Ymm, Beer

[devildeac]

Front Street Brewing in Wilmington is a great blend of service, beer, and food.

How was your visit to New Anthem?

[Tripping William]

We got diverted from Elysian, if only because their downtown bar is 21+ only, and we had my teenage son in tow. Don't cry for me too much, as I have nonetheless consumed the following:

(1) Airways (Kent, WA) Jumbo Juic3 AIPA. They characterize this as an "American" IPA, but I suspect it nicely in the New England IPA style. A very hazy off-orange color, generous off-white head, and juiciness/citrus for days. This was on the draft board at Yard House, and was our server's favorite local IPA. 5.3% ABV and I'd guess IBUs in the upper 60s to low 70s.

(2) Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA. This was part of Yard House's "Chalkboard" series and . . . . OMG! I went with it because, well, YOLO. Listed at 18% ABV and IBUs of 120. It was a five-alarm fire on the palate, but just an unreal beer. I may have consumed it a little too fast, and I may have paid the price for that. Quite the experience.

(3) pFreim (pronounced "Frame"; Hood River, Oregon) Pilsner: Had this as a pre-dinner ice-breaker. Pretty standard. Nice yellow color, thin white head. Typical pilsner, but a little bitter and harsh on the aftertaste. I have had better. 4.9% ABV, and IBUs at 35.

(4) pFreim Belgian Strong Blonde: A very good Belgian style ale. Pours a cloudy gold color, with a generous white head. Notes of pear and clove, and very clean and bright on the palate. It has some body to it, though, and clocks-in at 7.5% ABV. But for the 120-Minute experience, this has been the best beer of the trip to date.

More to follow, I'm sure.

[devildeac]

We got diverted from Elysian, if only because their downtown bar is 21+ only, and we had my teenage son in tow. Don't cry for me too much, as I have nonetheless consumed the following:

(1) Airways (Kent, WA) Jumbo Juic3 AIPA. They characterize this as an "American" IPA, but I suspect it nicely in the New England IPA style. A very hazy off-orange color, generous off-white head, and juiciness/citrus for days. This was on the draft board at Yard House, and was our server's favorite local IPA. 5.3% ABV and I'd guess IBUs in the upper 60s to low 70s.

(2) Dogfish Head 120-Minute IPA. This was part of Yard House's "Chalkboard" series and . . . . OMG! I went with it because, well, YOLO. Listed at 18% ABV and IBUs of 120. It was a five-alarm fire on the palate, but just an unreal beer. I may have consumed it a little too fast, and I may have paid the price for that. Quite the experience.

(3) pFreim (pronounced "Frame"; Hood River, Oregon) Pilsner: Had this as a pre-dinner ice-breaker. Pretty standard. Nice yellow color, thin white head. Typical pilsner, but a little bitter and harsh on the aftertaste. I have had better. 4.9% ABV, and IBUs at 35.

(4) pFreim Belgian Strong Blonde: A very good Belgian style ale. Pours a cloudy gold color, with a generous white head. Notes of pear and clove, and very clean and bright on the palate. It has some body to it, though, and clocks-in at 7.5% ABV. But for the 120-Minute experience, this has been the best beer of the trip to date.

More to follow, I'm sure.

Ymm, Beer delivers again. I've never had #1. I've sipped #2 on a number of occasions over the last decade or more but never as a draft (ASSuming it was indeed a draft). Amazingly coincidentally, we're making a vacation/anniversary/medical meeting trip to the Portland area in July and will spend 3 days of the trip at the Skamania Lodge, located less than 15 miles from Hood River, also home of Full Sail Brewing, so we already had pFreim on our lunch or dinner list. Great stuff, as usual. Thanks!

[thedukelamere]

My buddy and I convinced his wife to be our DD for the day (I can only imagine what that cost him), so they picked me up from my house around 9am. We were lucky enough to get “Group A” entry, meaning that we could pick up our four bottles of DL18 and one DL18 Variant any time between 9 and 11am. It was 9:45am by the time we were scanned in, bags checked, ready to rock and roll… Meaning the Group A line was non-existent and we walked right in and picked up our beers. Our gameplan coming in was to leave with 2 separate variants, seeing as though we will most likely be cracking open each of them together, so we were a tad disappointed that we both had 2018 DL Marshmallow Handjee as our variant. Knowing that the beer was going to be on tap several times throughout the day (and that there were 3000 bottles of it being handed out), I quickly traded for the scotch barrel variant, 2018 DL TurtleDogg, with someone who hates scotch. Seeing as though it was much more limited (only 488 bottles in the world) I thought I played the situation perfectly, only to find out Handjee is insanely popular and I could have sold my bottle for $300+. In hindsight, I could have easily sold my bottle and purchased the TurtleDogg from the guy that didn’t want it, but there’s worse things in life to worry about. We tucked out bottles away in our backpacks and put our drinking caps on:

