Three Floyd’s Dark Lord Day, an annual event held for the release of their Russian Imperial Stout (Dark Lord), is all that it’s cracked up to be. I met so many generous and genuine beer lovers-I can’t remember half of their names or occupations.
The quick and dirty rundown –
Took the shuttle from REGGIES // Great experience that will be duplicated next year if we’re lucky enough to get a ticket to Dark Lord Day. Reggies is top notch for beer selection (had a Dogfish Head 90 min and a Half Acre Daisy Cutter while waiting) pub food, and the shuttle was a ton of fun.
On the shuttle on the way to Munster // Generous folks pouring a lot of Surly, including Darkness, Peruvian Morning, and Six Point Bengali Tiger. Metal blared as we screamed down to highway to our destination.
At the brewery // Somehow we managed to get past all of the (massive lines) people waiting in line to get in and right up to the front. Grabbed a Zombie Dust and a Hells Black Intellegencer and quickly lined up to get let in for group B Dark Lord sales.
In line // talked to Indianan that went to school in Madison. At this point, my head was already full of delicious booze so I can’t remember what we talked about besides Octopus Car Wash. Sampled Dark Lord 2010 while in line. Tasty but the Hell’s Black overwhelmed my pallet with coffee and made it impossible for anything memorable to be gathered. That’s not a complaint, it’s a fact and a coffee and beer lovers dream.
Inside the brewery // Traded my ticket to an employee and wound up with one of the many ‘Golden Tickets’ that were handed out on this glorious day of the Dark Lord. I fumbled around, motor skills failing, in my pocket to get out money to pay for all the beer. Seriously- Hunter S. Thompson on ether at this point – I asked if where I was standing wasn’t a reasonable place to park. I then somehow managed to make a decision, after being handed some dollars from my friend, on which elite barrel aged bottle of dark lord I would take home. Vanilla Bean.
And from there it was thunderdome. I met a coffee roaster, a dead head, students from Michigan, cab drivers, beer brewers, contractors, and a slew of other generous individuals.
After all that, I saw no metal bands, didn’t breakdance in the brewery at close, and ended up back at home safe and sound. One note to self for next year -Don’t stand on a hill with a backpack full of beer – you’ll lose your balance and take a digger almost breaking all of the beer that you traveled to buy. No one will laugh but it will still be embarrassing.
BLONDE ON BLONDE 
Jealous! Some day I’ll make it to one o’ these, dammit.
Man, it was a blast! My tour buddy and I are planning on cracking some Dark Lord at Creek and Alpine!