Dark Lord Day 2016

What happened to the DUI checkpoints?

My group left at 5 because the weather just ruined the whole thing. It was awful. I blew a straight 0 on the breathalyzer before we left, so I was elected driver. Didn't hit any checkpoints, but didn't really go out on the main drag either.

 

That's great, and it seems that FFF managed to produce enough variants to pretty much satisfy everyone. I would really be interested in Trump someday, since I have quite a few bottles of Sauternes in my wine collection. I'd love to know where they got their barrels from.

 

That photo would actually make a pretty cool beer label. I'm thinking the beer would be named......Dumpster Diver?

 

See, normally I'll clean any bottle of beer out in one sitting (including anything BCBS). But my experience with regular DL over the weekend has me reconsidering my stance on the variants.

And yeah, I think it's a shame the beers are so...overvalued (and rare, bottle count-wise), let's say, because FFF does some weird shit with them, and it'd be fun to sample them all more easily.

 

Same here - I can finish a bomber of just about anything but I had a draft of 2016 DL at DLD and had to take breaks from drinking it. I'm so intrigued to try that BA version in my fridge soon, but I'm hesitant based on the sweetness level. I will definitely need to share it.

 

I had a pour of last years BA DL on tap Saturday and it was a job to get through 7-9 ounces, it was good but SO SWEET. I can't imagine doing a full bottle solo.

 

Wilfred Brimley want's to know how the 'beetus feels... LOL. Wow!!!

 

They need to give two vouchers specifically redeemable for DL draft variants and then keep the lines well stocked so people can't get more than 2 and EVERYONE could then sample two. Also, last year they had enough bottle variants for everyone if you look at the yields. I think they are done with scratch off tickets going forth. They have the larger brew capacity they installed in 2015 and they will soon have an unlimited supply of barrels once the Distillery gets up and running. I can only see there being an increase in DL variant quantity in the world. I guess they sold a bunch of to go bottles of DL and variants at Warpigs in April as they have a bottle list posted on their web-site from April 9....I guess we know where the extras go.

I can only hope the derth of variants on draft compared to previous year's stems from them holding them back for XX?

The vouchers are a mixed bag. I actually spent a lot less on food and beer thanks to these. A box of tacos and poutine ran a total of 2 vouchers. 5 of the first 6 vouchers I used towards beer were ones I found on the ground. I saw these all over the place throughout the day (that would be on the gravel or mud without anyone around them, I wasn't poaching them!) . It was like a Dark Lord Easter Egg hunt. That being said, I made sure to eat my food with a fork after picking these soggy, disintegrating vouchers off the nasty ground. Pretty shrewd to give people spending vouchers that disintegrate in the rain (more profit for FFF), thank goodness they laminated the ticket! Can you imagine? "Where is your ticket? What do you mean it disintegrated? Yes, I see your lanyard, but we can't give you $130 of beer without a ticket." With a few leftover tickets and having to leave it was time to experiment- Icelandic Necropants + 2013 Dark Lord does not make a sour black and tan, but does make a refreshingly sweet sour...

Does anyone know what the paramedics were doing after 4:00pm ish at the South Tent? They brought a rolling stretcher over and had a tough time pulling it through the gravel. I didn't follow it to see what happened, but was very curious.

Best thing I saw was a drunk guy with a clear hooded poncho. The hood was down, but it looked like a combination of stout and barf was contained in the hood.

 

I witnessed the stretcher incident. A dude was pretty drunk and leaning up against a trash can puking. They came in with a stretcher and wheeled him out. He was still semiconscious but definitely not coherent. I was surprised they hauled him off in a stretcher, but maybe I missed something. His buddy was there with him trying to get him to drink water, and he wasn't necessarily being a nuisance aside from the vomiting.

 

Did they just wheel him into the medical tent or into an ambulance? If only the medical tent, I imagine the stretcher is just the easiest way to get someone safely to the tent, avoiding the hassle of guiding someone that drunk through a crowd of people. That would also allow him time to sober up and join back up with his friend to get a safe ride out but not have to go to the hospital over what really equates to a wild night of beer drinking.. just in public. Even in high volume, I don't see someone being truly deadly drunk off of beer alone. I hope his bottles are safe.

 

I don't have any pics but I remember riding the Jak Taps shuttle, riding off my pain while this other guy on the same shuttle gloated about feeling like a million bucks after he was tended by paramedics and got his IV saline treatment, saying that next time they should give him two bags instead of one.