It was 10am, so the 2nd wave of rare drafts was just kicking off. We found the closest beer trailer and were excited to check out the 2018 DL ChemTrailMix… until we saw that the line wrapped around half of the park. We went to the trailer to see what else they had to wet our whistle while standing in line; as luck would have it, no one even noticed there wasn’t a line for

2018 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
What a way to start the day. Rich, dark, gooey toffee with divine vanilla undertones. Much sweeter than the DL’s I’ve had in the past, so I’m interested to see how the four bottle I own will age.. I hope it doesn’t lose that sweetness.
We grabbed our beers and headed to wait in line for our next beer being released at 11am, and lucked into standing with an awesome group of brewers from Virginia and Massachusetts, who bottle shared with us:

Green – American IPA (7.5%) - Tree House Brewing Company – 2 oz
2107 Gluttony – Imperial Stout (14%) – Burn ‘Em Brewing – 4oz
Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (12.4%) – ZwanzigZ Brewing – 2oz
2017 Kentucky Christmas Morning - Imperial Milk Stout (10.6%) – Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – 2 oz
2017 BBL Aged Toonilla – Milk Stout (7.5%) – Dark Horse Brewing Co. – 2oz
What a great assortment of flavors… The Christmas Morning was amazing, 5* even in the warm weather. If I enjoyed a bottle at the right temp in December next to a roaring fire, it might be a top 5 beer for me. Green is one of the highest rated IPAs out there and I can see why; insanely refreshing, juicy and fruity, meaning it was on the opposite end of the taste spectrum for the day.

While still in line, they made the announcement that they could not tap our 11am selection until the 10am was gone, meaning we walked right up and grabbed a

2017 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Not as sweet as the 2018, but the cherries and sweet port wine flavors made it very decedent and rich motor oil. Delicious.

2016 DL Dwarven Power Bottom - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
With the glitz and glam of the royal wedding taking place, the depravity of this beer’s name made it a much-try for me coming into the day. I was not disappointed; it was aged in Italian desert wine barrels (Muscat) and the chocolately finish would pair nicely with just about any desert I can imagine.

From there, we grabbed a few bottles of water and wandered around looking for our next score, only stumble upon another back to back pairing that most diehard must have already tried and were avoiding:

2016 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
2015 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Reviewing these two is like splitting hairs, but the 2016 was a little hotter in the throat and had tones of burnt fruit and chocolate, whereas the 2015 a bit boozier and had a nice chocolatey aftertaste. Supposedly the 2015 is a fan favorite that has lost some of its signature flavor in the aging process.

We grabbed a quick Dark Lord burger and waded our way back to the front gate to see how those lines were looking; it was a zoo. No line in sight, just a mob of people waiting for 2 beer trailers and the 1pm Group C bottle line. After asking around, we figured out that everyone in the mob was waiting for the 2018 DL Spaceforce! variant, so we walked right up and grabbed the

2018 DL Cavaleiro of Varnov – (15%) – 4 oz variant. The sweetest, tartiest DL of the bunch, aged in Oloroso sherry barrels. I personally loved it, but it was pretty divisive; word on the street was that it was the least popular of the 11 variants due to the overpowering sweetness.

The beer trailer near the concert stage was hit or miss with the solid beer/long line ratio, so we formulated a gameplan to double down and snag two variants with one long wait: at about 12:15pm we hopped into the hourlong line to snag a 2018 DL Brotilla – (15%) – 4oz variant, knowing that at 1pm they would be tapping the 2018 DL Spaceforce! - (15%) – 4oz variant. When we arrived at the front of the line, we told them we were waiting for Spaceforce!, grabbed a Brotilla and moved over to the Spaceforce! line, where we were 2nd in line, thus maneuvering around 300+ people. Both were delicious, with Brotilla (aged in Portuguese wine barrels) having a sweet tea flavor under the motor oil, while Spaceforce! (aged in cognac barrels) was heavy on the vanilla and cocoa nibs.

In this line we also bottle shared with a group from South Carolina and southern Wisconsin:
Thrilla’ in Vanilla – Imperial Porter (8%) - Double Barley Brewing – 2oz
I’m On A Boat – New England IPA (6.8%) – Listermann Brewing Co. – 2oz
The Yuice – New England IPA (6.5%) - Marz Community Brewing Co. – 2 oz
2018 PB & Thursday – American Double Imperial Stout (19.7%!!!) – The Bruery - 2oz
2017 Reserve Bourbon County Brand Stout – American Imperial Stout (14.8%) - Goose Island Beer Co. – 2oz

By this time the bands had begun to play; I’m not a huge metal fan, but I had heard a lot of people giddy about the line-up for the day. I swear the entire time we were in the Brotilla/Spaceforce! line, Canyon of the Skull was playing the same 3 chords. 45 minutes of whaaaaaaaa, whuuuuuu, whummmmmm…. To each their own I suppose.

