Darkness Day Questions

Wish I had been there so I could tell you!

 

Caption contest? That second picture really confuses me.

 

Second picture looks like the drinking game "stump". I'm not 100% certain on the rules, but I know it entails catching a spinning hammer, hitting nails, and drinking.

 

1. No.
2. Hammerschlagen - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerschlagen

 

The second picture is Hammerschlagen.... You have one shot to hit the nail with your opposite hand (I'm right handed so I had to use my left hand) once you take your shot you pass the hammer to the next person. First one to get their nail all the way into the stump wins... We were actually betting dollars that day. Made for some good competition.

Game is a German one I believe. You see it during Oktoberfest a lot too.

 

You basically get in line early, some people camp, grill, and do tastings all night. From the last time I was there I got in line around 3AM. I've heard some years more recent people have got wristbands as late as 7AM (can't confirm this though). The sales and beer starts flowing at 11AM. It's pretty cold in MN in late October so you have to dress warm. Basically they have an allotted number of wristbands and if they make it back to you in line you get to buy your darkness assuming you buy it buy the time they state. Regardless of if people have bought their allotment by getting the wristband, they open up sales to anybody to buy more at a given time. Not sure how much more you can get though. Probably not much. Personally I hope they move to a ticketing system that would not allow all the crap that happened at Huna Day 14.

They have bands, the regular Surly beers for sale via kegs, food trucks, typically they have quite a few nice Surly Surly variants sold via keg.

 

IIRC that didn't happen last year.

 

Interesting... They just didn't do secondary sales? Or they waited till later than they said they would like all sorts of breweries have been -- going back on their word. It's not like it's hard to get your Darkness before they go to secondary sales so I find that crappy but thanks for the info.

 

It did. It was just shorter-lived than in 2012. I snagged 4 bottles after the wristband purchasers got their fill, but they sold out really quickly.

 

There were secondary sales. Max of 4 bottles. Camping out the night before is more about the social aspect. They allow tents and firepits and grills. You wait in line in the morning (7am - 9am)for an hour or so (breakfast food and free coffee available) to get your bracelet and then pack up/chill/sleep/go out to breakfast for a couple hours until the gates open. Once inside everything is easy. Beer lines are not that long and I barely broke stride going throught the brewery to get my bottles during my noon time slot. And the last two years writstbands were still available later in the morning.

 

I haven't been there since 2011 so my info might be outdated but I assume that since you are at the beginning of the line and slept there it's a little different than those who come in the morning. Maybe they make more as they never used to have tickets that late to my knowledge. Obviously every year is different but do you think people that showed up at 7AM still got a bracelet? My recollection from 2011 was that people that showed up after 5AM or so would not have bot a bracelet. More reason for me to go if I don't have to get there that late as the beer shares from 3AM to 11PM put me in a state where I'm just to drunk to enjoy the day.

The keg Omar usually puts out at the front of the line is a nice touch.

 

Here are some main differences

- Darkness day is open to anyone, there are no tickets
- You are only guaranteed bottles if you have a wrist band, which requires being there very early AM. They clearly set a time where it is the earliest you can arrive, I think it was 3pm friday this past year.
- You dont get unlimited beer with your entry. Beer tickets are sold at separate booths from the pour stations, with this, people dont stick around all day and "try to get their monies worth" , much less congestion.
- Surly also distributes a healthy amount of Darkness to stores, which I feel like lessens the Hype and Angst of the attendees. (I got shut out last year and still had a great time , and was able to get as many bottles as I needed from distribution)

On a different topic, Is the new brewery going to be open for D-Day '14?

 

I wouldn't count on it and even if it is, don't expect the show to move to the new location. Surly's got a good thing going with their original location and the city of Brooklyn Park (municipal controlled liquor stores). Surly leases the grounds out to the city for the day and they're the ones who "sell" the beer to us commoners. Minneapolis doesn't have a municipal store setup and I've got imagine at least one or more places will cry foul if they try to do this in the city.

Just my 2 cents though...

 

I think it was 3 or 4 kegs of Cacao Bender last year,

 

Surly event isn't that big. Not even half the size of DLD or Huna.

 

I think that part of the reason that is smaller is the access to it in the community. It seems to be around at bars for weeks and I usually shows up each month somewhere, I had it on tap a week ago. And now that Surly distros across the state, small towns get it as well. Beer Geeks also have a larger distance to travel to MN and the weather is always an unknown. If you are from Florida and hear it is going to be 20 degrees overnight, it may keep you away.