Darkness Day 2014 Thread

I too unfortunately had a bottle stolen out of my cooler, it was full of great beers and the only one taken was Westbrook Black Magic Siberian Panther in Apple brandy barrels, if anyone has one that they would trade it's a huge ISO for me now !

 

This was my 3rd yr attending and always a great time...except for the riff raff that ruins it! Around 7:30 our table had a 08-13 vert of Darkness and while we were sharing to all who stopped by someone stole the 08. How the hell does none of us see it happening is beyond me but just sad to see people in the community doing this. Also stolen was 16 hot dog buns and a "used" tasting shifter. We were #400 to arrive and somehow around #1100 come wristband lineup...nothing new, but thanks to Shawnp for helping myself and BJ out with everything! There are still some things I think they should do differently but all in all another great year!

Highlights did include: the 09 double oaked Kate the Great, Vanilla Bean Dark Lord, the majority of people being generous with their beers, and the lovely weather.

 

That was a fun time, nice to see some familiar faces from years past. My highlight beers were certainly that Red wine dark sour, Hunapu, and Todd the Axe Man. Great weather! Too many people for my tastes, been spoiled the past 4 years I guess!

 

Very successful Darkness again this year. The congestion getting into Surly at 330 was a bitch but after that it was awesome. I think had the weather been much more appropriate for the time of year then there would definitely not have been as many overnighters but I experienced no problems whatsoever. Highlights for me were double barrel Mexican Cake, double barrel Hunah, Hill Farmstead Peleg, Fen Tao. It was fun doing the 6yr Darklord vertical that I brought with ('10 was pretty much the consensus for the winner). Glad to drink with some great people again; here's hoping that Darkness Eve/Day will continue on at the old brewery next year.

 

This was my 4th year of Darkness Day (3rd in line, once as a volunteer) and easily had the best year yet. I was fortunate enough to be next to 2 great guys from Milwaukee and Chicago, met up with a craft beer reviewer I follow, as well as running into a bunch of high school classmates. The weather was perfect, the beers I tried were awesome, and had my wife with me despite her distaste for most beers. My only complaint was how the line was regulated, and actually talked about it ahead of time with a couple of the volunteers. It didn't affect me, but it was obvious that the order of where people camped overnight was not respected when everything condensed. I'm left with a bittersweet taste knowing this is the last Darkness Day where Surly is only a MN only beer (Chicago being the exception). If the expansion means Abrasive becomes a year round selection, and maybe by the Grace of G-d they remake Four, then it will definitely be worth it though. Looking forward to next year, 364 days to go!

 

Also woke me up, as I believe the lurker was at the table ahead of us. Who comes to an event to steal stuff?

 

The fisticuffs was at our table. I heard the guy trying to pull bottles out of my cooler, but they were packed in styrofoam shippers so they would go SQUEEEEEEEEEEE. Got everyone's attention apparently right away. Said he was trying to 'keep bottles safe'. Unfortunately for him, all the None More Black was gone. Hah.

 

My first Darkness Day and first post... pretty much gonna echo this one. Very close to the front of the line, great weather, some amazing beer and camaraderie, and great friends and food certainly made for an amazing time overall. But the 4am drunken arguing, people rifling through coolers in the dark, and puddles of puke in the street soured it some. Probably the most annoying part was the people trying to walk up to the front of the line and pretend they knew folks just because they walked by at some point during the evening and contributed one home brew or something.

In the end we learned some about how we will probably do things next year but its hard to complain too much. Just sucks that there can be about 1000 amazing people and few shitty ones but I suppose that is the case in every crowd.

 

I was one of those Ames guys, and I will have to agree that there were some great people in line around us

 

That dry hopped Overrated with Chinook was good stuff.

 

Maybe these guys?

It's always sad to hear about the random acts of ass-hattery that occur at an event that has always been such a good time for so many.

 

Yep. I travel to Dark Lord Day, Sexual Chocolate, all of the Jackie Os releases, Darkness Day, and a few others. While the past two years I have had obviously bad experiences at Darkness Day, I also freely admit that Surly seems to work like no other brewery at correcting the issues from previous years, and truly puts a ton of effort into the event.

The issue is with the big rare beer release events in general and how breweries in general obviously want to keep a low profile with local authorities and keep expenses at a minimum while also running a mostly cash only event. Thing is, most of these breweries already have some liability here, because they are encouraging and sanctioning the event. They are telling people to line up the night before, where to line up, to camp out, that it is ok to bottle share, that fire are ok, etc. I haven't seem any of these release police a line. And security is usually volunteers, with no sort of emergency response ready.

Of course the breweries don't *want* to pay extra, it's eating into their profits from the cash only event, but after seeing things from last year's Dark Lord Day, and the past couple Darkness Days, couple with seeing video from Hunahpu Day, and some horror stories from friend who attended a few other releases, it's pretty clear to me that everyone on both sides of the community needs to wake up and realize these events aren't about just our community anymore.

Seriously, think of the things we're talking about here and if they have *any* place in the craft beer community. This is part of the reason Cigar City said screw it, and some other breweries are moving away from the model. I don't want to see bad things happen to good people or good breweries.

 

That was seriously good stuff.

 

Thanks brother!

 

What's the story here?

 

Four Firkins got robbed ^

 

Echoing other people I had a couple bottles taken from my cooler but pretty sure it was the guys next to me. They didn't bring a cooler, only bottles and they asked to use my cooler to chill some Zombie Dust. They let me have one for the trouble. After we got back from getting our allotment of beers they had emptied their stuff out of my cooler and apparently decided to take a Black Butte 23 and a Russian River Temptation for their troubles.

Glad I didn't lose the stuff you guys did!

 

Anyone got a picture of this years darkness glass/snifter

 

Does anyone know what stores will be getting Darkness today? I was one of the unlucky guys to arrive at 4am on Saturday and got shafted on beer. I have to be traveling for work the rest of the week and only have today to get some bottles.

 

I had a drie fonteinen Tomme blend stolen by my own blackout. if anyone can report to me if I liked it or not. please do so.
And hopefully everyone else enjoyed it as well as that is why I brought it. the '08 oude gueuze was fantastic and that's about the last thing I 'clearly' remember. friendly advice: don't start with chocolate rain. Stealing hats and Arm wrestling matches are not a good idea either. Cheers!