Going for Surly Darkness....

OP, do you have a link to your gots list?

 

I was able to get it for two 120 minutes. Shouldn't be too absurd to trade for.

 

I got mine for a Dark Lord, straight up, despite the fucking shitty BM I got immediately after posting saying "well DL is only $15 and has only half the bottle count so you will have to send me 2 DL for my Darkness." I politely told him to fuck the fuck off. It was actually the only bad BM I ever got.

I'm not sure how much Cafe Royale is, but it's excellent. If I was holding a Darkness I would trade for Cafe Royale for sure.

 

It does get some spots on the shelf, but most stores limit the purchases to 1 or 2 if I remember correctly. Also, some stores were charging $40-something/bottle... and still sold out within a day or two. Once the allotment reaches a store, it usually sells out by the end of the day/early next day.

 

what's the bottle count been for the last few releases of Darkness? Haven't paid attention recently

 

I'd guess CBH would go straight up for Darkness pretty easily, but I don't know if you want to trade that.

 

i'd think this would get done really fast. if anything, you could get something rarer with the CBH since it's spread so thin over so many different areas. i had more trouble getting one bottle of that off the shelf than i did trading for 2 darkness last year.

 

Your problem here is you're at the halfway point for Darkness. Lots to go around when it releases in the fall, but now most bottles have been drank/cellared/traded or they're holding out for something great. Go for it in the fall and it will be easier. That said, you'll have to do a bit better than an easy shelf beer.

 

I traded a Dark Lord for a Darkness.

 

I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 12,000 for this last release, but I can't remember where I read that. It may have been higher. One of the difficulties with Surly beers is that they have a huge non-beer-geek following. So where many others breweries' limited releases go mostly to the BA/RB crowd, a lot of Darkness gets bought up by people who've never heard of such things (and just want to drink it - imagine that!).

The bottles that hit stores either disappear fast, or get sold at a pretty high price (see the debacle with stores putting it out at ~$38, and getting all kinds of flack, but still selling out in a day or two). I'm quick enough to pick up most limited releases at my local shop, and I had no chance on Darkness there.

And I agree with what others have said - it'll be easier to get around this year's Darkness Day (late October). I got my allotment of 6 at DD this year, and traded a few away shortly after. The bottles I have left are already dedicated to some purpose or other (cellaring or specific future trades).

 

Is DD a ticketed event?

 

Darkness day is not a ticket event. its a first come first serve type of deal for the first fee thousand folks that get in line

 

I did an IP trade in Chicago for a 2011 darkness for an 2011 abyss

 

There's some people that don't like stouts and others that don't like hoppy stouts, which is what darkness is and love hoppy beers so they get darkness just to trade it. Just post an ISO with bitter valentine and see if it gets done, if not no harm. If it comes out again around darkness day though, if you post then you should have a much better chance of landing it with some Bitter Valentine.

 

Bitter Valentine is an IPA, it won't be drinkable after a few days right? J/K.

Seriously though BV will not be in its prime when the next Darkness batch is released. Maybe pick up Cafe Royale and Bourbon Barrel Porter (my favorite local) when they are released again. A combination of those might have a chance to get it done with the right trader.

 

Like some have said have patience and you will eventually land Darkness and possibly even crazier beers. Trying to land a limited release with some random local is what gets a trader shat upon in the ISO:FT forum. Cellars are not built in a day and good things come to those who wait...

 

For all the people quoting a $39.99 sale price for Darkness - you know that is wayyy outside 2 standard deviations of Darkness price, not to mention a single store trying to rip "beer geeks with no life" off, so why would you mention it?