Darkness Day 2012 Thread

My memory is piss, even from a couple hours ago, but this is what I do remember.

Cask:
tebagged furious, oak aged bender, oak aged cynic, theres was like 3 other cask offerings.

Co2:
Bandwagon, Damien, Darkness, Furious, Some ipa with Brettenomics but I cant remember what it was, Smoke.

Thats off the top of my head. There was more I'm sure of it.

 

A great time! And handled well by Surly, with 2 exceptions (imho) -
1. More biffs - they were overflowing by mid-morning. Not a pretty sight.
2. I thought they handle the organization of the line in the morning really well. Then they made us stand in line for 2 hours before they handed out wristbands. The volunteers were wonderful, and they do a great job, but for those of us who'd slept outside all night the last thing I wanted at that point was to stand in a line for a couple of hours!
It would be a more efficient use of everyone's time if once the line was orderly they just started handing them out.

Minor grousing really - but with those tweaks they could make it even better

 

What's a Biff?

 

A brand of portable shitter

 

Oh - called Spanky's here in CA!

 

I agree the "Everyone run up and form a line so you lose your spot to a couple hundred people, and stand there freezing more while you can barely stand anyways for 2 hours" was lame sauce, but eh.

 

Yeah, I found this frustrating, and it also took a lot of people away from their beer supply. But then, I took it easy last night, and planned on drinking more this morning. Seems many folks went the other way.

Darkness tasted quite different to me this year. Way less hoppy than last year; still big, rich, and sweet.

 

I agree it is a sweeter less hoppy Darkness this year. It reminds me of the '08 I think. Great for aging!

 

I too got the impression that it was less hoppy than last year. Had four pours today and it seemed fairly sweet. Still thought it was really good.

 

Honestly, this years Darkness tastes exactly how I remember it tasting last year, and the year before etc. It's a big, sweet desert stout and is fucking delicious. Brett Liqour was today's winner. Subtle Brett, very much an IPA.

 

I actually thought this years darkness was hoppier than last

I never in my life thought id get to tick veritas 004, but so glad I did! Was the best beer I tried at darkness day

 

They have their shit together for sure.

I was held up with school work until about 5pm today and decided I'd might as well swing by and check it out. Walked out with six bottles (thanks to the lady friend's mule-like figure).

I noticed some HF and some loons being poured at the barrel tables on my way in - wish I could have consumed and contributed - I guess there's always next year!

Happy D Day indeed!

 

I thought people were saying Butt Licker for a while (not making the connection to Brett). It did not go over well when I repeated the name to others. A very sincere person corrected me. (The gf and not in a sincere fashion)

 

this isnt even half of it, we had to "flush" the truck from the pm to the am tasting. If you didnt swing by at least for a couple, shame on you.

 

I had a great time hanging out on Friday night. Dumpster-related activited notwithstanding... events like this restore my faith in humanity just a little bit.

Friday night was a true display of community and generosity. I kept mostly to tables and crowds where I knew a few people, but I have no doubt that I could have wandered up to nearly any table on the street with nothing more than a tulip glass and a friendly introduction and been welcomed as a friend and offered a pour. Democrats, Republican, Libertarians, Socialists, and Whigs were sharing pours of Bourbon County, Veritas, Pappy's Dark, and Armand Lente, and it was a beautiful thing.

Big thanks go out to everyone whose path I crossed... Dan, Brandon, Jordan, Matt, Andy, Tewari, Pat, Corey and his wife whose name I can never remember despite my most sincere eforts, Alvey, Mike, Joe, <<cue graceful exit music>> Bill, Ryan, Jeff, guy who brought enough delicious pulled pork to feed half the line, Aaron, Doug(ofthefuture), guy from Philly who was hoping to beat the hurricane back home, iadler, Rebis, ObiWan, <<music now mostly drowning me out>> GUYS FROM TOPPLING GOLIATH, GUY WHO KEPT PATTING ME ON THE BACK LIKE HE WAS MY MASSEUSE, EVERYONE WHO VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME TO KEEP THE EVENT RUNNING SMOOTHLY, AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO I FORGOT TO MENTION!

Alex: you were conspicuous by your absence but I've got a bottle of Darkness with your name on it.

Let's do it again in 2013, everyone.

 

wife's name = Molly
BA from Philly having to hurry home = ShadesofGrey (Ryan)
Pulled Pork = Jawzman (Greg, chef/owner of Nosh in Lake City)

 

Ahhh, yes. The pieces fall into place.

Shout-out to Ryan's (non-BA) friend from Philly as well. May the only "Mother of All Storms" you encounter this week be brewed by Pelican!!

 

what do i have to do to get my hands on 1 bottle?

 

Darkness is usually pretty tasty fresh because it's so damn hoppy!

Talk about me all you want. We handle our shit like a boss.

Arson? Me too! Let's swap stories sometime! I gotta tell you the one about when I met Christopher McDonald!

Just for the fashion fauxpaw or is there more of a story here?

 

Thank you again, everyone! This was an awesome time, and as long as Dumpster-lighting dickheads don't ruin everything for the rest of us, I'll be out camping next year, this time with many more cupcakes in tow. Or other tasty treats. But honestly, everyone was fantastic, generous, and a joy to meet.