Darkness Day 2019

I wish I could go, but I can't because of work. I do know that Oliphant Brewing in Somerset is going to go wild with BA beers this weekend, and since I've had several of them in the past, they will be amazing.

Here's the list from their email.
just horseplay - bourbon barrel-aged russian imperial stout
boo!dior - bourbon barrel-aged doppelbock
crabbin' on the beach - rum barrel-aged scotch ale
hungee for goomungee - rum barrel-aged brown ale w/ maple syrup
the kindness trap - blended bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout
the kindness trap VARIANT - blended bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout with coffee

 

I used to go to Darkness Day but won't go now that it is in WI. Darkness is easy to get anywhere these days if you want to buy it (I don't care about variants or the special tap beers) .

I love Darkness but I no longer buy large bottles of $15+ high ABV beer so I'll pass on Darkness this year. If Darkness was in smaller bottles (or cans!) I would buy a lot of it.

If Surly really thinks it needs a large bottle format to keep the Darkness hype going, only the limited variants or BA version should be in a large bottle (although I still prefer small formats).

 

I know plenty of people will have fun at the new, improved Darkness Day this weekend, but our string of 2008 - 2017 attendance was broken last year. I don't see it starting up anytime soon under the new format. It just doesn't seem as interesting.

 

The old Darkness Day was pretty special, and I agreed with you last year. They pulled me back in this year with the included beer fest with so many out of market breweries. I'm trying to keep a positive outlook on life and not dwell on the good old days though.

I know you're super old, but it's not too late to change your grumpy ways!

 

Piss off. Kids these days.

Seeing all the great breweries did give me pause. But I've spent enough nights over my eight decades getting drunk & sleeping in the dirt to not look forward to it anymore.

 

Before having kids, I'd definitely try the new venue out, but there's no way I can dedicate an entire weekend to a beer event anymore.

I'm sure they weighed the pros and cons for their audience, but being in WI, definitely prevents/limits the local crowd who can only stop by for 2-3 hours. Oh well.

 

I went last year and will be going this year. The bottle share last year was not as "epic" as the old format at the brewery with the GA and RV campgrounds being separated (I was in RV) in the sense I did not try nearly as many different beers. But it on the flip, it seemed we really got to meet people, instead of the grabbing a taste of something and moving on. On the whole I enjoyed the weekend more than any of the ones I attended before, but your mileage may vary.

Plus being able to bring the campers, I was able to convince friends to join that would never have camped out on a street in the city. Super excited for this weekend, and if anyone is going, our group will once again be in the RV camping, with bottles from Cycle brewing, and whatever else I pull out of the cellar to share, so stop in and say hi!

 

Did I hear they moved the Guest Brew Fest to Friday only instead of guest breweries on both days?

 

I could be wrong, but I don't ever remember a facebook group existing for darkness day before, so a forum like this was really the only area to go. I think the facebook groups have diminished activity on forums in general to a certain extent.

I also think rare beer in general has dwindled, because every brewery makes a godzillion beers, so there is always something rare. Making rare beer not very rare, or something like that, lol.

 

I'll be there, this is my.... 10th? maybe 11th? year. Which is crazy.

I loved last year. In prior years I loved the beer share, hated the lines. Last year, still lots of beer, waaaaaay less lines.

(Plus camping with electricity!)

 

That is sort of correct. Guest breweries are pouring samples on Friday Night. Surly beer only on Saturday. It was just the opposite last year, with only Surly beers available on Friday and guest taps (and Surly beer) available on Saturday.

I was gonna go, but the music lineup just didn't do it for me this year. Last year we had a great time, though.

 

Been going every year since 09 and am bummed to say this will be my first year not attending. I had a riot at the fest last year after buying a ticket the day of. I don't really care for bottle shares anymore and was super excited about all the guest tap beers. Make sure to have a sober cab for the way home!

 

Any reports on the turnout this year?

 

They tweeted last night that Darkness Eve sold out so there is that.

 

Here's my first-hand experience: Things ran much more smoothly this year and the set up was much more conducive to bottle sharing, but I'm sure the weather being nicer had as much to do with that as anything. There was no significant line-up before getting into the grounds, and getting settled into our campsite was easy. You had the opportunity to get your wristbands well before the grounds opened, so when the beer festival started we were able to walk right in without delay. I mention this as it looked like there was a significant line when my group entered the festival grounds from people that did not know this was an option.

The festival itself was well run, each brewery had plenty of beer available (although most did run out before the actual end of the fest) but most people were pretty full by the time that happened. My only issue with the beer festival would be the recommendation to have some sort of exit lane for people after they received their taster, as people would congregate in front of the beer they just tasted, which made finding the line and getting a pour a challenge at times.

The music was MUCH softer and non-metal centric on Friday which was a welcome change (for me, at least). The bonfire was also great and a good way to warm up after the beer fest as well. Food trucks were good choices and having them there early Saturday probably saved a lot of people from even worse hangovers than they already had.

I did not purchase bottles, but I believe I got my money's worth, and will be attending again in the future if the beer festival takes place next year. The people with me did get bottles and they said the process to pick them up on Saturday ran very smoothly. We chose to leave after getting our bottles, so I can't speak to what the grounds were like on Saturday, but from the number of vehicles I saw leaving Saturday morning, I'd have to imagine that the crowd was significantly down that day and night. Will be interesting to see if they make further changes next year.

All in all, a well run and better event this year, and I would recommend that everyone interested take the opportunity to at least come to the beer festival next year, as the brewers were all out of our distribution area and were beers you just can't get here in MN. Hats off to Surly!

 

This was probably my only complaint. So many people seemed to want to drink their "samples" right where they were served.

We ended up giving up on trying for specific samples, and instead just wove through the people till we found an opening.

I also think the servers were partaking. One of my barleywine samples filled the entire glass. I think that was one of my last samples. LOL