Darkness Day 2012 Thread

why did I listen to whoever said that the limit was reached by, what, midnight? Oh, well, I got 4 bottles, so what...

 

I had quite a few pours at D-Day but decided to pass on waiting in line for the 4:30 extra release. I don't like waiting in big slow lines and this was more about the overall experience for me. I'm still intending on getting a few bottes in stores. Great time regardless.

 

Wish I could have been there. It's hard for me to take time off in October, especially when I had to take the next weekend off, which is one of our busiest weekends of the year. Next year, however, will be a different story.

 

I think this year's darkness is the best of all the ones i've had so far.

 

This by far had been my favorite beer release by any brewery! Props to Surly! This absolutely blew dark lord day out of the water and so did the beer! Barley any lines, well run, great food, great people and a great time!

 

I echo all of this, except I remembered the names of the people you forgot

Pours of veritas 004, veritas 10, darkness 07, pappys dark, more Hill Farmstead than I could drink, tons of cantillon and 3F and amazing pulled pork and grilled jalopeno sandwiches. Such a great time that I forgot my buddy tipped my cooler over upon our entrance.

Great seeing old friends and awesome meeting new ones.

Cheers,
Andy

 

Pumpkin Cupcake lady was awesome.

 

Great day! Arrived at 2AM and thought we were already too late but the Surly team did a nice job keeping the line organized. When we condensed it was pretty clear that everyone was getting a wristband. Great people in line overall and was able to sample some amazing brews.

 

Looks like a beer I'll never try. I have zero tolerance for lines or a__holes.

 

Things I learned:

1) Beer and layers make 24 hours outside no problem.
2) It is impossible to try all of the good beers being poured, especially when situated next to the Toppling Goliath crew. Attempting to do so will result in a giant hangover and broken glassware.
3) Not only are the Toppling Goliath guys trying harder than any brewery I know to win over the beer geeks, they are also great guys and make REALLY good beers.

It was good seeing everyone and thanks for all the great beer!

 

By my count, 36 of the top 100 were present. I'll post which later, and anyone who had others can supplement it for a final count

 

Was there a BA who insisted on funny beer quips when ordering his beer?

Most interesting request for a beer yesterday: "Smoke me!"

 

One of my big frustrations was the people who did not follow the directions of the volunteers. At 6am, multiple megaphone announcements were made: "At 7am, tents need to be down, and a line must be formed!" Ten to 7, there was a whole line of overnight campers across from us who just started disassembling their gear. By 7am, when the line was forming up, they created a 100-150ft gap in the line because they had not followed instructions.

So what happened? We waited patiently and watched people who were behind them cut into the line in decent numbers. No volunteers to police the area for forming the line, and we couldn't make an accurate guess as to who was in line and who was cutting.

I think the volunteers should have ushered people through regardless and filled that gap before dozens of people cut. If you don't follow directions, we shouldn't have to wait for you to put all your stuff away. I heard one of the women in the camp complain that they didn't want to leave stuff out because it might be stolen. Pro tip: Put it away on time, or don't bring it if you don't want to have it taken.

The line shrunk by half once people grouped up more and the tents were put away.

And if I ever meet the guy in the King Tut hat...

 

Thanks to the Toppling Goliath guys for bringing such awesome brews. They are ready to blow up. Waves of excellent IPAs. Road trip in the minivan is happening for sure, details to follow.

Thanks to the BAs who helped smooth things over (and the others who let things go) when I acted like an idiot in the middle of the night. Too much good beer is my inadequate excuse.

Thanks to all those who brought and shared all the great beer, and for Surly hosting doing so well with controlling the zoo. Quite the scene.

 

People wanted stories... well, rumor has it that one girl I shall call "White Pants" made the walk of shame out of one of those port-a-potties. She walked up to the table we were at and grabbed my buddy's Imperial Stouts to start taking pulls. I left that table to walk around and rumor has it she didn't leave without first making someone smile.

 

I followed my plan from last week. Went to the event at 4pm Saturday. There were no signs that there was an "all nighter". Nice job by the Surly crew. Had a couple glasses of Darkness, said hi to a few friends and listened to some good music. The bottle line was way too long. I can't imagine that everyone in line got some bottles before 6pm. I'll have to track down a couple bottles when it hits stores. Great batch this year. Then again maybe the setting made it taste that much better.

 

how much was a bottle of Darkness this year ?

 

18

 

That's not bad at all -

 

I also volunteered (2nd year), but was there for the early bird shift and missed the excitement in the afternoon. For the most part people were well behaved throughout the night (Though I did yell at someone for climbing the retaining wall up to the entry ramp...) and in the early AM, but I can't imagine things will stay the way they have been after that fire...