Prepare for Darklord Day

Tomorrow is Darklord Day. Do you have your tickets? If not, you don't really need them. In fact tomorrow will be the perfect day to go to DLD if you don't have tickets.

Looking at the forecast on weather.com, from 6am to as far out as their forecast goes (Sunday at 6 am) there's the symbol for thunderstorms. Highs tomorrow look to be around 67 at 4pm. Depending on what time you get there (we plan on getting there at 8 am) the temperature could be in the high 50's.

If it's raining, that will make it very cold. 60 degrees in the sun is much warmer than 60 degrees in the rain. Dress warm. Wear a rain coat, take an umbrella.

If it's raining (which it probably will be) that means that when people get inside the brewpub, they probably will be in there for a long time. Once they get into the brewery to get their beer, they'll probably be there for a while too.

The good news is that foul weather will probably keep away many of the less dedicated people. This means that when the beer goes on sale to people without tickets, there will be more available for you. It also means that even if you had tickets, you can probably go through the line again and get more.

So, you are going. Dress warm. Don't dress too hot, just keep warm. With overcast and rainy skies, you don't have to worry about a sunburn.

If you take an umbrella while you are standing in line, remember that when you are carrying your beer back to your vehicle, you will also have to carry beer and an umbrella.

Be very careful when you are carrying your beer back. A wet box isn't very strong. If you set your beer box down, the bottom can get wet and become very weak. If that happens, your $15 bottles will come spilling out the bottom of the box and smash on the street. Everyone will feel bad for you, but they aren't going to be able to fix it. You aren't going to get a refund, and you aren't going to get replacements.

There will be ATM's on site, which is good, because the other nearest ATM is at the gas station about a mile away. Take plenty of cash. You will have to pay cash for all the beer you purchase. Take $15 for every bottle of beer you plan to buy. Assume that each ticket will be worth 4 bottles. So take $60 for each ticket. If you have two tickets, take $120. If you are only going to be purchasing Darklord, then you can get away with just taking the $120.

There will be other beers for sale, last year the other neato beer was popskull, which was the dogfish head/three floyds collaboration. Not sure what all will be there this year. I believe they did another 3f/dfh collaboration; additionally, there should be another in the Mikkeller "grain" goop style.

If you can, take a pull cart. The kind that you strap luggage onto. You will probably be carrying a case of beer about a half mile. After a while, that beer gets to be very heavy. If you can pull it behind you, that will make your life a lot easier. Other options are a cooler on wheels, or even a suitcase with wheels.

Check out the parking map.


























Don't park in the red spaces. Be nice to the neighbors. Many of them are allowing you to park in their spots, this is different than before. The red line leads me to believe that you will not be able to park along the inner loop of the road. The outer loop appears to be fin for parking. The sooner you get there, the closer you can park. If you get there after the gates open (11) you will be parking a long way away.

Have fun, stay dry, stay warm, don't get too drunk, don't drink and drive.

Darklord Day Golden Tickets

According to a recent Three Floyds tweet, Darklord golden tickets will go on sale "after work".

After work we'll put the pot of golden tickets at the end of your rainbow.

So, if you did this year, what I did last year; you are probably going to be really tired. I hope it doesn't ruin your St. Patrick's Day, many people's favorite alcoholiday.

Tickets will probably be available at the Darklordday.com website. They cost $10 each, and you can get 2. A household can get 4. If you have any friends, they can get 2. Last year, each ticket allowed you to purchase 4 bottles of Darklord. The beer has been coming in 22 ounce bombers, and normally cost $15 a bottle. Since you had 2 tickets, you could get 8 bottles. Then you could fill up the other 4 spaces with other beers. Last year, the beers you could get included their collaboration with Dogfish Head entitled Popskull, and the collaboration with Mikkeller named Oatgoop. The previous year, the other buzzed beer was the Mikkeller collaboration, Hvedegoop.

There's no word on what other beers will be available.

There will be bands playing throughout the day, normally starting after noon.

There will also be ATM's on site, since it's a cash-only operation.

With the $20 for golden tickets, which will ensure that you get your share of the beer, you also get a free glass of the beer, per ticket. Your total investment, based on four $15 bottles per ticket will wind up being $140 (20 for tix, 120 for beer). Take more than that, because you'll want more.

Here's what you can expect throughout the day.

Show up early (don't get there at 11, there will be a HUGE line; early means about 8 or 9), take the first parking spot on the road that you can find. Start walking, following the crowd. They know where they are going. Go stake out your position in line. Get to know the people in line with you, you'll be with them for several hours.

Since you now know your line neighbors, go for a little walk. Check out what guest breweries are inside. Have a beer. Last year there was a cask section of beer. Have a cask beer. Get in line for the brewpub. Go inside, see what they have on tap. Last year there was 3 version of Darklord on tap; regular, oak aged, and vanilla bean. HAVE THE VANILLA BEAN!!! After you are done in the brewpub, GET OUT!!! There is a line to get in. Don't sit in there all day: one comes out, one goes in.

Make friends with everyone in every line you are in. If/when you cut in a line, offer the people around you beer.

Take a sampler glass with you, don't take a big ass Fat Sandwich glass! Go visit the tables and tables and tables of beer. Try stuff you haven't had. SAMPLE IT, you aren't there to drink all the beer that someone else brought.