We were a little sick of lines at this point, grabbed a few more waters and headed to the guest tap lines, where we had

2018 BBL Aged Huma Lupa Licious – Imperial Double IPA (8.7%) – Short’s Brewing Company – 2 oz
April Rain - American Wild Ale (6.2%) – Off Color Brewing – 2oz

Beer in hand, we stumbled over to the merch booth to check out their wares; I bought a DL trucker hat and commemorative t-shirt. While in line, we had a spirited debate with some Buckeyes about MJ vs LeBron, as well as met a father/son combo from Florida who have this event down to a science that Sam Hinkie would be proud of. They had flipped each of their variants for 4 additional 2018 Dark Lords, at one point having 16 total bottles between the two of them. They then sold 10 bottles total to a local distributor for $100 a pop, then used $300 of that 1k to buy the Marshmallow Handjee variant they wanted. So basically they paid their price of admission and walked out with: $200 cash, the variant they wanted, and 6 bottles of Dark Lord. 2019 Goals.

These gentlemen where not only insanely smart, they were also generous. We were able to try three years (2018, 2017, and 2014) worth of beer from Tampa:

Hanuhpu’s Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (11.5%) - Cigar City Brewing – 6oz
My notes started getting a little jumpy at this point, but I know of the three the 2018 was fresh coffeeish, 2017 had a nice cinnamon spiciness that I made a point to mention, while the 2014 was the heaviest after aging, but it had some nice subtleties that I would have enjoyed more if not for the gallon of beer coursing through my veins.

We wrapped the day up with some brisket tacos and waited in line for our last variant… I could see my buddy was starting to get a little stumbley so I called in his wife to chart our escape route. This line definitely felt like it moved the slowest, but the reward was worth the wait:

2018 DL ChemTrailMix - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
Maybe it’s recency bias, but this would have to be my best in show. The pink peppercorns that I was leery of combined with the cinnamon in rye barrels to produce a flavor that I can only describe as a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon donut. If this is on tap at future events, I will wait the hour to try it again.

So there you have it. My 1st Dark Lord Day is in the books and I feel a little wiser for 2019 and beyond. Thanks to an ounce of preparation, double B vitamins, and a gallon of water, 80 oz of beer pushed me to the point of enlightenment without crossing the line into memory loss or even the semblance of a hangover… I only felt gross like I drank a bottle of syrup. I even walked to the grocery store for some milk and ice cream with the kids when I got home.
DLD18.jpg

I look forward to hopefully cracking open my 2018 DL TurtleDogg with some of you soon; it has replaced my other cellar dwellers as the “Do not open until Duke’s next National Championship” celebration beer. I'll bring the Regular 2018 Dark Lord for tailgating before the game, TurtleDogg after the April 8th win in Minneapolis… Someone tell Tyus he’s invited and can have the first taste!

[devildeac]

My buddy and I convinced his wife to be our DD for the day (I can only imagine what that cost him), so they picked me up from my house around 9am. We were lucky enough to get “Group A” entry, meaning that we could pick up our four bottles of DL18 and one DL18 Variant any time between 9 and 11am. It was 9:45am by the time we were scanned in, bags checked, ready to rock and roll… Meaning the Group A line was non-existent and we walked right in and picked up our beers. Our gameplan coming in was to leave with 2 separate variants, seeing as though we will most likely be cracking open each of them together, so we were a tad disappointed that we both had 2018 DL Marshmallow Handjee as our variant. Knowing that the beer was going to be on tap several times throughout the day (and that there were 3000 bottles of it being handed out), I quickly traded for the scotch barrel variant, 2018 DL TurtleDogg, with someone who hates scotch. Seeing as though it was much more limited (only 488 bottles in the world) I thought I played the situation perfectly, only to find out Handjee is insanely popular and I could have sold my bottle for $300+. In hindsight, I could have easily sold my bottle and purchased the TurtleDogg from the guy that didn’t want it, but there’s worse things in life to worry about. We tucked out bottles away in our backpacks and put our drinking caps on:

It was 10am, so the 2nd wave of rare drafts was just kicking off. We found the closest beer trailer and were excited to check out the 2018 DL ChemTrailMix… until we saw that the line wrapped around half of the park. We went to the trailer to see what else they had to wet our whistle while standing in line; as luck would have it, no one even noticed there wasn’t a line for

