Sunny Time at Dark Lord Day 2011
I have lots of beer-related adventures to write about experienced during my travels. I’m interrupting the standard chronological flow to write about one of the largest beer events I had never heard of: Three Floyds’ Dark Lord Day. Before I moved to the area, I had never heard of this festival of a once-a-year release of a viscous, warming, mouth-tingling, spirit-lifting, highly sought-after, Russian Imperial Stout. To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled about going the first time we got tickets. To me, a golden ticket, trading brews, and standing in line to pay for beer just didn’t sound like my scene. It sounded like a scene from a Star Wars convention.
Since I’ve heard of this event, there has been a kind of excitement around it. Leading up to it, there is talk of other rare brews, speculation about the bottle purchase limit, and people making plans for a trek out to a rural/suburban part of the country. But most of the excitement is fueled by the rants and raves of “long-time customers” threatening to boycott the small Indiana brewery, because they didn’t get tickets.
Each year, Three Floyds works to take steps to better organize the event. Last year was the first year they sold tickets. In previous years it was a small free-for-all, hours waiting in line for the possibility of getting a bottle. Last year, with tickets, you were guaranteed a bottle, but the line was still insane. This year they split up the ticket sales into timeslots, and the result was perfect.
I showed up and found parking right away. The police blocking off the large parking lot at the park across the street was a bit intimidating. I stepped out of my car and looked at the people getting out of their cars. They had book bags and coolers. Some were in shorts, others furry boots and sweaters. Others were prepared for rain. No one knew what to expect.
It was chilly. We walked down the street and found that there was just one line this year to get into the event. An improvement, but this year we came up on the other side of the street. After a bit of a walk, we found ourselves on the end of a long, snaking line. We were much farther behind than last year, but there was only one line. This was just the line to get in though, not the line for the beer. As opening time rolled around, I wondered how they were going to get all of the people in the first group through the entry line and through a line for beer pick up. I listened to the geeky chatter around me. I watched a large man lumbering about the area with a bottle of 2009 Dark Lord almost waving it in front of the crowd. I saw people longingly looking after people who were strutting passed to get a spot in line much farther up than them. The line kept growing. I wished that I brought more than a bottle of beer. I was counting on the guest taps, and not only were they not available, the lines would be equally as long for them. It was 9:30 a.m., and I didn’t want to get tanked waiting in line, but somehow I felt left out of the merriment. Maybe a drink or two would have made the geek talk more tolerable.
The sun came out. Then the line started moving, really moving. It wasn’t a scoot; it was a quick walk to the entry gate. They put us in the line for the first group when we hit the gate. As we snaked through the tiny property of Three Floyds we took out our Gnomegang. It was great for the four of us to sip on while we waited in line. We finished the bottle just as we were nearing the door. We picked up our allotment of beer, bought two bombers of the Imperial Pils, and went into a different part of the warehouse.
I think they had a set up like this last year, but after four hours in line, the crowd, and “tasting” quite a few beers I didn’t get to see it. This year, it was GREAT. The band stage was set up, they had vendors, and Three Floyds gear. It wasn’t crowded at all. We got to try three of the guest taps with no line! We tried Crown Brewing’s Fade to Black (Black IPA), People’s Mr. Brown (Brown Ale), and Oaken Barrel’s Superfly (IPA). Of the three I’d say that Superfly was the best. It was rich, complex, and balanced. I’m not a huge fan of Crown, but this one was flavorful. The malt and hops were well-balanced.
We made our way back out into the crowd. The guys went to stand in a line for guest taps that was longer than the DL purchase line. After about an hour of waiting, my friend and I went on a search for the DL taster line. We were supposed to get a taste of DL. Last year they had it near the pick-up line. This year however, they were serving the tastes out of their pub. The pub has a 75 person capacity limit that was being strictly enforced. The wait was estimated at 2 hours.
We got back to the table and the guys were back with a great selection of premium guest beers: Walkers Reserve Robust Porter, Lunar Brewing’s Cosmonaut, Futhermore’s Knot Stock (very peppery), Firestone Walker’s Vanilla Bean Porter, Surly’s Schadenfreude, Stone’s Double Bastard with Chipotle Peppers, and Dark Horse’s Double Crooked Tree IPA. Seven beers, some pints and some much less. We shared among the six of us. We all got a really good taste of each. We talked about them, and surprisingly our tastes weren’t completely off with all of the flavors. We snacked on pretzels and goat cheese and date pastries, finished off our tastes, and moved on to an after-party at my house. At my place, we sampled some sour beers (Monk’s Café and Ommegang’s Zuur), some homemade wine (courtesy of the Hubberts), and some of our Kickham’s Witch’s Brew. We ate, and ate, and ate. A good way to end any day!
