GunMD
Well-known member
As you may have seen in another thread, a few forum members attended the first ever Iron Liver Rally last weekend (also known as the Stone 11th Anniversary Celebration and Invitational Beer Festival). The Iron Liver Rally differs from other rallies in that you start out with ten points (next paragraph has more info) and most participants end up with zero. That's the goal.
I rode from Twentynine Palms to Escondido on Saturday morning. GZ (beeroux) drove from Joshua Tree to Chuck's (chickey191) place in San Diego. I met a friend of mine, Bill, in Escondido and we shared a cab to the Celebration where we met up with Chuck and GZ. Once we showed ID and presented our tickets we were given a tasting glass and an arm bracelet. The arm bracelet had ten tear-off tabs on it. Each tab could be redeemed for a tasting glass full of premium beer from some of the 41 different guest breweries that were on hand. After the check-in process was complete and we were given our bonus packs (bracelet) it was off to the end of the line. The line was pretty long, but we only stayed at the end for a few minutes before GZ called and informed us that he and Chuck were much closer to the front. Bill and I joined them right away. We spent the next few minutes enjoying the perfect pre-rally weather, shooting the shit, and telling lies. It wasn't long before they opened the gates and we were off. The Iron Liver Rally was underway.
We first visited the tent of Russian River Brewing. We had a choice between Pliny The Elder and Russian River IPA. (There may have been other brews at this bonus stop, but I don't remember.) Russian River seemed to be one of the more popular bonus stops during the ILR. We were all glad that we hit that bonus early, before traffic became an issue. One point deducted for each of us.
Moving on to another bonus wasn't a straight forward process. With 40 more to choose from and only nine points left for each of us, we had to be selective. It turns out that GZ was our routing guru. He had a plan that he refered to as the "Top Shelf" strategy. His plan was to hit only those bonii that we couldn't normally collect on. If you can buy it in a bottle at the corner liquor store there's no point in wasting a bonus point on it here during the Iron Liver Rally. We followed GZ's plan.
The rest of the Rally is a little blurry. I know several of the bonii that we hit, but I don't know the order in which we visited them. To list a few:
Ska Brewing CO, where I had a Decadent Imperial IPA.
Bear Republic Brewing, where I had a Racer 5 India Pale Ale
La Jolla Brew House (I think this is the first place I pulled off the "Can I take your picture" scam, thereby getting a pour without losing a bonus point (bracelet tab). Free stuff is cool.)
Mammoth Brewing Co. (GZ warned us all not to try this stuff, but I didn't listen. His warning involved ending up like Kaitsdad in a small Utah town, stuck in the Comfort Inn, a hostage to his own bodily functions). (Sorry Hal, I couldn't resist).
Rubicon Brewing Co.
Victory Brewing Co.
Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Co.
Stone Brewing Co's hand-pumped beer station. (Some strange stuff here, I assure you. GZ liked it and the rest of us donated our take to him).
Stone Brewing Co, where we tried the 11th Anniversary brew (more than once).
This Rally also included a few bonus stops for food...
Mike's Beer Cheese: Home of the hottest damn cheese spread I've ever had (called Nuclear Bastard)
Arrogant Bastard battered onion rings. This is where GZ worked his magic. Our first batch came from the "kitchen" area of the tent and we didn't have to wait in line. I think this dude was really into GZ...
But GZ had an eye for this battered cutie...
Here GZ performs a circus act that was required by the ILR rules anytime you score free rings without waiting in line.
Later we actually waited in line for more rings.
Chuck paid for his plate-full:
While GZ sucked up to a volunteer and managed to get ANOTHER free plate of rings. Scammer.
To be continued...
I rode from Twentynine Palms to Escondido on Saturday morning. GZ (beeroux) drove from Joshua Tree to Chuck's (chickey191) place in San Diego. I met a friend of mine, Bill, in Escondido and we shared a cab to the Celebration where we met up with Chuck and GZ. Once we showed ID and presented our tickets we were given a tasting glass and an arm bracelet. The arm bracelet had ten tear-off tabs on it. Each tab could be redeemed for a tasting glass full of premium beer from some of the 41 different guest breweries that were on hand. After the check-in process was complete and we were given our bonus packs (bracelet) it was off to the end of the line. The line was pretty long, but we only stayed at the end for a few minutes before GZ called and informed us that he and Chuck were much closer to the front. Bill and I joined them right away. We spent the next few minutes enjoying the perfect pre-rally weather, shooting the shit, and telling lies. It wasn't long before they opened the gates and we were off. The Iron Liver Rally was underway.
We first visited the tent of Russian River Brewing. We had a choice between Pliny The Elder and Russian River IPA. (There may have been other brews at this bonus stop, but I don't remember.) Russian River seemed to be one of the more popular bonus stops during the ILR. We were all glad that we hit that bonus early, before traffic became an issue. One point deducted for each of us.
Moving on to another bonus wasn't a straight forward process. With 40 more to choose from and only nine points left for each of us, we had to be selective. It turns out that GZ was our routing guru. He had a plan that he refered to as the "Top Shelf" strategy. His plan was to hit only those bonii that we couldn't normally collect on. If you can buy it in a bottle at the corner liquor store there's no point in wasting a bonus point on it here during the Iron Liver Rally. We followed GZ's plan.
The rest of the Rally is a little blurry. I know several of the bonii that we hit, but I don't know the order in which we visited them. To list a few:
Ska Brewing CO, where I had a Decadent Imperial IPA.
Bear Republic Brewing, where I had a Racer 5 India Pale Ale
La Jolla Brew House (I think this is the first place I pulled off the "Can I take your picture" scam, thereby getting a pour without losing a bonus point (bracelet tab). Free stuff is cool.)
Mammoth Brewing Co. (GZ warned us all not to try this stuff, but I didn't listen. His warning involved ending up like Kaitsdad in a small Utah town, stuck in the Comfort Inn, a hostage to his own bodily functions). (Sorry Hal, I couldn't resist).
Rubicon Brewing Co.
Victory Brewing Co.
Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Co.
Stone Brewing Co's hand-pumped beer station. (Some strange stuff here, I assure you. GZ liked it and the rest of us donated our take to him).
Stone Brewing Co, where we tried the 11th Anniversary brew (more than once).
This Rally also included a few bonus stops for food...
Mike's Beer Cheese: Home of the hottest damn cheese spread I've ever had (called Nuclear Bastard)
Arrogant Bastard battered onion rings. This is where GZ worked his magic. Our first batch came from the "kitchen" area of the tent and we didn't have to wait in line. I think this dude was really into GZ...
But GZ had an eye for this battered cutie...
Here GZ performs a circus act that was required by the ILR rules anytime you score free rings without waiting in line.
Later we actually waited in line for more rings.
Chuck paid for his plate-full:
While GZ sucked up to a volunteer and managed to get ANOTHER free plate of rings. Scammer.
To be continued...
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