2018 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
What a way to start the day. Rich, dark, gooey toffee with divine vanilla undertones. Much sweeter than the DL’s I’ve had in the past, so I’m interested to see how the four bottle I own will age.. I hope it doesn’t lose that sweetness.
We grabbed our beers and headed to wait in line for our next beer being released at 11am, and lucked into standing with an awesome group of brewers from Virginia and Massachusetts, who bottle shared with us:

Green – American IPA (7.5%) - Tree House Brewing Company – 2 oz
2107 Gluttony – Imperial Stout (14%) – Burn ‘Em Brewing – 4oz
Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (12.4%) – ZwanzigZ Brewing – 2oz
2017 Kentucky Christmas Morning - Imperial Milk Stout (10.6%) – Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – 2 oz
2017 BBL Aged Toonilla – Milk Stout (7.5%) – Dark Horse Brewing Co. – 2oz
What a great assortment of flavors… The Christmas Morning was amazing, 5* even in the warm weather. If I enjoyed a bottle at the right temp in December next to a roaring fire, it might be a top 5 beer for me. Green is one of the highest rated IPAs out there and I can see why; insanely refreshing, juicy and fruity, meaning it was on the opposite end of the taste spectrum for the day.

While still in line, they made the announcement that they could not tap our 11am selection until the 10am was gone, meaning we walked right up and grabbed a

2017 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Not as sweet as the 2018, but the cherries and sweet port wine flavors made it very decedent and rich motor oil. Delicious.

2016 DL Dwarven Power Bottom - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
With the glitz and glam of the royal wedding taking place, the depravity of this beer’s name made it a much-try for me coming into the day. I was not disappointed; it was aged in Italian desert wine barrels (Muscat) and the chocolately finish would pair nicely with just about any desert I can imagine.

From there, we grabbed a few bottles of water and wandered around looking for our next score, only stumble upon another back to back pairing that most diehard must have already tried and were avoiding:

2016 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
2015 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Reviewing these two is like splitting hairs, but the 2016 was a little hotter in the throat and had tones of burnt fruit and chocolate, whereas the 2015 a bit boozier and had a nice chocolatey aftertaste. Supposedly the 2015 is a fan favorite that has lost some of its signature flavor in the aging process.

We grabbed a quick Dark Lord burger and waded our way back to the front gate to see how those lines were looking; it was a zoo. No line in sight, just a mob of people waiting for 2 beer trailers and the 1pm Group C bottle line. After asking around, we figured out that everyone in the mob was waiting for the 2018 DL Spaceforce! variant, so we walked right up and grabbed the

2018 DL Cavaleiro of Varnov – (15%) – 4 oz variant. The sweetest, tartiest DL of the bunch, aged in Oloroso sherry barrels. I personally loved it, but it was pretty divisive; word on the street was that it was the least popular of the 11 variants due to the overpowering sweetness.

The beer trailer near the concert stage was hit or miss with the solid beer/long line ratio, so we formulated a gameplan to double down and snag two variants with one long wait: at about 12:15pm we hopped into the hourlong line to snag a 2018 DL Brotilla – (15%) – 4oz variant, knowing that at 1pm they would be tapping the 2018 DL Spaceforce! - (15%) – 4oz variant. When we arrived at the front of the line, we told them we were waiting for Spaceforce!, grabbed a Brotilla and moved over to the Spaceforce! line, where we were 2nd in line, thus maneuvering around 300+ people. Both were delicious, with Brotilla (aged in Portuguese wine barrels) having a sweet tea flavor under the motor oil, while Spaceforce! (aged in cognac barrels) was heavy on the vanilla and cocoa nibs.

In this line we also bottle shared with a group from South Carolina and southern Wisconsin:
Thrilla’ in Vanilla – Imperial Porter (8%) - Double Barley Brewing – 2oz
I’m On A Boat – New England IPA (6.8%) – Listermann Brewing Co. – 2oz
The Yuice – New England IPA (6.5%) - Marz Community Brewing Co. – 2 oz
2018 PB & Thursday – American Double Imperial Stout (19.7%!!!) – The Bruery - 2oz
2017 Reserve Bourbon County Brand Stout – American Imperial Stout (14.8%) - Goose Island Beer Co. – 2oz

By this time the bands had begun to play; I’m not a huge metal fan, but I had heard a lot of people giddy about the line-up for the day. I swear the entire time we were in the Brotilla/Spaceforce! line, Canyon of the Skull was playing the same 3 chords. 45 minutes of whaaaaaaaa, whuuuuuu, whummmmmm…. To each their own I suppose.

