I was in Group C this year and it was a bit of a mindf*ck to enter from the north side and see no line down Superior Ave. where there normally was one. "Wow," I thought, "Switching to 5 groups instead of 3 (4?) is a huge improvement." Surprise! The line was still there, it was just heading in the other direction. And, at 3.5 hours from line up to beer acquisition, it was just as long (longer?) than ever.

I didn't make it to the other side of the street where the stage has now relocated, but friends who did only had good things to say.

And after a cold and rainy 2012 DLD, wasn't it nice to drink beer in the sunshine? I even donned shorts for the first time in 2013.

chgoeditor wrote:And, at 3.5 hours from line up to beer acquisition, it was just as long (longer?) than ever.

I was in the exact same boat as you, but waiting in line is actually my favorite part of DLD (although apparently the drunken mosh pit was a sight to be seen). I like the camaraderie of the line and the excitement of everyone sharing their favorite beers (and on Saturday, sharing sunscreen as well) with friends and appreciative strangers alike. The sun boosted everyone's spirits, and I did not hear one person gripe about the diminished allotment.

Overall, it was a super fun day!

Teresa

Teresa wrote:

chgoeditor wrote:And, at 3.5 hours from line up to beer acquisition, it was just as long (longer?) than ever.

I was in the exact same boat as you, but waiting in line is actually my favorite part of DLD (although apparently the drunken mosh pit was a sight to be seen). I like the camaraderie of the line and the excitement of everyone sharing their favorite beers (and on Saturday, sharing sunscreen as well) with friends and appreciative strangers alike. The sun boosted everyone's spirits, and I did not hear one person gripe about the diminished allotment.

I agree that line waiting can be fun. Unfortunately two of us were in Group C, another friend was Group D and two more friends were Group E, so we spent a lot of time calling/texting to find out where the other friends were and what they were doing. And the group behind us in line hadn't brought any beer of their own, so the sharing happened in just one direction. Still, I really can't complain about the people around us...they were good folks.

I'm going to be attending Dark Lord Day 2014 tomorrow and it will be my first time. I'm pretty well versed after reading their handy-dandy FAQ, but I was wondering about general beer sales (6-packs/bombers).

Will the store be open as usual if people want to purchase beer to bring home? Is it a different/expanded set up, due to the sheer number of people? Or do they not allow store sales, and instead just do the Dark Lord distribution, and then draft/bottled beer sold intended to be drank while enjoying the festival?

If possible I'd like to stock up on a few things if I'm going to be down there. Is there a good time to do that, in terms of coordinating with the mass of humanity that will be there?

I really don't mean this to be snarky, but can someone explain the attraction? Why would you go through all of this headache?
Is Dark Lord so completely unlike anything else that it must be experienced? There's nothing comparable you can buy that allows you to skip all this effort?
Is it the camaraderie and the circus of the whole thing that just makes it a fun outing? Is it knowing that you'll be in a small elite group of people who will get to taste DL?

I apologize if this posts comes of as shitty - that's really not my intention. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this whole phenomenon.

zoid wrote:Is it the camaraderie and the circus of the whole thing that just makes it a fun outing?

This.

It was my first time there, and honestly it was really fun. I don't even like stouts that much, though I did grab a bottle of Dark Lord (when in Rome...).

But there was a ton of great beer to drink/purchase and thousands of beer fans, all of whom brought their favorite beers and/or homemade beers to share a sample.

I waited in two big lines - one for Dark Lord and other FFF beer, and another for Dark Matter Coffee where I picked up a growler of Unicorn Blood and a bag of beans that were apparently aged in a Woodford barrel. And the lines were about 40min each, but everyone was drinking and having a good time.

The rest of the afternoon was listening to music, eating some lunch (they had a lot of different options, plus a couple food trucks) and sharing beer with other festival-goers and generally enjoying the vibe.

I am generally not one who likes big crowds either - but I thought things for the most part were really well run and I had a great time.

zoid wrote:I really don't mean this to be snarky, but can someone explain the attraction? Why would you go through all of this headache?
Is Dark Lord so completely unlike anything else that it must be experienced? There's nothing comparable you can buy that allows you to skip all this effort?
Is it the camaraderie and the circus of the whole thing that just makes it a fun outing? Is it knowing that you'll be in a small elite group of people who will get to taste DL?

I apologize if this posts comes of as shitty - that's really not my intention. I'm just trying to wrap my head around this whole phenomenon.

