Dark Lord Day 2024

Ended up with 2 Loadstar and Chemtrail. Not disappointed as I had Loadstar on draft and really liked it, although it was super sweet. This way I can open a bottle now and cellar the other one for later.

 

massive upgrade to the wheel of death and everyone here thinks it's the sign of dark lord day dying. they expanded capacity this year and didn't sell out, but it felt like the same if not a bit busier than last year (aside from the first few hours).

super easy to get beers and was happy that they put the xx on tap, albeit i was a bit let down by that beer.

bands were great. i don't miss cannibal corpse but that's just my taste.

my biggest issue was with the water they had. it was so acidic, i couldn't drink it. liquid death wasn't willing to pay to return but would have been very welcome.

guest taps were fine. i'd be happy with more though.

 

Sorry guys, went radio silent. Had a blast at the fest.

As far as the swap, I just walked up to the kiosk in the distillery Friday and it was basically no questions asked. But for day of DLD, I heard you had to call ahead and make it onto a finite list, although I can't really confirm if that's what ended up happening, or if they were more forgiving in the brewery. They opened the kiosk again on Sunday despite the online hours, for swaps or swag. I'm guessing they'll continue honoring this until all Rrraris are dead.

I thought Egregious Philbin stood out in a good way, especially after XX--more barrel forward, boozy, and only lightly accented by what I thought was like cocktail cherry. I really enjoyed it, and didn't find it or anything else from the taps to be too cloying next to the many pastry bombs we cracked via the endless bottle share.

Egregious made me want a Jovan, the only bottle I've yet to score, so it looks like I'll have to hit the trade boards.

To me it seemed like the fest was a little more populated than last year, surely thanks to the GA. The wheel line was insane as hell, establishing itself as a main feature, and pretty much the only line that moves slow enough where line shares can still exist (RIP, as I did not care to spin). While I miss the line shares, we had a great time at our table, welcoming new groups while enjoying the familiar company of my fellow degenerates. I spent more time in the band tent than ever before and really enjoyed it, even if I left worse for wear. All the bands were great, but Fugitive really delivered for me.

The VIP tent was totally pointless unless you wanted to sit at a shaded table pretty close to the bands. That would have been a killer perk if our whole group had the benefit of the yellow wristband, but not at the cost.

I can't imagine it ending if only just to stop while they're ahead on a solid number. Otherwise it seems like such a cash cow. Surely it costs a ton to set up and staff, but they have it down so well, especially after the pandemic, it's kind of crazy how smooth it is with that many attendees. The whole damn town seems to chip in. But the amount of money people spend on taps, extra bottles, food, as well as hotels, rideshares and other food options around town still seems massive even if it's not the full on 20k attendees anymore.

Oh, yeah, that water totally fucked with our heads the first couple sips. Think it must have been mineral water. What an odd choice but ITS NOT NORMAL!

 

Did they have ticket sale counts for last year and this year? Maybe it was just better organized for spreading people out in 2024, but it seemed to me less crowded than last year. I wonder how far off their ticket sales goals they have been. Would be cool if they could get it back to the days of two tents for bands.

 

i go off of darklordday.info, which doesn't have attendance for this year yet. i spoke w someone that works there and they said they were hoping for over 10k this year. all hearsay though.

 

Just returned from Europe and the DLD water very much reminded me of the water over there...gassed with CO2. Also standing next to the trailer one of the water taps "blew" very much like a keg gone empty.

 

That's what I assumed, they were using carbon dioxide to push the water and didn't get the pressure right, thereby carbonating it too much.

 

Did the Darklord get anyone? He almost got me.

 

Say more.

 

LOL got pretty tipsy toward the end but I wasn't the guy semi-conscious on my back in the blazing sun or the dude who stood at the trash cans near the guest taps puking for 5min.

 

I won the free bottle as well but I think the people that bought deluxe had to pick up there too and they were getting the artwork and bottle opener and whatever else they got with the deluxe ticket

 

Always love spotting the DL casualties, as long as they aren't too serious.

I got me a black toe, shredded kneecap and slightly bruised rib among other things from the pit, but I still credit the liquid courage for extra cushion or else I'd probably be worse off.

 

I thought Loadstar was great and the clear winner for my palate.

I thought the fest was great. Lower key than other years I've gone (I hadn't been since 2018) - but at this point in my life I consider that a good thing.

 

This being my first DLD, I can't compare to last years, but I had a fantastic time. Tried some good guest and FFF pours, as well as many great bottles in the share. Music was excellent overall with Fugitive and 1349 being the highlights. Had a great time with my friends and met some cool new folks as well, already hoping to attend next year.

I will say the pit was a little rough on my group, with my knee/hand getting skinned up and another one of us needing to get a hand x-ray, but still fun

 

Geez, slow down on the Handjees, will ya.

 

Our group had a fantastic time. We ended up with the variants that we wanted. Bottle shared with a lot of great people and will do this again next year. I really liked Egregious Philbin, fingers crossed it's a variant next year. The tables with shade umbrellas are a great idea.

 

It is certainly a much more spread out and organized festival than the first one I went to in 2010 where it was an insane shit show with a lot of much younger people falling, puking, and just basically running amok in a much smaller area. The taproom was still open w dld on tap, the bands played in the brewery, and long intertwining lines were everywhere. I’m sure it will keep rolling along as a festival for a while however, I do think at some point it may no longer be a moneymaker. The crowd there is a much older and subdued dad bod/gray neck beard crowd now. Very few mid 20s type people compared with years ago. It will be interesting to see what happens with craft beer in general over the next decade or so as it seems young people are much more likely to drink seltzers and things like that.

 

We did have a great time. I got Pours of Chemtrail and XX. Both were good, and reminded me why I keep coming back. Our bottle share is still off the charts. We always bring too much and end up hauling bottles back out along with our allotments. I got pretty sleepy waiting for our ride, but rallied when I got home.

And you guys were right, it was so easy getting in at Will Call with only my ID. No questions asked, got wristbands for me and my buddy in about 2-mins. Easy and no hassle with the lost envelope from USPS.

Can't wait for next year. I think I still have a few good years left. (Hahaha.)

 

I went this year, which makes it now every year DLD has been held since first attending in 2015. Was really fun again. I really enjoy the more laid back scene, the abundance of variants on draft and just the general event organization. It may not be as story worthy as some of the shit show years, but I'm quite content with the 'comforts' that DLD provides in my older years. Last year my gripe was the long food lines, but this year that was not an issue.

If there's one gripe for 2024, it is that the guest taps weren't anything special. I was happy to see a Cloudburst offering, but would love to see more from non-local beer scenes. The guest taps line-ups also seemed to linger for quite a while, probably because kegs weren't being consumed quickly enough, so who knows what we actually missed out on because of that.

I'm still enjoying the event and will look to attend next year again. The variants I got were Chemtrailmix, Loadstar and French Vanilla Militia.

 

As someone who hasn't gone in a long time (back in the terrible weather days), how are the taps in general? They were a shitshow when I used to go, and things kicked very quickly (the big BA stuff, I mean).