We were a little sick of lines at this point, grabbed a few more waters and headed to the guest tap lines, where we had

2018 BBL Aged Huma Lupa Licious – Imperial Double IPA (8.7%) – Short’s Brewing Company – 2 oz
April Rain - American Wild Ale (6.2%) – Off Color Brewing – 2oz

Beer in hand, we stumbled over to the merch booth to check out their wares; I bought a DL trucker hat and commemorative t-shirt. While in line, we had a spirited debate with some Buckeyes about MJ vs LeBron, as well as met a father/son combo from Florida who have this event down to a science that Sam Hinkie would be proud of. They had flipped each of their variants for 4 additional 2018 Dark Lords, at one point having 16 total bottles between the two of them. They then sold 10 bottles total to a local distributor for $100 a pop, then used $300 of that 1k to buy the Marshmallow Handjee variant they wanted. So basically they paid their price of admission and walked out with: $200 cash, the variant they wanted, and 6 bottles of Dark Lord. 2019 Goals.

These gentlemen where not only insanely smart, they were also generous. We were able to try three years (2018, 2017, and 2014) worth of beer from Tampa:

Hanuhpu’s Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (11.5%) - Cigar City Brewing – 6oz
My notes started getting a little jumpy at this point, but I know of the three the 2018 was fresh coffeeish, 2017 had a nice cinnamon spiciness that I made a point to mention, while the 2014 was the heaviest after aging, but it had some nice subtleties that I would have enjoyed more if not for the gallon of beer coursing through my veins.

We wrapped the day up with some brisket tacos and waited in line for our last variant… I could see my buddy was starting to get a little stumbley so I called in his wife to chart our escape route. This line definitely felt like it moved the slowest, but the reward was worth the wait:

2018 DL ChemTrailMix - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
Maybe it’s recency bias, but this would have to be my best in show. The pink peppercorns that I was leery of combined with the cinnamon in rye barrels to produce a flavor that I can only describe as a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon donut. If this is on tap at future events, I will wait the hour to try it again.

So there you have it. My 1st Dark Lord Day is in the books and I feel a little wiser for 2019 and beyond. Thanks to an ounce of preparation, double B vitamins, and a gallon of water, 80 oz of beer pushed me to the point of enlightenment without crossing the line into memory loss or even the semblance of a hangover… I only felt gross like I drank a bottle of syrup. I even walked to the grocery store for some milk and ice cream with the kids when I got home.
DLD18.jpg

I look forward to hopefully cracking open my 2018 DL TurtleDogg with some of you soon; it has replaced my other cellar dwellers as the “Do not open until Duke’s next National Championship” celebration beer. I'll bring the Regular 2018 Dark Lord for tailgating before the game, TurtleDogg after the April 8th win in Minneapolis… Someone tell Tyus he’s invited and can have the first taste!

This may be the best Ymm, Beer post ever and needs to be sporked heavily by anyone who reads this thread. I will bookmark this and refer to it frequently.

I'm convinced I'm going to put our daughter and her husband to great use next spring when 2019 DL tix become available to get a pair of tix so I'm able to attend this event.

Insane jealousy and great appreciation would be fine descriptions of my feelings at this point Thanks for taking the time to compose this!!!!

[thedukelamere]

This may be the best Ymm, Beer post ever and needs to be sporked heavily by anyone who reads this thread. I will bookmark this and refer to it frequently.

I'm convinced I'm going to put our daughter and her husband to great use next spring when 2019 DL tix become available to get a pair of tix so I'm able to attend this event.

Insane jealousy and great appreciation would be fine descriptions of my feelings at this point Thanks for taking the time to compose this!!!!

Honestly, my promise of reporting back to you all probably helped me stay structured and coherent throughout the day, plus writing it this morning gave me a nice excuse to ease into the work week!

Hope you guys enjoy the review and really hope to see some of you at future Dark Lord Days!

[devildeac]

Honestly, my promise of reporting back to you all probably helped me stay structured and coherent throughout the day, plus writing it this morning gave me a nice excuse to ease into the work week!

Hope you guys enjoy the review and really hope to see some of you at future Dark Lord Days!

80 ounces of the beers you described is amazing. At the Oregon Brewers' Festival about 20 years ago, I had about 65 ounces of samples (*thinking* they were pouring 3 ounce samples as advertised and not the 6 ounce pours they were actually generously dispensing) over about 3 hours, along with a lot of water and food and slept for 2 hours after arriving back at my parents' house.

[devildeac]

Honestly, my promise of reporting back to you all probably helped me stay structured and coherent throughout the day, plus writing it this morning gave me a nice excuse to ease into the work week!

Hope you guys enjoy the review and really hope to see some of you at future Dark Lord Days!

Some additional questions:

1. Was all the sampling you did included in the $180 admission price?
2. How were food prices/choices/availability/lines/parking?
3. How was/were the crowd/lines in general?

[devildeac]

Traeblod (draft)-Mikkeller Brewing Company

Buck off draft night at new bottle shop 1.8 miles from the house . Dangerous.

