Dark Lord Day '14

I'm a little late here, but thought I'd throw in my two cents.

This was my 5th DLD, and yes, I had GA tix. I'm glad that folks are sticking up for us, because there was ridiculousness all over (including the Port-O's) with the exception of the actual DL lines this year. I only stood in one of those guest tap lines once...for 45min. Terrible. I can't quite figure out what went wrong there.

I stayed at the Marriot for the first time. Staff was top notch. The bottle share the night before was interesting. It was so subdued (which wasn't what I was expecting) but once my friend and I got seats at the long tables it was a never-ending stream of bottle passing. Got to taste some great beers. Thanks to anyone here who may have been there as well.

I never made it to the VIP tent on DLD, even with an invite from a friend of mine to come on over. How do you get in there anyway? I also missed out a lot of crazy taps. You know what, you just can't do everything. What didn't change was the camaraderie and overall generosity of the fest. A random person gave me my first sip of Sucaba. Bless you, sir. Sure I also saw a fair amount of people sporting tall boys of Coors and Bud...but the reasons for that are many. It didn't kill my enjoyment.

Small bits of debauchery back at the hotel...none of it lude or illegal, just amusing. I was surrounded by friends the whole time and I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Bring on 2015.

 

it appears that someone who "took a bus from chicago to munster" last weekend has MERS. http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/news/local/CDC-Confirms-1st-Case-Of-MERS-In-US-257715601.html

 

Thy all shall feel the Dark Lord's wrath!

 

I think the word you're looking for is "Ye" .

 

Thank you! My olde English is a little rusty.

 

This year marked my 7th year at DLD. Albeit working it rather than drinking. It was uneventful from my standpoint, except for one person who didn't quite understand after he was escorted out twice that he was not allowed back in. Excise police shutdown the "bottle bringin's" later in the day. Running waters group has done an outstanding job with the logistics of the event and I hope they come back again next year to assist.

 

ISO BA MERS DL. One sip will take your breath away.

 

Alright... Had a bit of time to synthesize on this experience, my fourth DLD.

If there's a way to balance the DL bottle line and guest taps the fest would be unbeatable. '13 was amazing in that I walked right up and had a draft of Bourbon County Napa poured for me with minimal wait. This year I didn't even bother with the guest taps lines... which is, of course, also a testament to how awesome the bottle share is, year in and year out. Got to try so many amazing beers I never had before - Grey Monday, Bomb!, Beauregarde, Bottleworks XII - which were basically forced upon me.

I did manage to have a draft pour of FFF Boom Over Pow and absolutely loved it. Hope they bottle it at some point, was one of my favorite beers of the day (although we all know that the ESB REVOLUTION will not be televised).

The next day, sun/wind burnt, back sore as hell from carrying a stuffed backpack, thinking of guest tap lines, I swore it would be my last full day at DLD.... We'll see how that holds up next year, but I'm beginning to appreciate the credence in showing up for just the bottles, sharing a few pours in line, and then heading home.

 

If this is on the Indiana State Excise Police radar for next year, I wonder if that will effect the bottle share policy. If it does, then those guest taps will be intolerable. You could add another 2-3 more of those guest tap trailers to the grounds and those lines would still be ridiculous if the bottle sharing concept is dead.