Since I’ve heard of this event, there has been a kind of excitement around it. Leading up to it, there is talk of other rare brews, speculation about the bottle purchase limit, and people making plans for a trek out to a rural/suburban part of the country. But most of the excitement is fueled by the rants and raves of “long-time customers” threatening to boycott the small Indiana brewery, because they didn’t get tickets. Each year, Three Floyds works to take steps to better organize the event. Last year was the first year they sold tickets. In previous years it was a small free-for-all, hours waiting in line for the possibility of getting a bottle. Last year, with tickets, you were guaranteed a bottle, but the line was still insane. This year they split up the ticket sales into timeslots, and the result was perfect.
I showed up and found parking right away. The police blocking off the large parking lot at the park across the street was a bit intimidating. I stepped out of my car and looked at the people getting out of their cars. They had book bags and coolers. Some were in shorts, others furry boots and sweaters. Others were prepared for rain. No one knew what to expect.
It was chilly. We walked down the street and found that there was just one line this year to get into the event. An improvement, but this year we came up on the other side of the street. After a bit of a walk, we found ourselves on the end of a long, snaking line. We were much farther behind than last year, but there was only one line. This was just the line to get in though, not the line for the beer. As opening time rolled around, I wondered how they were going to get all of the people in the first group through the entry line and through a line for beer pick up. I listened to the geeky chatter around me. I watched a large man lumbering about the area with a bottle of 2009 Dark Lord almost waving it in front of the crowd. I saw people longingly looking after people who were strutting passed to get a spot in line much farther up than them. The line kept growing. I wished that I brought more than a bottle of beer. I was counting on the guest taps, and not only were they not available, the lines would be equally as long for them. It was 9:30 a.m., and I didn’t want to get tanked waiting in line, but somehow I felt left out of the merriment. Maybe a drink or two would have made the geek talk more tolerable.
The sun came out. Then the line started moving, really moving. It wasn’t a scoot; it was a quick walk to the entry gate. They put us in the line for the first group when we hit the gate. As we snaked through the tiny property of Three Floyds we took out our Gnomegang. It was great for the four of us to sip on while we waited in line. We finished the bottle just as we were nearing the door. We picked up our allotment of beer, bought two bombers of the Imperial Pils, and went into a different part of the warehouse.
I think they had a set up like this last year, but after four hours in line, the crowd, and “tasting” quite a few beers I didn’t get to see it. This year, it was GREAT. The band stage was set up, they had vendors, and Three Floyds gear. It wasn’t crowded at all. We got to try three of the guest taps with no line! We tried Crown Brewing’s Fade to Black (Black IPA), People’s Mr. Brown (Brown Ale), and Oaken Barrel’s Superfly (IPA). Of the three I’d say that Superfly was the best. It was rich, complex, and balanced. I’m not a huge fan of Crown, but this one was flavorful. The malt and hops were well-balanced.
We made our way back out into the crowd. The guys went to stand in a line for guest taps that was longer than the DL purchase line. After about an hour of waiting, my friend and I went on a search for the DL taster line. We were supposed to get a taste of DL. Last year they had it near the pick-up line. This year however, they were serving the tastes out of their pub. The pub has a 75 person capacity limit that was being strictly enforced. The wait was estimated at 2 hours.
We got back to the table and the guys were back with a great selection of premium guest beers: Walkers Reserve Robust Porter, Lunar Brewing’s Cosmonaut, Futhermore’s Knot Stock (very peppery), Firestone Walker’s Vanilla Bean Porter, Surly’s Schadenfreude, Stone’s Double Bastard with Chipotle Peppers, and Dark Horse’s Double Crooked Tree IPA. Seven beers, some pints and some much less. We shared among the six of us. We all got a really good taste of each. We talked about them, and surprisingly our tastes weren’t completely off with all of the flavors. We snacked on pretzels and goat cheese and date pastries, finished off our tastes, and moved on to an after-party at my house. At my place, we sampled some sour beers (Monk’s Café and Ommegang’s Zuur), some homemade wine (courtesy of the Hubberts), and some of our Kickham’s Witch’s Brew. We ate, and ate, and ate. A good way to end any day!
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