Twelve ounce pour was black with a thin beige head. This is basically semi-sweet chocolate-flavored maple syrup and I'd pour this over a stack of Mrs. dd's pancakes in a micro-second. There are hints of coffee, black strap molasses and dark caramel. Nothing burnt here. IBUs at 60 and ABV is 11%. Glad I only had 3/4 of a pint. I'd buy a can or four of this in a heartbeat. Highly recommended.

[fuse]

My buddy and I convinced his wife to be our DD for the day (I can only imagine what that cost him), so they picked me up from my house around 9am. We were lucky enough to get “Group A” entry, meaning that we could pick up our four bottles of DL18 and one DL18 Variant any time between 9 and 11am. It was 9:45am by the time we were scanned in, bags checked, ready to rock and roll… Meaning the Group A line was non-existent and we walked right in and picked up our beers. Our gameplan coming in was to leave with 2 separate variants, seeing as though we will most likely be cracking open each of them together, so we were a tad disappointed that we both had 2018 DL Marshmallow Handjee as our variant. Knowing that the beer was going to be on tap several times throughout the day (and that there were 3000 bottles of it being handed out), I quickly traded for the scotch barrel variant, 2018 DL TurtleDogg, with someone who hates scotch. Seeing as though it was much more limited (only 488 bottles in the world) I thought I played the situation perfectly, only to find out Handjee is insanely popular and I could have sold my bottle for $300+. In hindsight, I could have easily sold my bottle and purchased the TurtleDogg from the guy that didn’t want it, but there’s worse things in life to worry about. We tucked out bottles away in our backpacks and put our drinking caps on:

It was 10am, so the 2nd wave of rare drafts was just kicking off. We found the closest beer trailer and were excited to check out the 2018 DL ChemTrailMix… until we saw that the line wrapped around half of the park. We went to the trailer to see what else they had to wet our whistle while standing in line; as luck would have it, no one even noticed there wasn’t a line for

2018 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
What a way to start the day. Rich, dark, gooey toffee with divine vanilla undertones. Much sweeter than the DL’s I’ve had in the past, so I’m interested to see how the four bottle I own will age.. I hope it doesn’t lose that sweetness.
We grabbed our beers and headed to wait in line for our next beer being released at 11am, and lucked into standing with an awesome group of brewers from Virginia and Massachusetts, who bottle shared with us:

Green – American IPA (7.5%) - Tree House Brewing Company – 2 oz
2107 Gluttony – Imperial Stout (14%) – Burn ‘Em Brewing – 4oz
Barrel Aged Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (12.4%) – ZwanzigZ Brewing – 2oz
2017 Kentucky Christmas Morning - Imperial Milk Stout (10.6%) – Hardywood Park Craft Brewery – 2 oz
2017 BBL Aged Toonilla – Milk Stout (7.5%) – Dark Horse Brewing Co. – 2oz
What a great assortment of flavors… The Christmas Morning was amazing, 5* even in the warm weather. If I enjoyed a bottle at the right temp in December next to a roaring fire, it might be a top 5 beer for me. Green is one of the highest rated IPAs out there and I can see why; insanely refreshing, juicy and fruity, meaning it was on the opposite end of the taste spectrum for the day.

While still in line, they made the announcement that they could not tap our 11am selection until the 10am was gone, meaning we walked right up and grabbed a

2017 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Not as sweet as the 2018, but the cherries and sweet port wine flavors made it very decedent and rich motor oil. Delicious.

2016 DL Dwarven Power Bottom - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
With the glitz and glam of the royal wedding taking place, the depravity of this beer’s name made it a much-try for me coming into the day. I was not disappointed; it was aged in Italian desert wine barrels (Muscat) and the chocolately finish would pair nicely with just about any desert I can imagine.

From there, we grabbed a few bottles of water and wandered around looking for our next score, only stumble upon another back to back pairing that most diehard must have already tried and were avoiding:

2016 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
2015 Dark Lord – Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 4 oz
Reviewing these two is like splitting hairs, but the 2016 was a little hotter in the throat and had tones of burnt fruit and chocolate, whereas the 2015 a bit boozier and had a nice chocolatey aftertaste. Supposedly the 2015 is a fan favorite that has lost some of its signature flavor in the aging process.

We grabbed a quick Dark Lord burger and waded our way back to the front gate to see how those lines were looking; it was a zoo. No line in sight, just a mob of people waiting for 2 beer trailers and the 1pm Group C bottle line. After asking around, we figured out that everyone in the mob was waiting for the 2018 DL Spaceforce! variant, so we walked right up and grabbed the

2018 DL Cavaleiro of Varnov – (15%) – 4 oz variant. The sweetest, tartiest DL of the bunch, aged in Oloroso sherry barrels. I personally loved it, but it was pretty divisive; word on the street was that it was the least popular of the 11 variants due to the overpowering sweetness.

