Pedal Pub takes Calgary on a bike brewery tour like no other

Pedal Pub brewery tours are bringing the party to the Calgary streets! The new tour company is offering bike beer tours with a twist. The group bicycle bar is a “pedal powered patio” that’ll take you and your friends to all your favourite beer locations. Who doesn’t love that?

Unique group bicycle bar to ride on

The “Het Fietscafe” party bike aka beer bike aka group bicycle bar is a literal party on the street. These special group bicycle bars are designed and crafted in The Netherlands and can fit up to 15 people. There are ten specific pedalling seats and two non-pedalling seats on the sides. There’s also a back bench area as well for those just wanting to enjoy the ride. This means not everyone gets to pedal all the time, but some people might enjoy the break.

Getting onto the bikes can be a bit of challenge especially for tiny folks like me! But the seats are adjustable to different heights to fit people at every size. Even at my barely 5 feet stature, I was able to make the beer bike tour work for me (short folks rejoice!). Once up, you’ll find the seat fairly comfortable to sit on. The bar in front is perfect to lean/hang onto since there is no back on the pedalling seats.

UPDATE: Pedal Pub is fully licensed which means you can drink as you bike! The bar provides a cup holder in front of each seat so you don’t have to worry about any lost suds. but alcoholic drinks are not yet allowed out on the bike yet. This is a bit of a bummer, but Pedal Pub is hoping to change that. Pedal Pub also offers up bottled water, pop and other non-alcoholic drinks to help you hydrate up in between each stop. There is some storage on the beer bike for small items like backpacks, purses, umbrellas and the like so you don’t have to worry about hanging onto your stuff as you bike.

Pedal Pub bike pub crawl takes you onto the Calgary streets

So how does the brewery tour work? Each bike brewery tour is about two hours long and stops at 3 to 4 different locations. Your ‘beerless leader’ aka tour guide will pilot your bike to each stop. But you have to do all the work by pedalling – the group bicycle will not move if you don’t pedal. So the more effort you all put in, the faster you can go. I thought with 10 people pedalling that it would be an easy endeavour. However, it is quite the workout with a lot more hustle and sweat than I anticipated. You really work up a thirst while pedalling but at least you can reward yourself with a beer at each stop.

Be prepared to wear sunscreen or rain jackets depending on Calgary’s tempermental weather as Pedal Pub brewery tours take place rain or shine. Another important thing to note is that the tours do not include the beer. You will need to pay for your drinks separately at each location you go to. This can come in handy if you want to imbibe a little more or less at each location rather than being held to a set drink amount. A bonus is that your Pedal Pub wristband will provide discounts at the different breweries as well as food and drink offers to enjoy at local restaurants after the tour as well.

Bike brewery tour for the people

Of course, it wouldn’t be a party bike without lots of music, laughter and cheering. The Pedal Pub tour is all about giving everyone a hyper-local, crazy fun shared experience. The tunes will be blasting so you can sing along. Cruising on a group bicycle bar on historic 9^th Avenue alongside vehicle traffic is going to cause a bit of a spectacle. You have to make sure to stay on the bike at all times but I admit to leaning out for some high fives with passerbys. It’s fun to spread the joy around! People will definitely stare, wave, honk and take pictures of you on the beer bike as you pass by.

Your tour guide will provide the occasional tidbits about the area you are passing as well as beer recommendations for each pitstop. If you’re lucky, you might make some new friends both on and off the bike throughout the tour. One of the highlights of the day was taking a group photo at Snowden Building in Ramsay to remember the tour. Plus, you’ll have a pretty cool experience to tell all your coworkers about the next day when they ask how your weekend was.

You could pub crawl on your own or just walk to each brewery location but the Pedal Pub bike brewery tour gives you a very unique experience that’s worth trying out.

Pedal Pub bike brewery tours in Calgary

Pedal Pub currently offers a Brewery Flats bike tour that takes you through Inglewood and Ramsay. You’ll stop at locations like Cold Garden, Ol’ Beautiful, Eighty-Eight Brewing, and High Line Brewing. They are also providing a Beltline/17^th Avenue bike tour where you will pub crawl to locales like Last Best Brewing, Inner City Brewing, Leopold’s Tavern, and Greta Bar.

Needless to say, Pedal Pub is a great group experience for just about anything. Consider it for date night, bachelor/ette parties, birthdays and company teambuilding (if you’re clever enough to convince your boss of this).

Pedal Pub has multiple group bikes in stock and running tours 7 days a week from April to October. They are also booking special tours for Stampede and other events. Groups can book the entire party bike for private brewery tours for about $600. Or if you have a smaller gathering, you can book on their individual seat tours starting at about $50. Happy bike and brew!

#hosted: Thank you to the Pedal Pub team for having me along on such a great beer-filled adventure!

Pedal Pub Calgary
www.pedalpub.com