruit soda beers would work.
Colin (30:02):
Okay, so you've had this before. Let me kick off the rating of the beer. I want to see if my rating lines up with yours. This is a, alright, so we gave, alright, Budweiser, you were 7.6 0.2. I was a 6.2. You were 7.1. You were an eight for the athletic brewing and I was a 5.9. Wow. This is really drinkable. Even though it finishes like a beer, there's no real aftertaste.
Justin (30:32):
What are you thinking?
Colin (30:34):
Well, it's going to be between, I think I legitimately like it more than the athletic.
Justin (30:39):
Oh yeah, I definitely do. I'd have this over the athletic. The athletic I rated it was rating it really highly because it's really hard to pull off an alcoholic beer.
Colin (30:48):
Yeah, you gave it bonus points, right? Yeah,
Justin (30:49):
Yeah.
Colin (30:51):
Alright, I'm going to give this one a, I'm going to give it a 7.1.
Justin (30:55):
I'm going to go seven five, which is solid. That's a good number. Which is weird because like if I don't care about alcohol, I would have one of these all day long before I'd have the non or before I have the athletic, but the athletic is a bit more of a triumph because it's not easy to do that.
Colin (31:13):
Alright, to summarize this episode of gear and Beer, we have the old man Mountain juniper trunk, which Justin rated a seven on the stuff Ter. And we also have the Veja Negro lunchbox, which I rated a 7.9 on the stuff Ter. And after you get done with your day of bike packing, the official cone of the rock fight suggests refreshing yourself with a frosty cold Cali squeeze blood orange, which Justin gave a 7.5 and I gave a 7.1 on the gear and beer, beer scale. Is that about right? Did we do it again? Did we do another episode
Justin (31:43):
Of gear and beer? I think we just did one. That's amazing. Yeah,
Colin (31:47):
This is getting easy. We got to get some challenges in here.
Justin (31:50):
Gear and what else? What else?
Colin (31:52):
Cocaine.
Justin (31:54):
Okay, my first time.
Colin (31:58):
That would be a great intro.
Justin (31:59):
Should we do that? This is my first, today
Colin (32:01):
We're going to do six lines of blow. Then talk about some gear. All right, man, I want to do that. Alright, well I guess that's the show. That's the show for the day. That's
Justin (32:12):
Our
Colin (32:12):
Show. That's our show. Alright, that's the show. What did you think of this edition of Gear and Beer? Do you have a suggestion for a future addition to gear and beer that involves cocaine? Do you simply like gear and beer? Send an email to My rock fight@gmail.com. Let us know what you think. The rock fight is a production of rock Fight LLC for Justin Hausman, I'm Colin Tru. Thanks for listening. And here to take us out. He's thinking about it for a minute more. It's either work at McDonald's or the corner store it's Krista Makes with the Rock Fight Fight song. We'll see you next time. Rock Fighters.
Justin (32:43):
Perfect. What does he choose in that song? Corner Store?
Colin (32:48):
He doesn't actually, I don't think. Oh, that was a song about a drug dealer. It's called Dope Man. Rock,
Chris DeMakes (32:57):
Rock, bike. We go into the rock bike where we speak our truth, stay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree. We talk about human power, outdoor activities and pick bikes about topics that we find interesting. Black culture, music, the latest movie reviews, ideas for the head. This is where we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. The bike.
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