So, what can I expect there? Just wondering what the overall point of it is, or is it mostly a membership drive, or ? ? ?
All AHA Rallies are membership drives hosted by Brewers Association member breweries to help bring the homebrewing and professional communities closer together. There’s also lots of fun stuff planned to make them once in a lifetime opportunities.
Here’s what we’ve got lined up for the Goose Island Rally: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/events/event-list/show?title=goose-island-beer-company-aha-rally
Goose Island Beer Company AHA Rally
Date: Friday, July 30, 2010
Time: 6-9pm
Rally Host: Goose Island Beer Company
Address: 1800 W. Fulton Street, Chicago, IL, 60612
Web: www.gooseisland.com
RSVP NOW: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dE12M3QybjNYTXMtWTUzcU9wVDZJUlE6MA
Space is Limited
-
VIP Brewery Tour!
-
Receive complimentary samples of Goose Island’s beer: Sofie, Pere Jacques, Bourbon County Stout, Bourbon County Vanilla Stout, Green Line and IPA. Plus a special tapping of beers from Goose Island’s Lincoln Park Brewery!
-
Meet Goose Island brewers: Brett Porter, Wil Turner and Jared Rouben
-
Mingle with beer industry notables: Ray Daniels (author & Cicerone Certification Program), Keith Lemcke (Siebel Institute), Randy Mosher (author), Chris White (White Labs) and Kathryn Porter Drapeau (Brewers Association).
-
An opportunity to mingle with other Chicagoland homebrewers.
-
Chance to win great prizes from the AHA and Goose Island Beer Company!
-
Each attendee gets a Goose Island bottle opener.
American Homebrewers Association (AHA) Rallies are free to current AHA members. Non-members can sign up at a discounted rate at the door. Fill-in and print this AHA Rally Member Form and take it with you to the event. http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/4249/AHAMemberForm2010Rally.pdf
They are a blast. One of the purposes is to get new members, so if you know someone, bring them along. But I’ve also found them to be great places to meet up with other homebrewers, see the inner workings of the breweries, and try some fantastic beer, including some stuff that doesn’t get out to the market.
I was at the Allagash rally in May and loved every minute of it. Even found out one of the brewers grew up in the next town from me in VT. And I won an AHA shirt!!! Perfect end to a perfect day.
By far the prettiest of the bunch and definitely the biggest star there! 
You are too kind, Drew!
(now I’m blushing!)
Well, after 2.5hours in traffic absolutely sucking the life out of me (and not in a good way) I turned around and went home.
I expected to be there between six and six-thirty, but once seven-thirty rolled around and I still had a way to go - I quit.
Chicago - come for the pizza stay cuz of traffic!
Yeah, Friday night is not the best for getting into the city. I didn’t go, as tempting as the lineup was. If it had been Saturday afternoon, I was all over it.
It’s never taken me that long - outside of a pileup somewhere. I heard on the news last night that since it was the last Friday of the month, there’s this HUGE gathering of cyclists that gather downtown basically to cause chaos. They totally screw up the traffic, on purpose.
I’ve been an avid cyclist for 20+ years, but I have no use for those guys.I get what they’re trying to get across, but they annoy people more than anything else.