In lieu of the regular Brew Review this weekend, I decided to sit down and sip some Sam Adams Cinder Bock Rauch Bock while I edited pictures from today’s Dark Lord event. I’d like to share this unique experience that is Dark Lord Day. Hey. It’s still about beer. Perhaps the most popular and exclusive beer produced by one of the best breweries in the United States.

I was there. Dark Lord Day 2012. I spent the night before viewing YouTube videos of past events and my feelings at the time were mixed. I wanted to bring some beers to trade but I had nothing except the very last bottle of Frank’s Brown Irish Red homebrew. I had every intention of bringing SPT stickers and business cards but those were forgotten at time of departure. I was purely and unequivocally exited.

But let’s back track a bit. It all started with my successful transaction of scoring two DLD tickets, online, the day of the sale. From what I understand, tickets to the event were sold out in 3.5 minutes. I was promised two tickets and my son Ben had cornered one for himself via his babe. The plan was that the three of us would attend our first, rookie Dark Lord Day as complete noobs. Dad and lads. Ben’s buddy from college soon got in communication with us and we became a foursome, intending to meet up at a designated time at our place and carpool to Munster, Indiana.

Three Floyds had issued tickets for three groups based on a time schedule. “A Group” from 10 to noon, “B Group” from 1 to 3, “C Group” from 5 to 7. We were in the middle group.

Off we went, east down I-80 for about an hour, a Google Map printout in my pocket. Getting there was easy. Parking was a pain. We cruised around for about 20 minutes looking for an available opening suitable for a Subaru STI. Finally we found one about a quarter-mile mile away. For free. Fortunately, our path to the brewery would take us right past a park district-type public restroom. That really paid off later on.

We just followed the rest of people and got in the back of the line that had formed on one of the roads. Within minutes, about a hundred more people fell in behind us. The line ahead was long and it was looking bleak at this point.

We had a long way to go. Every so often, a few people would walk past in the opposite direction (sometimes off the beaten path) carrying the spoils of their visit.



Our conversation shifted to how much extra this beer would cost us, and would it be in 12-ounce bottles or in bombers. The more people who walked past, the more we realized that we were at least entitled to a four-pack of Dark Lord bombers. How much it would cost was the next mystery to be solved.

Still at the relative beginning of the line, we were offered a glimpse of the end of the line; the entrance to the brewery where the bottles were distributed.

Moving along, we observed a map on a fence showing the layout of the land and the flow. At this point we were right where the arrow is. Still a long way to go.

A statue of “King with Keg” looked back at us as we looked at him.

We finally made it to the “pre-gate” where IDs were checked. A few yards down tickets had to be presented and a stub was torn off. A Tyvek bracelet was affixed to the wrist of choice. Finally inside, we massed into a non-conformist line. Sort of.

From here the line stalled. There was no movement for about 90 minutes. But somehow, the time went by quickly. Conversations with the strangers around us, joking amongst ourselves, beer sharing (yes, we were given beer) and just talking with strangers out of the blue made the time go by without us knowing it. The stall in the line movement gave me the opportunity to view the look and fashion of today’s younger generation.

By the time we rounded the first corner, the beer consumption started to take its toll. Everyone gave the pissers latitude and with only a few cat calls. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

We made our way around the last corner and finally came to the entrance to the brewery. We still had no idea what would await us inside.

Once inside the line disappeared and we were milling about freestyle. We presented our tickets and were given the “Golden Ticket” with an area for the scratch-off possibility of being the lucky guy who was given the privilege of buying another bottle of a Dark Lord variant for $50.

Each person was allowed a limit of one four-pack of Dark Lord 2012 bombers for $15 per bottle. Yep. 60 bucks for a four-pack of beer. We stood there and grabbed the cash out of our jeans pockets and gladly paid the price for this one-of-a-kind beer. Which will be brewed again next year.

We paused to take a picture of our treasured purchase. I wondered if anyone suspected we were the noobs that we were. But who cares. We were there for the beer.

Of the four of us, only Ben and his buddy Shawn were winners with golden tickets. The Cognac Muerte was one choice and the Barrel aged Dark Lord was the other. They each had the privilege of buying those bottles of beer for $50 apiece. And they did.

Once outside the brewery proper, we bought even more beer. I bought two bombers of a beer I’ve never heard of before named Live a Rich Life. A Belgian Double IPA which I’m sure I could into on a nice spring/summer Saturday night. We carried our hauls back to the car for storage. Our intent was to go back, have a few more beers, listen to the band and then depart.

We were done. We had our beer and made our way back to the car which was parked w-a-a-ay over by there.

All during the event, I was scoping out babes. There were many very pretty ladies but the camera I toted was a borrowed one, based on its pocketable size. A Nikon CoolPix 12mpx shooter. I had to wait to for the lens to extend and retract when powering on and off. Shoulda brought my Canon DSLR. But still, the CoolPix rendered some nice shots.





The human aspect of representing oneself as an individual, different from everybody else:

Outside the fence of the brewery proper, the traders had set up camp. They were trading for any newly purchased Dark Lord or other beers from other states or countries. One trader had a table set up and appeared to be relatively successful.

While we were there, we enjoyed the socializing with the surrounding humans, all drinking craft beer from wherever. One group was from Ohio. another from Iowa, another from Wisconsin. And one guy from Virginia made it to the event.

What a wonderful time. We had no idea what we were getting into and came away with a new appreciation of Three Floyds and the way they handled crowd control (some drunks to be sure.) A nice, pleasant beer drinking, socializing afternoon with strangers from all over, and the opportunity to buy this exclusive beer. It’s quite possibly the most fun you could possibly have in Munster, Indiana. No shit.