In the grand scheme of things, I wouldn't call it a headache. Sure, you have to be on the ball to get a ticket. And sure, there are friends I wish could attend but they may never do so because a limited number of tickets are available. And, sure, I wish there were more transportation options between Chicago and Munster, but I honestly don't think of it as a headache.

It's a fun beer festival that's very well run and unlike any other beer event I've attending. (Though I haven't attended many.) How many restaurants encourage you to come join them for dinner but bring some of your own food? How many wineries encourage you to picnic at their vineyard while drinking their competitor's wine? How often do you stand in a long line at [Six Flags/O'Hare/the DMV/United Center] and feel as if you've made new friends that you want to spend the rest of the day with? Those kinds of things happen at DLD...and it's part of the pure enjoyment of it all.

There are 10,000 people there...I don't really feel as if I'm hanging out with a "small elite group." And Dark Lord is probably in the minority of what's tasted during the event. (Each time I open a bottle, I share it with 2-3 other friends, most of whom have never and will never attend DLD.) I love the opportunity to spend time outside on a spring day with old and new friends, drinking interesting beer, talking to interesting people, listening to music and anticipating the opportunity to buy some awesome beer. If that doesn't appeal to you, definitely do not attend.

Thank you chgoeditor, that sounds vastly better than what I was envisioning.

How big of a headache standing in line to buy beer at Dark Lord Day is depends a lot on what group you are in. If you are in one of the first two groups, as I was for the first time this year, it's actually pretty painless. I think I waited 30 minutes to buy my dark lord. In 2012, I was in group E, and that was much longer, probably 1:15-1:30 to get my beer. I'm not exactly sure why this is, but my theory is that it's due to two factors:

1) people being late and missing their initial group time, then showing up and getting in line to buy their beer
2) excessive drinking (which might also be causing 1)

the later in the day you get, the more these 2 factors stack, and then you wait longer. All in all, Dark Lord Day basically feels to me like the Taste of Chicago for 3 Floyd's beer. Since dark lord itself is of limited supply and a different commodity than what the taste offers, the crowd is very different, but the amount of crowdedness and line waiting are pretty similar.

Suiname wrote:How big of a headache standing in line to buy beer at Dark Lord Day is depends a lot on what group you are in. If you are in one of the first two groups, as I was for the first time this year, it's actually pretty painless. I think I waited 30 minutes to buy my dark lord. In 2012, I was in group E, and that was much longer, probably 1:15-1:30 to get my beer. I'm not exactly sure why this is, but my theory is that it's due to two factors:

1) people being late and missing their initial group time, then showing up and getting in line to buy their beer
2) excessive drinking (which might also be causing 1)

the later in the day you get, the more these 2 factors stack, and then you wait longer. All in all, Dark Lord Day basically feels to me like the Taste of Chicago for 3 Floyd's beer. Since dark lord itself is of limited supply and a different commodity than what the taste offers, the crowd is very different, but the amount of crowdedness and line waiting are pretty similar.

I was in Group C and I feel as if the line moved very quickly this year compared to years past. Maybe it took 30 minutes compared to a couple hours in years past? (Though I admit, the day started to get blurry by the time we got in line.) Last year, I got into the Group C line when it was 100+ yards down Progress Ave. This year I got in it line and the end was about one row deep on the zip-zags to the east of the warehouse. Granted, I think the zig-zags on the north side of the warehouse were new this year, but I felt as if we were in constant motion.

Also, they seemed to have different starting gates for different groups. So people who missed Groups A and B seemed to be funneled in differently (at least at the outset) when Group C was lining up.

The Munster, Ind.-based brewery is charging $200 per ticket to the daylong event this year, up from $40 for the 2015 event.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ump-to-200

Dave148 wrote:

The Munster, Ind.-based brewery is charging $200 per ticket to the daylong event this year, up from $40 for the 2015 event.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/ ... ump-to-200

For those who don't feel like clicking through, I'll summarize. Let me start with the bottom line: the jump from $40 to $200 is not what it sounds like and is actually a better deal for some.

Last year, tickets to get in were $40, bottles of Dark Lord (max of 4) were $20 each, and people who won the right to buy one Dark Lord variant paid $50 for the extra bottle. So last year, people paid $170 for 4 Dark Lord Bottles and one variant. Virtually everyone buys as much beer as they can, so most people who won the right to a variant spent at least $170 and those who didn't paid $120 and were jealous of the people who had variants. It's an all day affair and people tend to buy food and drink there so that's another cost to take into account.

