Dark Lord Day (2023)

Oof, glad I didn’t splurge on those tickets.

 

I don’t recall what was all a part of the deluxe package. If they had a package that included one of each variant, I might pull the trigger.

 

The Cloud Burst West Coast was fantastic - my favorite beer of the day. Could partly be because I had it first thing, and my palate wasn't toast, but it was a beauty beer.

 

I don't recall the name, but it was a hazy IPA. Good, but nowhere near the West Coast, in my opinion (but I'm not a huge hazy guy)

 

I don't have much to add because the fest was essentially perfect. The only thing they needed to improve upon from previous years was the lack of food. Well Covid fixed that by closing the FFF Brewpub which meant they no longer had their own food at the fest. The food availability and options was AWESOME. Arrived at 9:30am and zero lines for food, not to mention, the availability of variants on draft.

Nick Floyd walking around with a "bodyguard" was the highlight of my day. He ripped on me for putting sunscreen on lol.

Well done FFF...knocked it out of the park.

 

That was a really good time. Smoothest bottle pick up ever, and easiest way to try variant drafts as well. The Sundae Thunderstorm was delicious, but 2023 ChemTrailMix may have been my favorite year yet.

The problem areas were with the food and guest drafts. It seemed like Floyd's not having their own food tent made all the other options really slammed, and they couldn't all handle it. Still, I think the extra space in the tent and table areas made up for it. It was a little different not needing to share beers in literally every line like we used to since they all moved so fast, but I was able to at least kill off one bottle in the swiftly moving bottle line. If the guest drafts moved a little more they might have made more money, but we had plenty to drink.

Speaking of, it was awesome hanging with @flat_lander @Jinx989 and @Zoomslowik pretty much all day, and meeting and drinking with @BlackToothGrin too. I think there may have been a few others that came by before I got sloshed and had some memory loss, so feel free to say hi again here.

We did run into Nick Floyd again somehow, but he didn't flip me off this time @HouseofWortship if that was you, what gives? If not, missed the chance to finally meet your hilarious ass.

I wasn't 100% sure about going this year tbh, but I came away already wanting to go back, so as long as they figure for the lighter attendance going forward, hopefully they keep it running. It's still one of the best fests I've ever been to, and certainly the most unique.

 

The vertical of the White Claw Tropical Fruit variety packs at your table was an immediate red flag.

 

They definitely did not check mine or anyone in my group. And we got there 8ish with no line to enter. So they weren't in a rush or anything.

 

They definitely did not for me or my wife, as I was wearing her wristband and she was wearing mine.

 

When I first tried to use the wristband to purchase I was told that the wristbands come totally blank and to associate it with a particular person and/or CC you had to set that up on your own. Also, no one had a list of names at the security entrance, they just checked if you were 21 and actually had a wristband.

 

That might not be legal in some states these days…

 

When they started the wristbands it became pretty apparent that it would be more logistically complicated than it’s worth to make sure names matched. And with ticket sales this year, they’d be dumb to turn anyone away that wanted to enter the fest to spend money on draft pours/vintage bottles/food/merch when they got inside.

 

Yeah, I missed out on the @BlackToothGrin appearance. Pretty sure I was stuck in the Donerman variant line. I should've known that was a trap from the start. Don't know what I was thinking there.

@aceboogie was definitely in the house. Nice meeting you man and thanks for all the great Floodland stuff. Also @croush and @eppie82 were around for a bit too. Probably others. After some consulting with @Sabtos there's clearly some scenes missing here.

 

Just to be clear...no one actually met @HouseofWortship right?

#thethirdman

 

I did - was pretty tasty and when I went the brewer was buying pours for anyone who wanted one. They're brewing a couple out of 18th Street this week.

Founders CBS seemed to be on all day too.

 

So, you’ve never met Chris Quinn?

 

Oh god this makes so much sense.

 

I snagged a bottle 0/4800 of Sundae Thunderstorm - do people seek out bottle 0s?

 

Was it empty? Maybe they miscounted and wound up with 4801 so just decided to make one bottle zero rather than correct 4800 bottles. You would have been skeptical if you’d received 4801/4800