2009 -2014 Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout at DLD’14
It’s a tradition like no other. Three Floyds is the most polarizing brewery we’ve ever seen. Whether you love em or hate em, every April they give us one of the biggest moments of the entire calendar year with Dark Lord Day. This year’s fest drew over 9000 people and featured 96 guest drafts. I’ve been to this party every year since 2010. Back then the event was only on the grounds of the brewery, and the concerts were held in the brewhouse. It’s been impressive to see how much this fest has grown over that time. There are a couple of things that have remained absolute DLD over those years.
If you don’t have awesome friends, this party is probably gonna suck. The best beers you drink at DLD are the ones that the crowd brings. This event is the largest, most ridiculous bottle share of the year. It’s the camaraderie of beer nerds from across the country making the annual pilgrimage to Munster, Indiana that makes the day so special. Additionally there’s going to be an element you don’t like about this event. This year there were many people (this guy included) that couldn’t handle the long line for guest drafts. Two years ago (2012 red wax) the beer was widely described as ‘not the best of vintages’. Part of me wants to spend time highlighting everything I don’t like just so you don’t come next year. But the reality is that if I attended every single fest all year long but couldn’t be here for DLD I would be a little sad…that’s how special this day is.
righteous signage in the bottle allotment line
Enough of that rubbish, lets get to the highlights Dark Lord Day 2014. Of the beers we were able to score on draft it didn’t get much better than 2011 Dark Lord aged in Heaven Hill barrels and Floyd D’rue – an insane imperial porter collaboration with The Bruery aged in rum barrels. The loudest cheers were for the 2008 DL vintage that went on late in the afternoon. We got our hands on some Behemoth 2013 as well as a beer with no description, just a pentagram logo. After speaking with the crew we discovered that this is the 2011 version of Dark Lord that Surly Brewing helped create as part of FFF Anniversary Ale. We got a chance to rock a 6 year Dark Lord bottle vertical as well as get down on Founders Mango Magnifico and Sweet Repute. Everything after that was pretty much a blur of friends, discovering beers from other region and sharing the best of times with seemingly everyone Ive ever met in craft beer.
One more thing..cheers to the Dark Matter Coffee crew. They quickly sold 1000 bottles Blackhole Necromance – a cognac barrel aged, iced coffee dipped in blue waxed bottles. They’re also slowly becoming the roaster of choice for Chicago beer releases that feature coffee. Dark Matter has always been featured in Half Acre’s Big Hugs Imperial Stout. For the 1st time ever their java blend – Unicorn Blood was used in Dark Lord.
–Nkosi
Chicago’s Own – Dark Matter Coffee
frickin love this guy..shout out to the rookies we met from Kansas City, Mo
Here’s a string of random images we caught while enjoying the festivities.