This year, for $200, people get admission, 4 Dark Lord Bottles, and one variant. They also get $40 to spend on food and drink at the event. So, assuming you otherwise would have spent $40 on food and drink (incredibly easy to do), it's actually a $210 value for $200.* The real news here is that everyone gets a variant this year, a welcome change.
*This is retail value. Fair market value of Dark Lord is considerably more.

I've been back to DLD a couple of times since an absolutely miserable experience two years ago and I've become a fan of the event. I definitely recommend people try to go if they're interested in stouts at all. If you like heavy metal music, then I suspect you'll enjoy it even more. Tickets go on sale on March 5 at noon. Details are here. They'll sell out in a couple of minutes so be prepared to move fast. Baconfest fans should take note: Dark Lord Day conflicts with the first day of Baconfest this year.

Dark Lord Day is looking very promising this year. The weather report is stellar - 77 and mostly sunny. Unlike last year when something went wrong and not everyone got a variant, it looks like everyone will get a rare bottle this time. Speaking of the variants, there are 11 different ones this year. And in a shockingly customer friendly move, there's going to be a crazy variety of Dark Lords being tapped and they've announced the tap times already so people can plan their day of drinking.

This seems too good to be true and the cynic in me is waiting to see what goes wrong. My fear is the new cashless payment system (credit cards are linked to wrist bands) will fail miserably, causing chaos and lines that don't move.

Here are the variants:

MARSHMALLOW HANDJEE
Bourbon barrel-aged Dark Lord with vanilla beans

CHEMTRAILMIX
Dark Lord aged in rye barrels with cinnamon + pink peppercorns

FRENCH VANILLA MILITIA
Dark Lord aged in Sauternes barrels with vanilla, cocoa nibs + coffee

SPACEFORCE!
Dark Lord aged in Pineau Des Charentes barrels with vanilla, cocoa nibs + coffee

LOUNGE AGAINST THE MACROMACHINE
Tequila barrel with Mekong cinnamon, cocoa nibs, guajillo peppers + tangerine peel

GREATEST TEACHABLE MOMENTS
American brandy barrel with verbena, ginger + orange peel

HUNG DRAWN N QUARTERED
Rye barrel-aged Dark Lord

CAVALEIRO OF VARNOV
Oloroso sherry aged Dark Lord

BROZERKER
Ruby port aged Dark Lord

BROTILLA
Carcavelos aged Dark Lord

TURTLEDOGG
Scotch barrel-aged Dark Lord

Other than long lines for the pre-announced Dark Lord Variants and long lines for some food, Dark Lord Day went off without a hitch this year. I was in Group A and we were allowed to enter slightly before everyone else, which meant we were able to try a couple of variants tapped at 9:00 without much of a wait at all. The Handjee and Chemtrailmix were both spectacular. I've come to the conclusion that regular Dark Lord has long been surpassed by dozens of other imperial stouts out there but as a base it allows for Dark Lord variants to be among the best beers around.

Once the festival got in full swing, the lines for variants were too long for my group. Some people don't mind the waiting and find it's a great way to make new friends sharing various bottles they brought with them from home. That can be fun, but we were much more interested in sitting at the picnic table we secured early on and hitting the guest taps, most of which had no wait at all.

As far as picking up the actual bottles of Dark Lord, the lines were ridiculously short for Group A. It took longer to walk through the maze of barriers set up to accommodate massive lines than it did to actually wait in line and pick up the beer. I don't think it stayed that way all day, but don't know if it ever got particularly bad.

Moral of the story: Dark Lord Day is a great event, but Dark Lord Day in Group A is a can't miss. Already looking forward to next year, which hopefully won't fall victim to construction during the expansion.

3 Floyds announces Dark Lord Day date, Crown Beer Fest tickets go on sale

Munster-based 3 Floyds announced that Dark Lord Day will take place on May 18, and Crown Brewing has begun selling tickets for the June 15 Crown Beer Fest.

Dark Lord Day is the only day of the year when one can go to the brewery to buy the widely coveted "demonic Russian-Style Imperial Stout brewed with coffee, Mexican vanilla and Indian sugar."

Tickets will go on sale in the spring for the epic bottle release party, which draws about 9,000 craft beer aficionados from around the country and features a full contingent of heavy metal bands. The massive gathering at the tucked-away industrial park where 3 Floyds is based took place on May 19 this year.

Tickets went on sale Monday for one of the Region's other major craft beer festivals, Crown Beer Fest.

It's the 10th anniversary of the craft beer festival at the Lake County Fairgrounds south of downtown Crown Point. The Crown Beer Fest will take place between 2:30 and 5 p.m. June 15, with VIP entrance at 1:30 p.m.