I've been getting very interested in good beer the last few months, trying a new beer or two every week. When I heard about Dark Lord, the Russian Imperial Stout from Three Floyds Brewery, I knew I had to try it. And how do you get it? You can't buy it at the store. They sell out almost every single bottle on Dark Lord Day, the last Saturday in April.
After several calls to my friend Westy, I got off the highway and took the back road to the brewery instead of crossing the Illinois-Indiana border insanity on 80/94. I made it from Aurora to the brewery in Munster, Indiana in 65 minutes. OK, maybe I was a little too excited about it.
There were already cars everywhere and at least 300 people at 10:30 AM, with the doors opening at noon. Fortunately, no line had formed yet. Everyone was milling around the tasting tables, chatting, trying different beers. About 95% of the beer was commercial, but difficult to find stuff. The remaining was homebrew. I brought some beer to share, including some Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout that people wanted badly. Westy and his wife arrived shortly after I did. We found a table that had some beer we wanted to try (including Surley Coffee Bender) and parked there. There were many Beer Advocate people there, and presumably a lot of RateBeer people too.
It was difficult to pace yourself. I wanted to stay level-headed since I had a long drive home. And I'm proud to say that I managed to do it despite trying at least 20 beers between 10:30-11:45, at least half of which were high alcohol monsters. I took very small pours of everything, and there was only one beer that I tried twice. Erdinger2003 had several coolers of New Glarus beer to trade, with several types that I had never tried. I really wanted to try the Raspberry Tart, and he was kind enough to open a bottle. It was fantastic, all raspberries. It was a lot like a raspberry dessert wine that I've had.
Westy made sure that we hung out at a table near where the line would form. At around 11:30, someone opened a big door to the brewery, and everyone started moving in that direction. Even though we were only 50 feet away, we couldn't hear a thing he was saying. Not that it mattered, unless he was saying "Oops we don't have any Dark Lord" in which case he would've been instantly destroyed by an angry mob. Westy and Margaret were in front of me, then the next time I looked up they were about 10 feet ahead in the line. Eventually I lost them. At 12:00, the line started moving into the brewery. We were starting to get hot standing in the sun. When the line formed, the only thought was "get in line fast". Next time, I'll make sure I have a nice cold beer with me. The only beer being passed around in line were a couple of growlers filled with really strong stuff that looked like maple syrup.
Westy called me every few minutes to check my progress. When we were near the door, we could see that they were selling some beer on tap - Gumballhead, and also Alpha King, I think. Then Westy magically appeared with a cold frosty Gumballhead for me! After 45 minutes standing in the sun, that was one of the best beers I've ever had. And my first Three Floyds on tap.
It turned out that there were only 2 bouncers inside the door checking IDs, and only 2 cashiers about another 50 feet inside the doors. But the line was easily 10-15 people wide, so there was a terrible bottleneck. I enjoyed chatting with people in line. I think I got my Dark Lord around 1:15, about 30 minutes after Westy did. I also bought some Gumballhead t-shirts, but they didn't have any 2007 Dark Lord t-shirts.
After getting the Dark Lord, the line for the brewpub (for food) was way too long. There was also a line for barrel-aged Dark Lord, which would have been a great treat. But no one wanted to stand in any more lines. By this time (1:45), the line spilled into the street and there were easily 1000 people there. We headed home.
Fox News even showed up - after I left.
- schneid
