Coronado’s Island Beer Club (IBC) was started back in March 2004 by Jeff “Bones” Wilkens, John “Old Doc” Morton, John “Cruncher” Muncy and Wayne “Big Oly” Oldendorph. Rob “Crenny” Crenshaw was added as a Founding Father shortly after the creation of the group and manages the website. The group has grown to over 200 members with more joining each week.
Last night, they had their 10 year anniversary party complete with live music (mariachi band), multiple kegs on tap, catered food and tongue-in-cheek skits to celebrate the 10 year milestone. Even though the group frowns on snapping photos and sharing details of their club, eCoronado.com just had to share a bit of this local flair with the Coronado community – it reminds us of what a truly unique and special place Coronado is.
From their website:
The IBC meets every Wed from 4pm to 6pm (Standard Time); 4:30pm to 6:30pm (Daylight Savings Time) in the alley (Beer Belly Blvd) on J Ave (800 block) in Coronado. Guests, especially ladies, are always welcome when accompanied by a Beer Club member. Please join us.
We are a bunch of guys who grew up together and love beer. We’ve all gone off to school, have had successful careers and, in our later life, returned to our home town to reunite and share experiences. We’re posting this site to communicate and coordinate with our numerous members worldwide and with potential members wherever they may be. This is for our amusement and entertainment. If you like it please return.
Scroll down for more photos and additional history of the club.
Below: Ashlee Nicolls (Mbr #180), snapped and submitted a “slumbering” Steve Wampler (Mbr #120) who has been an active member since 2011. (Permission given by both Ashlee and Steve to post.)
On a magnificent afternoon, mid-March in 2004, the Island Beer Club (IBC) was founded. Jeff “Bones” Wilkens (Mbr#1), John “Old Doc” Morton (Mbr#2), John “Cruncher” Muncy (Mbr#3) and Wayne “Big Oly” Oldendorph (Mbr#4) decided to sample hand-crafted, full-bodied beers from local micro breweries in the San Diego, California, area. After multiple thirst-quenching stops, our boys ended up at the Ballast Point Brewing Company near the University of San Diego campus. It was there that a kegerator, on display for sale, caught the guys’ interest. The thought emerged Wouldn’t it be cool if we could enjoy a cold, hand-crafted, micro-brewed beer without the hassle of traveling off of the “Rock?”
Since great ideas require intense thought and discussion, our brew crew adjourned to the VFW bar in Coronado, CA for further liquid refreshment. At the “V” the team agreed to form a beer club. Bones would be the “capital” man–he’d purchase a kegerator and allow his garage to be used for micro brew-beer-sampling sessions. Other Club members would purchase kegs of beer, as required. Having established the basic charter for the club, the guys then adjourned to the Little Club bar, in Coronado, to celebrate their brilliant thoughts and begin the membership campaign.
Our man of action, Bones, purchased the kegerator just a few days later. And, on Monday, March 22, 2004, Old Doc delivered the first keg, Ballast Point Pale Ale. Shortly thereafter our fifth Founder, Rob “Crenny” Crenshaw (Mbr#5) joined in on the afternoon beer sampling sessions for Coronado’s beer aficionados. Meeting at 4 pm, the five grew fond of watching Jerry Springer (not much else on the tube at that time) and discussing the happenings in the universe. It was here that the boys developed the IBC motto–“More Time than Money”– to reflect the retired status of most of the Beer Club’s stately members. The founders also developed the club’s membership requirement: Buy a keg of hand-crafted beer and you are a member.
About ten months into our new Club activities, we needed to solve a problem for Jeff’s spousal unit, Loie. All this time from inception, Club members were allowed to visit the restroom facilities in the house. Unfortunately, those waiting outside for the facility to “clear” would relieve themselves in Loie’s garden… This was intolerable.
Being problem solvers, the Founders jumped on the opportunity to resolve this issue. We looked for sources of urinals in the San Diego area… both used and new. We found that all of the used urinals throughout San Diego County were sent south to Tijuana, so none were available locally.
Finally, after a couple of months of searching, our Northern California Founder, John Muncy, found an acceptable used urinal in San Francisco. The unit was bought, crated and shipped in early March of 2005, allowing the Club to have the urinal installed and operational, in time for our first anniversary. In 2013 the original urinal was retired and a waterless urinal installed. Ladies are encouraged and permitted to use the indoor toilet facilities inside the house.
Always alert and “forward observant” (looking to the future), Bones purchased the domain name, www.islandbeerclub.com. He knew that it might be worthwhile, but he had no idea what to do with it or how it would be helpful… so we sat on it until July of 2006. At this point Crenny had gained some experience in website development and was hosting the website for the Sea ‘N Air Men’s Golf Club. That was all we needed. A few pages were developed and the IBC website was officially published in July 2006. This award-winning website is the envy of beer clubs everywhere.
Signage plays a big part at the Island Beer Club. In August 2006 our alley became “Beer Belly Blvd.” A year later a permanent, brass marker was installed commemorating the site if the IBC. October 2007 had John Clampitt (Mbr#18) deliver and install a hand-crafted, kiln-fired tile plaque to identify the clubhouse of the IBC. In 2014 we will install the “Beer-Lin Wall of Tiles” to allow each member to be a recognized as a permanent part of the Beer Club facility. John Weiman (Mbr#151), Weiman Design, designed our logo in late October 2007; allowing us to acquire our now highly sought after, custom apparel and glassware.
In our first ten years of existence, we have continually improved and upgraded the facility to include a commercial popcorn maker (compliments of Mike Herlihy {Mbr#57}), two additional beer kegerators (thanks Bones {Mbr#1}), a granite wash sink (thanks to IBC plumber Bob Ryan {Mbr#120}and granite donator Ed Carney {Mbr #58}), two flame-thrower outdoor heaters and numerous beer-oriented signs. Also the Island Beer Club banner has been on many photo ops including to the top of Kilimanjaro, 2012 Super Bowl and a $16 million dollar cocaine bust off Costa Rica. Between, 2010 and 2012, we more than doubled our membership as we focused on recruiting beer aficionados with enough disposable income to provide a keg of hand-crafted beer. In October 2012 we adopted more stringent new member guidelines (ie. only 2 new members per month) to ensure we don’t grow too rapidly and lose our spirit of camaraderie. As of March 1, 2014 we have 206 members.
In 2013 we established the tradition of celebrating the anniversary the Island Beer Club by holding a Founder’s Day. This event honors the five Founders of Beer Club, with a program put on by the IBC “newbies.”
The IBC meets every Wednesday from 4 PM to 6 PM (Standard Time); 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM (Daylight Savings Time) in the alley (Beer Belly Blvd) on J Avenue in Coronado. Guests, especially ladies, are always welcome when accompanied by a Beer Club member. Please join us.
IBC Founder’s Day 2013 Video
