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The man in this photo came to Dark Lord Day from Birmingham in an RV. Before hitting Munster, he and his pals hit Founders in Grand Rapids, where they loaded up on the unavailable Canadian Breakfast stout, a stout aged in maple syrup casks.
Now I get to eat crow. Compared to previous years, Dark Lord Day 2009 was a streamlined and efficient operation. Lines for the most part were defined and orderly. Extra tents were set up to accommodate attendees looking to slake their thirst. Even Munster's finest got into the act with an increased presence for controlling traffic and the rare drunken buffoon.
The crowd seemed to be much less than last year, when the sheer mass of people threatened to overwhelm Three Floyds Brewery and brewpub. That could have been attributed to the overcast skies, the Golden Ticket system, or both. As for the latter, it actually worked out well. My wait in line for my bottle allotment (announced at the start of the day at 4 per ticket) turned out to be 90 minutes; some volunteers were worried about remaining volume as most all ticket holders were buying the maximum allowable allotment per ducat. By 4 p.m., however, there was virtually no line for Dark Lord as most of the crowd had left either burned out from a full days drinking or to beat the inclement weather home. This prompted the brewery to put another block of tickets on sale before they finally decided to open sale of Dark Lord to all comers fifteen minutes before the scheduled 6 p.m. opening.
The last-minute sale of Golden Tickets left some in attendance scratching their heads in confusion, given that the brewery announced they were previously sold out. Which reinforces my main criticism of Dark Lord Day. Three Floyds seems determined to hype Dark Lord Day to such a degree that people who miss out on buying the beer will go to any length to get a bottle; one Craigslist poster already has a bottle of Dark Lord listed at $70, another has a set of 8 for $300. Their declarations against scalpers is ultimately empty, as the brewery recognizes that once the product is out of their hands they can do nothing about it. But it was a very good step in the right direction.
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I thought that things were handled well. I got there around 11:15, and by that point the line had snaked down the block and around a parking lot a few times. I thought I was going to be in line all afternoon, but by about 2:00 I was in the brewery. Props to the Munster police for not throwing a fit over people drinking on the streets.
Now that I've tried Dark Lord though, I can't get out of my head how overrated this beer is. For those that haven't had it but want to try the equivalent of it - go get a growler of stout from your local brewpub, and throw in as much sugar as you think will dissolve in there.
jimbo: the line moved freaky fast and, like I wrote, overall I was impressed by how much they had the festival on lockdown, it was so efficient.
My favorite reason for going is still to chat up other beer geeks, lovers and the brew-curious. Meeting the Inebriati was the greatest revelation of the day for me, still. their home brews were on a par with some of the guest taps and they were so gracious and accommodating in letting people sample them.
The gentleman with the Inebriati beer is wearing a t-shirt with a logo from the tv show "Millenium", which their company seems to have co-opted. That's all positive in my book.
In speaking with Rob Walker, our graphic artist, I found that he did occasionally watch Millenium. When he found the base image he worked from however, he didn't realize that it came from the show. Looks like we're back to editing!
Holly Christine Brown
The Inebriati
The highlite of my day was seeing the guy with the mini keg on wheels in a cooler, with his golden ticket somehow mounted on said cooler, wearing some kind of Dark Lord t-shirt, and rocking a pair of jorts. Dude lives for Dark Lord day apparently.
I was amazed at how much smoother the line went this year. Looks like the golden tickets were a big improvement (assuming you were lucky enough to get one). The wait for the food tent was almost longer than the wait for dark lord this year, but that's to be expected given the drunken hoard that gathered.
my guess is the line into the pub was the worst. we waited well over 2 hours (maybe close to 3 hours) to get in. and some jackasses with a gumballhead paper mache tried to jump in line in front of us. i was glad to see the guys watching the pub entrance regulate. and although the pub line took forever, the vanilla bean oak-aged 08 DL was one of my favorites of the day.
they had the canadian breakfast stout on tap inside brewery. i didn't find it to taste much different than the KBS.
Best part was that they put on Candian breakfast, Oak aged and Vanilla Bean on in guest tap area that had a 2 minute line.
The food line sucked hard. Next year there will food in my cooler with my beer.
And the Inebriati were cool. In fact one of them is my co-worker so I hung with them most of the day.
ugh
i need to do a better job next year. would've been nice to have a tap schedule.
Meanwhile, I stayed at home, drank 18 Miller Lites, and passed out in bed.
Now, who do you think had more fun?
I thought the guest tap schedule was a great idea.
I have no idea why people try to get into the restaurant or why it's even open on Dark Lord Day.
I'm glad you enjoyed our beer! The man in the picture is Greg Plutko. He gave you a sample of Skuld Krusher, our Norske Cardamom-Currant Rye Ale.
As for DLD, I understand what Three Floyds was attempting but let's be honest; Golden Ticket sales didn't solve any problems. Tickets were listed days before the event for $100+
There was more organization this year, but by no means would I call it adequate. Multiple beer lines were helpful but a solid portion of attendees had no idea what was available to them or what line they were even standing in. Having some brews available only in the pub made for a nightmare of a line where you could wait for hours and still not get what you were waiting for.
Despite any disorganization or inclement weather we had a great time, and The Mystic Brewers of The Inebriati will be back next year with more beer to share.
Holly Christine Brown
The Inebriati