Dark Lord Day ‘08

Dark Lord Day was amazing. For those of you who are unaware, Dark Lord Day is the only day of the year when one can buy Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, at a limit of six bottles per person and $15 per bottle, and is held at the Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Munster, IN. It is among the top ranked beers in the world, typically #2 on beeradvocate.com but was recently pushed to #3 by Kate the Great. Fortunately for me, Jenny came along for the joy ride and in so doing I purchased a baker’s dozen – or a $180 case of beer.

I have yet to crack open any of my beers, but I did have a sample of the Oak Aged Dark Lord Imperial Stout on tap - which in itself is easily one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted.

Here’s the rundown…

My car leaves the Haute on Friday evening, and about twenty minutes in I am pulled over – and given a warning! A cop who is polite, humorous, and gives warnings - I thought that was an old wives’ tale. About an hour later we pull over again because Jenny gets carsick. Well, we arrive in Lansing, IL, and check into the exquisite, luxurious Days Inn. We eat, we drink, we are merry.

We awake early on Saturday, shove a dozen people into two cars, and are on our way. Our crowd consists of myself, Jenny, Hargis, Shane, JJ, Schue, Kidwell, Rogers, Cleve, Sully, Weldon, and the ever-so-adorable Kennedy; and we meet up with Halfpenny, Beth, and Jesse later on. The beer goes on sale at 11am; we arrive at 9:30am with a five hour wait ahead of us. I say, I haven’t seen a line like this since I visited the Vatican a few years ago; but in this line you can drink beer. There are Three Floyds beers on tap, visiting breweries’ beers on tap, food in the brewpub, people trading beers and of course, porta johns – all for your line waiting pleasure. My one complaint: the event isn’t nearly as much of a beer/music/BBQ festival as the descriptions implied – really much more of a beer festival with BBQ in the brewpub (a different line) and music inside the warehouse (while 98% of the line is outside the warehouse). Also I failed to realize that other special beers were on sale, particularly Hvedegoop, a wheat wine jointly brewed by Three Floyds and the Mikkeller Brewery in Denmark, sold for the first time ever in the world at a limit of two bottles per person.

Sunday morning rolls around and we mosey back to Terre Haute. Nothing more of interest to tell other than I pooped four times on Sunday. I think the high protein, dark beer diet isn’t one to be desired by fitness enthusiasts.