But the main issue that still mars the experience the most for many remains: the hype over the beer. Bottles of Dark Lord make their way onto eBay, Craigslist and other online sites for sale far above what were paid for them at the brewery within hours of their sale. more ›

With three Floyds not allowing coolers for Dark Lord Day next week, Jake Melnick's "A Jake of All Trades," a beer trading event Wednesday, April 25 may be a great opportunity for beer traders to discover and obtain highly prized beers for their collection. more ›

Chicagoist guest contributor Bridget Houlihan experienced the madness of Dark Lord Day and lived to tell about it. Saturday was Dark Lord Day - the beer lover’s Woodstock - when thousands from near and far descended upon Three Floyds brewery in Munster, Indiana to buy the limited supply of “Dark Lord,” a Russian Imperial Stout considered to be one of the best beers in the world. You can only buy Dark Lord one day a year, and you need a ticket to get your share - four bottles at $15 each. Even at that price, it’s quite a deal considering (as we predicted) bottles of 2011 Dark Lord are already for sale on e-bay for as much as $100 a pop! The frenzy begins more than a month before the big day, when online tickets become available and sell out in a matter of minutes. more ›

As this year's Dark Lord Day (the yearly festival where beer lovers queue up for the one-day-only release of Three Floyds' special Russian Imperial Stout) fast approaches, more news is squeaking out about some super-specialty brews for this year's celebration. more ›

Three Floyds just announced that tickets for Dark Lord Day will go on sale at 1 p.m. Here's the link. Start refreshing your browsers. more ›

Another Dark Lord Day is in the books and the lesson learned is "come early." Marcus hopped on the LUSH Wine & Spirits bus. I biked. We reached Three Floyds within a half-hour of each other to find a line stretching down Indiana Parkway. I'd like to say that it was exciting, but both Marcus and I spent the majority of our time in Munster in queue like British, golden tickets in hand. more ›

Tomorrow will be Marcus's first foray to Dark Lord Day and he asked me for tips on navigating the festival yesterday. One would think that a man who made it through the sustained Sodom of a New Orleans Saints Super Bowl victory celebration and Mardi Gras in succession would need no tips on how to navigate something of this size. more ›

We understand it can become an over-whelming experience when peering into a beer cooler or down a long line of tap-handles. There was once a time when your selection was limited to domestic and imported. Now, we have cult-craft breweries entering the market faster than Dark Lord Day tickets sell-out. How do you call one brewer your home? Your constant? For us, it’s a combination of taste and reliability and for these reasons Dogfish Head is high on our list. Disagree? more ›

Is it just us, or has there been a lot more graffiti around than usual? Taggers have been everywhere (when they're not getting killed running from the cops) and the skill level seems to have been going up as well, at least from the work we're seeing on rooftops during our daily commute. more ›

Try to remember, people: It's just a beer!! more ›

We're less than two months away from the insanity that is Three Floyds' Dark Lord Day. The implementation of "golden tickets" was a wonderful idea to ensure those who wanted to purchase the hotly anticipated Russian Imperial Stout actually could, while raising money for the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society in the process. While some golden ticket holders still took to Craigslist and ebay to sell extras, the combination of the tickets and bad weather made last year's version of DLD manageable and much more enjoyable. more ›

The above is very likely the worst demonstration of alliteration in a while, but what the hell. On this week's entry into the Chicagoist Podcast Series, we check in with our own Chuck Sudo to get a little more perspective on the experience that was this weekend's Dark Lord Day at the Three Floyds Brewery in Munster, Indiana. Following that, I had the opportunity to go on WLS radio Sunday afternoon to talk about my own response to Talk Like Shakespeare Day, called Talk Like Terkel (or Speak Like Studs if you prefer). Just for fun, we've included that audio here. more ›

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. more ›

Tomorrow marks the annual release of Dark Lord, the Russian Imperial Stout from Three Floyds. The video above, filmed at last year's event, shows the waiting line at 9:30 a.m., 90 minutes before the beer officially went on sale. more ›

The Tribune Company is going all out to promote Kevin Pang's "The Cheeseburger Show." And the show is charming, btw, with the first episode visiting Top Notch Beefburger. Pang does know his classics. He's hosting a Tweetup Friday. Sorry, an "old-fashioned Tweetup" (that's so last autumn) where they're buying you cheeseburgers from 8-10 p.m. more ›

The DarkLord Days of recent years have devolved into a litany of disappointed beer fans either leaving without bottles of Three Floyd's prized Russian Imperial Stout, or being so desperate for it that they purchase bottles from some of Northwest Indiana's brightest trade school dropouts for at least three times the $15 selling price set by the brewery. The golden ticket sale announced by the brewery was a step in the right direction to give those who truly wanted the beer an opportunity to buy it. Still, it was only a matter of time before golden tickets started popping up on Craigslist and online auctions. more ›

As of 4:23 a.m., the golden tickets for this year's DarkLord Day (April 25) at Three Floyds Brewery are now on sale. The brewery implemented the ticket system as a means to get as much DarkLord to the people who actually want to drink it, instead of buying scalped bottles in the parking lot. more ›