The beer trailer near the concert stage was hit or miss with the solid beer/long line ratio, so we formulated a gameplan to double down and snag two variants with one long wait: at about 12:15pm we hopped into the hourlong line to snag a 2018 DL Brotilla – (15%) – 4oz variant, knowing that at 1pm they would be tapping the 2018 DL Spaceforce! - (15%) – 4oz variant. When we arrived at the front of the line, we told them we were waiting for Spaceforce!, grabbed a Brotilla and moved over to the Spaceforce! line, where we were 2nd in line, thus maneuvering around 300+ people. Both were delicious, with Brotilla (aged in Portuguese wine barrels) having a sweet tea flavor under the motor oil, while Spaceforce! (aged in cognac barrels) was heavy on the vanilla and cocoa nibs.

In this line we also bottle shared with a group from South Carolina and southern Wisconsin:
Thrilla’ in Vanilla – Imperial Porter (8%) - Double Barley Brewing – 2oz
I’m On A Boat – New England IPA (6.8%) – Listermann Brewing Co. – 2oz
The Yuice – New England IPA (6.5%) - Marz Community Brewing Co. – 2 oz
2018 PB & Thursday – American Double Imperial Stout (19.7%!!!) – The Bruery - 2oz
2017 Reserve Bourbon County Brand Stout – American Imperial Stout (14.8%) - Goose Island Beer Co. – 2oz

By this time the bands had begun to play; I’m not a huge metal fan, but I had heard a lot of people giddy about the line-up for the day. I swear the entire time we were in the Brotilla/Spaceforce! line, Canyon of the Skull was playing the same 3 chords. 45 minutes of whaaaaaaaa, whuuuuuu, whummmmmm…. To each their own I suppose.

We were a little sick of lines at this point, grabbed a few more waters and headed to the guest tap lines, where we had

2018 BBL Aged Huma Lupa Licious – Imperial Double IPA (8.7%) – Short’s Brewing Company – 2 oz
April Rain - American Wild Ale (6.2%) – Off Color Brewing – 2oz

Beer in hand, we stumbled over to the merch booth to check out their wares; I bought a DL trucker hat and commemorative t-shirt. While in line, we had a spirited debate with some Buckeyes about MJ vs LeBron, as well as met a father/son combo from Florida who have this event down to a science that Sam Hinkie would be proud of. They had flipped each of their variants for 4 additional 2018 Dark Lords, at one point having 16 total bottles between the two of them. They then sold 10 bottles total to a local distributor for $100 a pop, then used $300 of that 1k to buy the Marshmallow Handjee variant they wanted. So basically they paid their price of admission and walked out with: $200 cash, the variant they wanted, and 6 bottles of Dark Lord. 2019 Goals.

These gentlemen where not only insanely smart, they were also generous. We were able to try three years (2018, 2017, and 2014) worth of beer from Tampa:

Hanuhpu’s Imperial Stout – American Imperial Stout (11.5%) - Cigar City Brewing – 6oz
My notes started getting a little jumpy at this point, but I know of the three the 2018 was fresh coffeeish, 2017 had a nice cinnamon spiciness that I made a point to mention, while the 2014 was the heaviest after aging, but it had some nice subtleties that I would have enjoyed more if not for the gallon of beer coursing through my veins.

We wrapped the day up with some brisket tacos and waited in line for our last variant… I could see my buddy was starting to get a little stumbley so I called in his wife to chart our escape route. This line definitely felt like it moved the slowest, but the reward was worth the wait:

2018 DL ChemTrailMix - Russian Imperial Stout (15%) – 8 oz
Maybe it’s recency bias, but this would have to be my best in show. The pink peppercorns that I was leery of combined with the cinnamon in rye barrels to produce a flavor that I can only describe as a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon donut. If this is on tap at future events, I will wait the hour to try it again.

So there you have it. My 1st Dark Lord Day is in the books and I feel a little wiser for 2019 and beyond. Thanks to an ounce of preparation, double B vitamins, and a gallon of water, 80 oz of beer pushed me to the point of enlightenment without crossing the line into memory loss or even the semblance of a hangover… I only felt gross like I drank a bottle of syrup. I even walked to the grocery store for some milk and ice cream with the kids when I got home.
DLD18.jpg

I look forward to hopefully cracking open my 2018 DL TurtleDogg with some of you soon; it has replaced my other cellar dwellers as the “Do not open until Duke’s next National Championship” celebration beer. I'll bring the Regular 2018 Dark Lord for tailgating before the game, TurtleDogg after the April 8th win in Minneapolis… Someone tell Tyus he’s invited and can have the first taste!

