Dark Lord Day 2012

I had the pleasure luck of scoring tickets to 3 Floyds Dark Lord day this year.  Megan was busy being all teacher-y that weekend (she was in Utah leading her students at the national DECA competition), so I decided to drag Mike along to what has to be one of the premier beer geek events in the country.  Truthfully, I almost didn't feel worthy, but I was not going to pass up the chance to get my hands on some Dark Lord!

When the date was announced, I put it on my calendar immediately.  Unfortunately, neither my physics professor, nor my chemistry professors got that memo, and they both conveniently scheduled tests for the Monday & Tuesday following Dark Lord Day.  Bummer.  I had a choice: I could go and enjoy myself or be a responsible student for the weekend.  Since I still needed to finish these classes as part of my PT prerequisites, responsible student won out.  So, our plan was to make a quick trip down to the brewery, snag our allotment of Dark Lord, and head back.

We got there a little after 9:30am and proceeded to wait in line for over 3 hours, just to get into the main brewery grounds.  After then waiting in the beer purchase line for probably close to an hour, we were finally able to purchase our Dark Lord.  4 bottles each, at $15 a bottle.  Before we even got through the line, we saw a handful of posts already up on eBay selling them for $50 and up.  Is one thing to hear people doing that, its another to actually see it.  Waiting in line was like tailgating at a football game with beer nerds and some of the best/most expensive beer in the country.  All along the street, people discarded their empty bottles and it was like a who's who of the Beer Advocate Top 100 List. 

As part of your entrance ticket, you are given a scratch off ticket, which if marked as a "winning" ticket, grants you the chance to purchase a special, limited edition bottle of Dark Lord for $50.  Mike was lucky enough to score a winning ticket, and without hesitation we hit up the ATM to get some funds and purchased a bottle of Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord.  9 bottles of beer, four hours, and $170 later, it was time to head home.

The whole time we were there, I wondered if it was really worth it for the waiting (it was pretty cold and damp that day), and the money.  As a reward for our effort, we opened up one of the 8 bottles of regular Dark Lord when we got home, and as you might imagine, the answer was YES, it was worth it!

I'm still undecided about what to do with the Vanilla Bean Dark Lord.  I saw more than one person selling them for $350+ on eBay.  That's almost a month's worth of rent!  But, just as with regular Dark Lord, a part of me wants to be able to say I've tried the barrel aged version too, so odds are good I'll hang onto it for a special occasion.

Part of our Dark Lord stash.  The vanilla bean is in front.

I'll most certainly try to get tickets to Dark Lord Day again next year, and I'll make it my personal mission to get the full Dark Lord Day experience.

Next event up for both of us:  "Beer Under Glass," the official kick off party for Chicago Craft Beer Week, held 5/17 at the Garfield Park Conservatory.  http://chibeerweek.com/event/?eid=10

--Jen