Bring something interesting (beer) with you. Bring a cooler with good beer in it. Bring sandwiches. Bring other things to munch on. Find a camping spot across the street from the line. Set up shop. Take a grill. Take food to grill.

Have a designated driver.

Make pretzel necklaces.

Don't get into a fight (no matter how much I try to provoke you).

Don't get fall down drunk, if you do, don't be surprised if people laugh at you.

Don't break your bottles.

Do drink plenty of water. Do eat. Do have fun. Do walk around. Do meet people. Do prepare for any kind of weather. It's been warm, it's been really cold, and it's been rainy in the three years that I've gone. Be ready for all the weather. Shorts under jeans is a good idea. Do take sunscreen. Do put sunscreen on your bald head! (or sides of your mohawk)

Dark Lord Day Tickets

I think I got my Golden Tickets ordered. Horray.

Paddy should have his, Kridz should have hers. Everyone else, I wish you luck.

Here's who else I know that got tix today (everyone got 2).

Noah & Jenn
Skot
Big Brad
Eric (7S beer class instructor extraordinaire) & his wife
Sammons (got 2 but his wife didn't get any)

That's all I know for now.

Dark Lord Day Emails #3 and 4

Hopefully you've signed up for the ability to purchase tickets tomorrow, for Dark Lord Day. If not, GO SIGN UP. , (the info you really want to know)

Here's the info from their last email.

1.) The price for Dark Lord bottles will be $15 per bottle,
just as it has been in years past. And for those of you
that are wondering... we're keeping the color of the wax top
a surprise for now.

2.) If you purchase tickets you may: use both tickets for
yourself, use one and give the other away, or give both of
them away. Please be responsible and considerate with your
tickets - we're trying to increase access to Dark Lord, not
provide a new market for scalpers.

3.) Regardless of whether you purchase tickets or you are
given tickets by a friend, the absolute max number of
tickets per person is two. Do not show up to buy Dark Lord
bottles with more than two tickets in your hand and do not
use two tickets and then get back in line again with more
tickets. We reserve the right to reject tickets for any
reason - so be considerate of others and play fair, both at
the event and during the ticket sale.

4.) The number of bottles available per ticket has yet to
be determined - we have a good idea of how many we'd like
to be able to provide per ticket, but we have to get closer
to the Dark Lord Day event (April 25th) to see our exact
yields. We want to make sure that everyone that gets a
ticket gets a reasonable number of bottles per ticket but
we don't want to quote an exact number until we're sure
that we'll hit that production mark.

So the biggest question is... WHAT TIME DO TICKETS GO ON SALE. (Yes, I know you've waded through all this to find out the answer to that question).

As we indicated on the FAQ we're choosing not to reveal an
exact time such that we can reduce our chances of the site
going down - which hurts everyone's chances of getting
tickets. We don't want thousands of people all hammering
the site at the exact same moment. But we also don't want
people waiting around all day for us to open the sale.

So what we can tell you is this: you should check your
email in the morning on St. Patrick's Day. Most people -
depending on your time zone and sleeping habits - should
have an email from us waiting for them once they get up. If
it's not there by the time you get it up it should be there
shortly thereafter.

Ok, so, that means instead of me staying up until just after midnight (and having the Dark Lord Day Ticket Purchasing Party) that I instead will be staying up all night checking my email every five minutes. I guarantee, I won't be the only one doing it. There will be quite a ruckus going on in the house when it happens, as I'll be waking Paddy, and Kridz, and calling Skot and Big Brad.

So, tonight, I'll be up all night, checking email. This will be fun. If anyone else wants me to call them when the tix go on sale, drop me a note, email me, or send me a text message.

Dark Lord Day 2k9

Information for Three Floyds Dark Lord Day 2k9 is now on the web.

Click here.

You MUST register on the site, in order to purchase a ticket to get Dark Lord.

You should do this NOW.

Dark Lord Day is April 25. You need to register with the site (now) and then the tickets will be going on sale on St. Patrick's Day, so mark your calendars now.

When you register on the site, you'll get information (later) about the purchasing of the ticket.

I'd assume there will be a rush on tickets, so on st. paddys day, get up early!

My thoughts:

(I believe) This came about because there were many people who bitched about not getting Dark Lord last year. If you read the FAQ, it claims people showed up early and still didn't get any. On that, I call BULLSHIT.

If you didn't get any in years past, then you obviously didn't want any. You may THINK you wanted some, but you didn't. If you REALLY wanted some, you would have gotten there 3 hours before the doors opened. If you REALLY wanted some, you would have known to show up with $90 cash. If you REALLY wanted some, hell, you would have gone into the brewpub and gotten a glass of it, and the oaked, and the vanilla. If you REALLY wanted some, you'd have gotten a 6 pack. But, you didn't get any, because you showed up at the time when the doors opened, and the line was all the way back to the fire station, and curled up. You wanted to sleep, or wanted to take your girlfriend, who "doesn't even like beer", or wanted to stop and get breakfast, or had some other thing that was slightly more important than getting a beer that's been the #2 beer for the better part of the past 3 years (according to beer advocate).

If you really wanted it, you'd have been there early, in line, freezing your ass off, like everyone else. You are probably also pissed at the people who turned around and sold it on EBAY for a bottle at the price of a 6 pack. But you bought one anyway. Then you probably claimed the beer wasn't that good anyway.

Now, there's a new system. You are probably going to find a reason to bitch about it too.

If you've made it this far, I hope you clicked on the link and registered.

I'll see you there.