Dark Lord Day 2016

FWIW, Papa's in Culver, IN had Pear Bear on tap recently. That's where I had it.

 

Last year, there was great bottle sharing going on in the big tent pretty much all day.

 

It's more tradition. Intelligentsia started selling mini snifters at 2011 Dark Lord day (and did so every year since, including the XV anniversary party which was essentially a bonus dark lord day) and selling them out of the coffee booth. At first it was just a few hundred. This was before there was much Dark Lord merch at DLD, other than maybe 1 event t shirt. Otherwise it was just standard FFF merch. So it kind of grew out of tradition from there. It really wasnt that well known until 2013 and they became pretty sought after then. When Dark matter came along in 2014 they expanded it from just one mini glass to 3 different minis in 2014 and added the goblet and mug in 2016.

Dark Matter is not more local than Intelligentsia. They are both from Chicago, on the near west side, a few blocks from each other. And it has nothing to do with BCBS, Three Floyds has been using Intelligentsia every year in Dark Lord, the logo was on the bottle ever year since 2004. This was well before BCS coffee. Dark Matter made it a point to get Three Floyds attention and wanted a partnership. They came up with a lot of cool ideas, and convinced the owner to switch.

 

For what it's worth, apparently Peet's now owns a majority share of Intelligentsia, so those of you who are anti-ABInBev Goose Island should probably be backing Dark Matter in this one.

 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I strongly recommend is a tap glass. The ones they give out in the lines are extremely flimsy and I know I drunk strengthed my way through at least one. This year I'm bringing one of the sturdier heavy plastic solo cups just for the taps.

 

I just might have to steal this awesome idea. My only concern is when you've finished a drink and drop the glass to hang around your neck, its going to end up dripping remnants all over yourself.

 

it's not as bad as you might think. my typical routine is take a pour of beer, then fill my glass with water and drink that...so if there are drips...it's just water.

 

We must steel ourselves and embrace the remnant drippage.

 

That Whole Foods is pretty good. One of the better whole foods stores in the city for beer. They'll be able to get pretty much any standard shelf beer there.

I can't stress this enough. Do not go to navy pier. There are a lot of touristy places that are awesome. Alcatraz, Willis Tower, the Eiffel Tower, etc.

Navy Pier is not one of them. It's a mall on the lakefront with 3 carnival rides. It's awful.

I would highly recommend taking an architecture boat tour though. The one that loads at trump tower is great. I took my family last year, and we loved it so much, we went back at night later in the summer and brought friends.

 

I did an architecture cruise, and thought it was awesome. I don't remember which one, but I have done it twice.

 

Starbucks was the coffee used in the first couple releases. too lazy to check the history thread but we had a conversation about the coffees used.

EDIT: Here is the link: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...day-history-thread.269742/page-4#post-3636497

the descriptions for dark lord were sourced from the wayback machine

 

Another weather update...

 

I'll help you stress this point.

Agreed on this point too. The Chicago Architecture Foundation runs tours that give some history on the buildings and the perspective of the city is worth the ride alone.

If you're not keen on the tour guide portion, you can check to see if the water taxi is running. You can grab it around the same area, take it down to Chinatown for some grub and then catch the water taxi back into the city.

 

Would like to hear from anyone who bought DLD tix at the brewery when they went on sale yesterday /(4/11/16.) Was it insane? Did they print the name on the ticket/badge based on the "government issued ID" presented?

 

My weather update:

There will be weather.

 

I thought someone said it was will call...

 

There's also the Beer Schwing Lanyard that holds a shaker style pint glass perfectly upright. I just bring a glass I don't care about. No drips.
http://www.beerschwing.com/main.html

 

Yeah, seriously....is this dude writing a biography on Dark Lord Day? All the info you need is contained in the last 3 pages of this thread. You need eyewitness accounts?