The Fuzzy Math of Dark Lord Day
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 27, 2010 4:00PM
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.
Where things did get exciting was mid-afternoon, when Three Floyds reduced the bottle allotment per ticket from four to three. What many folks didn't know is that there were two lines for golden ticket holders merging near the guest draft truck, which was causing the lines to crawl at a snail's pace. This was further compounded by golden ticket holders cutting in line near the port-a-potties and rumors that the bottle allotment could go down to two per ticket before the brewery opened Dark Lord sales to all comers. One local beer geek, who we'll assume cut in line, called himself "the greatest Dark Lord Day scammer in the history of scamming."
The frustration set in almost immediately for some. Waiting with us in line was Drinks Over Dearborn owner Kyle McHugh, who questioned how hard it could be to get the bottle allotment right the first time; an estimated 6,500 golden tickets were sold this year. "There's nothing we can do about it. They dictate the terms and conditions of the tickets," McHugh said. To augment the possibility of shortage, Three Floyds broke out bottles of last year's vintage for sale. Still, it doesn't take a calculator to set the correct bottle allotment right the first time around. (A request to Three Floyds' Lincoln Anderson for comment about the allotment reduction was not replied to as of post time). The lower brew yield also had an effect on setting market prices for Dark Lord on Craigslist and ebay.
With an estimated 8,000 people attending, Dark Lord Day has taken on rock concert status. The brewery has even sold t-shirts and posters, while special guest act Monotonix tore up the stage inside the brewery. I've learned to just go with the flow on Dark Lord Day; I enjoy the event better that way.