Also saw a big dude right after the north gate entrance by the mobile toilets get decked in the face by security and being subdued to the ground like a wild hog due to belligerence, that was early in the day too, it was maybe 1ish.

Next year, I'm just showing up to pick up my allocation and the rest just act as a photojournalist seems like there wasn't much of that this year. You keep all your whalez, I keeps my karma points here on BA !!!

 

I was actually at a share on Friday where a group of guys did a full DL vertical from 2004-2015. Every DL vintage, every variant.

We left when they were at 2013.. They were giving away a lot more beer at that point. Gotta imagine, even in small sample glasses (like 1oz) that it was tough to down some of that.

Also, 2004 Dark Lord is god awful now. Think soy sauce with sock crust.

 

I'm glad you took advantage and got to enjoy all that while not turning into one of these horror stories we're hearing more and more of. Plus you're not describing it as too sweet or something other than phenomenal. If it's not something one enjoys I don't know how one can go to this year after year. I agree it is sweet, but unless you've been abusing your palate by downing loads of hop heavy IPAs on the regular, it's pretty great.

I would have been able to use my vouchers if the food lines moved, and if I was able to find anything worth spiraling further down the rabbit hole, but once I'd had DL, Dwarven Power Bottom and Marshmallow, and some guest taps, I began spending a lot of my time searching in vain like a pinball for more rares.

We had 8 vouchers left between our two tickets so some lucky dudes in the cab dropping off their stuff at the hotel got them for free. The ones I kept in my bag remained relatively sturdy somehow, but like @HouseofWortship said, anything in my jacket or pants pockets just totally melted, but they still accepted them thankfully. I picked up a couple on the ground as well, actually right below the tap tables, and used those instead of the ones in my backpack so that's probably why we had extra.

The oldest I had this year, a couple months ago actually, was 07, and it was sludgey for sure and not 100% pleasant, but still better than many regular stouts. Given your reports and my own experience, I think 5 years is a long enough wait, although I thought the 09 and 10 were great (having had them this year as well).

Would love to have tried each year's variant, that's quite an awesome session they had going on.

 

I saw a picture of him being loaded into a ambulance, if were talking about the same guy.

 

I dunno, I think it depends on how you drink it. I don't consider a beer truly "great" if I can't finish a bottle of it (something really high ABV like Utopias notwithstanding). It's great stuff for a few sips, but not for an entire bottle (at least this year's), which is what I'm looking for. And I don't think it's (ironically) the main draw of Dark Lord Day for most people (who probably go for the bottle shares, tappings and variants). DL is just a bonus in my book.

With that being said, I appreciate DL, and am looking forward to popping open a bottle of '14 this weekend, to see how I feel about that one.

 

I'm not sure I buy that metric. There are lots of great beers across styles (Sucaba, Classic Gueze, BCBCS) where I wouldn't want the full 22/750. There are lots of "good" beers (Antihero, Moon Man, Pivo Pils) that I could drink all afternoon.

 

I got the diabeetus just from reading his post.

 

I'm just going by what I can/want to drink, so I can understand if that rule is not for everyone. Bourbon County, FW BA beers, GI Sours (Gillian et al), etc. are all beers I finish in one sitting (no real choice since my gf won't help ). A 12 oz. bottle is the bare minimum of something that I want to drink if I like it; hell, Prop '15 is a sugar fest that I still drink glasses and glasses of when I can get it on tap. All I'm saying is this year's Dark Lord is the literal only outlier to that rule, and given that it comes in big bottles, it's a tough one for me!

 

Yeah, it's a personal thing. One of the reasons I hate the switch to the weird bottle sizes for BCS is that I can finish a 12oz pour, but 16oz is just too much =/

To be fair, I feel the same way about really good wines. I can't imagine drinking through a full bottle of some rich red all on my lonesome.

 

I mean, it's a perfectly logical mindset, so I totally get it. It's actually made me curious, since I've been talking about lusting after VBDL--In the far future (2032, to be exact), do I get a bottle of the beer finally, only to find that I can't drink all of it in one sitting (for being too rich), and fall to my knees and curse the heavens? I definitely get why people would want only a pour of some beers, and honestly, that's probably better in the long run for...well, the wallet, the liver, other peoples' hopes in getting a pour of said beer, etc.

It's funny, BCBS is another one that I'm the opposite on. 12 oz. was usually not quite enough for me, so 16.9 is almost perfect. On the other hand, the smaller the bottle I'm forced to drink from, the less of the work I do in the gym gets erased!