Darklord Day 2017

The gates will have been open since 6am processing people through line, I don't think it will be too bad, once through security Group As will be able to "cut" in front of everyone else milling about the staging area.

I don't imagine more than a few hundred people there before 6am, who will get through line fairly quick, then they will be able to process people as they arrive for a while. I am guessing the line will start building 30 minutes before 9am or so as many more people are arriving. But you don't need to worry about those thousand people who got there early since they have already been checked.

 

1st you may want to learn what a false equivalency is. You are ripping on someone for the way they expected the festival to be run, but you are hiding behind terms of service. So I ask you, do you expect to get to your destination on a flight or do you expect not to based on your understanding on the terms of service?

 

Flossmoor Station has awesome food, they're definitely another good option. I believe they posted that Wooden Hell bottles would be $20/each. After they posted how the first batch got up to $450 on the secondary market...which rubbed me the wrong way and made me not want to go to that release

 

I really don't think it will be. Even more so due to the rule change. Group Ber's (and some As) that planned to get there way before 8AM to be sure they get in the variant line early can now relax a bit and show up later. I was planning on getting there at 9AM (Group D) because I was was worried I'd be in line all day so I was giving myself plenty of time to try guest taps, coffee, etc. Now I probably won't get in line until 10-10:30.

 

The FAQ was wiped from last year before tickets went on sale (I checked ahead of time in order to update a guide I maintain). People ASSUMED the bottles would be first-come, first-served based on precedent. Did I miss Floyds openly indicating that position and then changing it? Shit, they go out of their way to say that everything is subject to change.

The only expectation I've come to have of Dark Lord Day is shitty communication from Floyds (requiring some level of flexibility and vigilance) and things to change every year, with the exception of the actual terms laid out in the ticket sale (they have surprisingly gotten this right each of the four years I've attended). Again, if they dropped the allocation to three bottles, then there's a right to gripe. Otherwise, you should know what you're getting yourself into based on their website.

You can be extremely disappointed, but you can't expect anything other than what Floyds has indicated. See above.

Was there ever a reason given for these having gone away? Fear (or evidence) of increased theft?

I'm ripping on someone because, they expected Floyds to manage the event a certain way based on an assumption, rather than on the information presented. That assumption is extremely misguided based on the precedent - Floyds regularly (annoyingly) waits until the last minute to announce details and they have done so for a while. I would like for them to come out with details earlier than they have, but I expect them to continue to operate in this manner.

My initial question was simple: why, oh why, would you expect something of Floyds that is in direct conflict with the stated public information regarding the event (even at the time of ticket sale)?

 

Black Hole Necromancer coffee bombers were $12. Mini snifters came in sets of two for $25.

A pour of coffee and the mug was $5 I think. Maybe.

 

Or you can sell your bottles as soon as you leave FFF gate to any of the tables set up with signs buying any FFF beers. FYI

 

I don't have a dog in the fight because I'm not stressed either way, but yes, you did - the FAQ initially said FCFS, then it was changed to say that variants would be evenly separated between groups and FCFS for each group, then changed to say random. This is pretty well documented if you want to go back a few dozen pages each time.

 

Pretty happy about the separate Group A line. Two years ago they had a separate Group A line at the North Gate and it worked like a champ. Last year I almost missed the Group A pick-up time because the North Gate was a clusterf*ck.

 

If prior to sale the updated 2017 FAQ indicated that variants were FCFS, there's a legitimate gripe. That seems unlikely based on FFF's track record with communication timing, but I wouldn't put it past them.

My personal recollection was that the FAQ was completely scrubbed ahead of ticket sales (all answers had been changed to a series of repeated dashes). Only within the last couple weeks had I seen any updates, mostly alongside announcements. In that series of events (and much truer to FFF's established track record), all you had to go on was that you're allowed in and somehow you're getting 4 bottles of DL, a variant OR two vintages and a dank tote.

Again, I could be wrong.

 

As @drac86 mentioned, it did indeed say first come, first served prior to tickets going on sale, and then it continued to say that even after it said variants would be distributed equally amongst groups.

I'm not that bent out of shape about the variant process, but I think it's interesting some folks defending the business practice here. To change the rules a couple times after tickets went on sale is not cool. At what point is it OK for things to still be subject to change? What if Group E gets in for their bottles and finds out all the variants are gone because they decided to go back to first come, first served? Is that still OK? Seems like it's not, and the rules shouldn't change after purchasing the tickets...even if you have some disclaimer.

Obviously, if we keep buying tickets though, and knowing FFF's history of poor communication and changing things, at some point it becomes our fault for falling for it.

 

Thanks @croush - this was the point I tried to make a few pages ago but more eloquently stated. I'm rolling with it and not letting a single bottle of beer ruin the day for me, but it's still shitty of FFF to keep changing the goalposts, especially after ticket sales happened. I don't care if it's "always how things happen with FFF and DLD" and that we should "just expect them to have shitty communication." Screw that, it's 2017 and you're getting a decent chunk of cash from literally thousands of people across the world - other fests have figured it out, so there's no excuse.

(And yet, like you said, here I am gleefully checking the weather four times a day and plotting out exactly how many bottles I can stuff into my backpack... sigh.)

 

My group and I will be in Indiana early on Friday and are looking for things to do. Any idea how crazy flossmoor will be at like 4-5? Ik that's when wooden hell goes on sale. I wudnt hate picking up a bottle of that and whatever BA space bunny imperial stout thing they are selling. And input on if it's worth going there/if the beer is worth another damn line and $20?

 

I honestly don't know how many people are expected to be at the Wooden Hell release. If you're going to get food, it's worth waiting the normal amount of time on a Friday at a place like that (45 mins maybe) - but I wouldn't waste my time waiting that long for beer there. They make good beer to have with your food, but I wouldn't wait in a line for it

 

T-Minus 4 days until...

1. This thread goes eerily quiet for almost 24 hours

T-Minus 5 days until...

1. The first complaint is issued about getting vintages while being near the front of their groups line.
2. Someone responds to it with "Shoulda went in late man. I went at 7:30 and got FVM."
3. Another responds with "Guys...It..was...random."
4. 3 more pages drawn out with "I got this variant, in this group, at this time," and "Everyone in my group got the same variant" and "Everyone in my group got a different variant," and "The guy in front/behind me got Handjee in Group X."
5. Eventually, the truth sets in...it really was random.
6. The topic changes to the "Are drunk people really this dumb?" phase when we get to hear the story about the guy who chucked a 16 vintage bottle at an employee getting thrown out.
7. In pokes the inevitable, "My bag got stolen, but at least it had two vintages, so the jokes on them."
8. Random pictures of greatness, drunkenness, and someone pissing on a fence or maybe even through a tube.
9. And finally the overall consensus, by our favorite the classy and glass-is-half-full group of BAers...Who point out all the great things that happened, and we nod in agreement because "Yep, I'm coming back next year!"

 

10. Something something Weather something something

 

Let's try this again. Here is the beer glass holder and straps I got from Amazon. Does the trick rather nicely with snifter style glasses.

 

I'd like to posit my bold prediction for Dark Lord Day 2017: with randomly distributed variants, we see a record amount of shattered, barrel aged Dark Lord.

I can already see patrons - drunk, excited, and shaking with anticipation - struggle to read the cryptic font on their mystery bottles, lose their grips, and cry as the glass pops on the cold, wet concrete.

Proceed with caution, pals.

 

So will someone be dumb/drunk/pissed enough to throw their vintage dark lord at the brewery in protest?

 

Anyone know if there's any sort of bathroom access while waiting in the line to get in?