2017 Darkness Bottle Hunt

I thought this years was better than last years was fresh. Had 1 at darkness day after picking up my bottles. Out of a plastic cup, out doors while nursing a mild overhang it's always a little tough to judge it fully but I thought this year's was less harsh & boozy upfront. Might hit up somewhere its on tap to try again soon.

The fresh stuff I had last year early on I thought was very harsh, almost fusel boozy, and a bit more astringent than it normally is. Likely due to it being 2% higher than the previous years and a little drier. This years is still 12% but I didn't get that same impression I did last year from the first taste. Also seemed to be more going on flavor wise even with my tired & blown palette on Saturday.

 

Everyone I saw was.

 

Was wondering ,i know in years past for sure. This year thought maybe not as much as walk ins were given wristbands the latest ive heard of.

 

Falls & Thomas Liquors both have Bottles.

 

When the campout wristband line was done there were still a ton of wristbands left. I am pretty sure last year they ran out, this year I heard they had something like 500 left when the wristband line was done. I didn't bother getting in the wristband line and instead concentrated on getting packed up and out of the rain. And as we were leaving I walked up and got a band with a pickup time of 1-1:30.

 

I'll start looking around St. Cloud after work, but it usually takes an extra day or 2 for it to get here.

 

My inside scoop at Westside says try tomorrow afternoon.

$25 before tax no limit at HiWay liquor Monticello

 

Ale Jail was no limit as of an hour ago.

 

Then I'll wait till tomorrow. That goes along with what happened last year.

 

Darkness is an above average RIS and very delicious but no way I’m buying above 18.99 and for a max of 2 bottles. Surly needs to change the format and price point. Do the math on any number of above average barrel aged stouts yet alone simple RIS stouts and it’s clear darkness is grossly over priced and not worth a purchase let alone “truck chasing”. Indeed puts out a rum barrel age stout in cans and sells for 17.99 for 48oz , bcbs, expedition stout, boulevards whiskey ba stout is better and 14.99 for 48 oz! 12.99 and I’d be buying a case, but way too many above average to great beers these days to chase an overpriced RIS.

 

No limits at most places today, I bought 56 bottles to keep me warm through the winter

 

The market would disagree with you. For example, Princeton's sold out of their Darkness allotment in two hours. Last year, in decent sized population centers, the vast majority of Darkness sold within a week.

And while it may not be worth "truck chasing" in your opinion, there's little other explanation for places selling out in hours (though we should probably call it "Twitter chasing" in this era).

That said, I agree that Darkness will eventually have to change formats or come down closer to Eleven pricing to stay competitive in an ever more challenging marketplace. But from the madness that followed the first few drops this week, pretty sure that time isn't now.

 

Interesting post. In the Darkness Day thread some were speculating that perhaps the hype is over due to the lower turn out. Some pointed out, why go to the event when it is pretty easy to get at stores. That had me pondering that argument (even though the weather was bad that day). But judging by watching the action on Twitter, the hype is nowhere near over.

When you have people buying 14 and 12 bottles in a go, doesn't seem to be an indication that things are slowing down.

 

Right, regarding this - so I attended Darkness eve and met some awesome BAs for bottle shares. I did not camp, and did not come back for bottles. I picked up my bottles at The Cellars yesterday. How many other people did this? I talked to several at the event.

Just speaking personally, the whole event was about the bottle share. The Darkness release is just incidental to me. Again, that's just me. I would not say the hype is over - one guy at The Cellars told me that customers were buying their limit (six bottles), and then keeping track of shift changes in the store to come back and do it again. Maybe diminished hype? Probably. But the hype is still there.

 

Let me begin by saying that Darkness may be my favorite beer. Yet I think it is overpriced and needs a format change. While "hype" on twitter may have been crazy and the popular beer stores sold out yesterday I talked to a couple of small suburban liquor store owners who said the level of Darkness sales yesterday was slower than ever before. They both were having trouble selling '16 Darkness to customers at $20 a bottle and one store even wondered if they may need to put it on sale later to sell. Yes Darkness is still very popular but I think Surly needs to lower the price or change to a smaller format because once you lose that popularity it's hard to get back.

 

I find the event itself to still be enjoyable, even more so with it a little less crowded. Darkness on tap for a reasonable price and I really like the mole version.

 

fwiw, Costco SLP didnt have Darkness today, as advertised. but the Cub Liquor across the street does, limit 4, $19.99.

 

also, still available at all three Eden Prairie liquor stores.

 

also at wayzata wine and spirits. $24.99 tho. just over two cases. appears to be no limit.