Ummmm....wow.

Makes any beer festival experience I’ve had look like amateur hour.

Reads like it was a memorable, fun day.

Thanks for sharing!

[fuse]

This may be the best Ymm, Beer post ever and needs to be sporked heavily by anyone who reads this thread. I will bookmark this and refer to it frequently.

I'm convinced I'm going to put our daughter and her husband to great use next spring when 2019 DL tix become available to get a pair of tix so I'm able to attend this event.

Insane jealousy and great appreciation would be fine descriptions of my feelings at this point Thanks for taking the time to compose this!!!!

C’mon devildeac, be honest- this would have been somewhere around 20+ posts for you

[devildeac]

C’mon devildeac, be honest- this would have been somewhere around 20+ posts for you

Twenty sounds about right .

[devildeac]

Well, not a beer but a cider but name of the day perhaps?


Holla Piña (Cider w/Jalapeno & Pineapple)

[thedukelamere]

Some additional questions:

1. Was all the sampling you did included in the $180 admission price?
2. How were food prices/choices/availability/lines/parking?
3. How was/were the crowd/lines in general?

1. No The Floyds guys are making an absolute killing on this event... All of the rare variants on draft were $6-10 each for a 4 to 8 oz pour (depending on the beer and how heavy handed the guy working the tap was). Guest taps were $4-8 each for a 8 to 16oz pour. The $180 only covered the admission and 5 bottles of DL. Luckily the bottle sharing and trying such great brews softened the fact that I spent an additional $70 on beers to a beer event in which I paid $180 to get into.

2. Compared to that, the food prices were reasonable; my DL burger and fries was $12, saw some pretzel w/ DL cheese somewhere for $8, the brisket tacos I had later on were $8 for 3 tacos... I didn't check out the 2 independent food trucks, but there were some solid offerings peppered throughout the grounds. Lines for food were sometimes longer than the lines for beers, so it was one of those situations to keep an eye on and hop in when it made sense.

2a. They also had an entire side area devoted to Dark Matter Coffee. It was away from everything else and had a narrow passage to get into, but there was a consistent 200+ person line for almost the entire event. From what I understand, they were just selling coffee/espresso/swag... I know they are popular in the Chicago/brewing/hipster communities, but it still boggled my mind that so many people were waiting that long to pay money for it.

2b. Not sure of the parking situation since we were dropped off, but I heard plenty of stories about people parking up to a mile away at the hospital and making the trek. I was impressed with the amount of buses/shuttles as well; a few people from Milwaukee mentioned that their liquor store arranged for the 50 people in their group to shuttle down together. Most people stayed at a nearby hotel and caught an uber, or stayed in Chicago and found one of the shuttles throughout the city.

3. Crowds/lines were exactly what I was expecting coming into the day. It's tough to manage 12,000 people in any area, but from what I heard they've gotten better each year and this year was the smoothest yet. Really impressed with the bathroom situation; they had porta potties lining most of the area and I never saw anyone wait to get in one. We got in the habit of just talking to everyone and asking what they were waiting for, and then maneuvering around to find the best use of our time. Everyone I met was insanely friendly and we had some great conversations, whether is was waiting for an hour in line or respectfully asking around to make sure there wasn't anyone waiting for the previous hour's variant when we'd cut in front of hundreds of people. 10/10, would go again.

[devildeac]

1. No The Floyds guys are making an absolute killing on this event... All of the rare variants on draft were $6-10 each for a 4 to 8 oz pour (depending on the beer and how heavy handed the guy working the tap was). Guest taps were $4-8 each for a 8 to 16oz pour. The $180 only covered the admission and 5 bottles of DL. Luckily the bottle sharing and trying such great brews softened the fact that I spent an additional $70 on beers to a beer event in which I paid $180 to get into.

2. Compared to that, the food prices were reasonable; my DL burger and fries was $12, saw some pretzel w/ DL cheese somewhere for $8, the brisket tacos I had later on were $8 for 3 tacos... I didn't check out the 2 independent food trucks, but there were some solid offerings peppered throughout the grounds. Lines for food were sometimes longer than the lines for beers, so it was one of those situations to keep an eye on and hop in when it made sense.

2a. They also had an entire side area devoted to Dark Matter Coffee. It was away from everything else and had a narrow passage to get into, but there was a consistent 200+ person line for almost the entire event. From what I understand, they were just selling coffee/espresso/swag... I know they are popular in the Chicago/brewing/hipster communities, but it still boggled my mind that so many people were waiting that long to pay money for it.

2b. Not sure of the parking situation since we were dropped off, but I heard plenty of stories about people parking up to a mile away at the hospital and making the trek. I was impressed with the amount of buses/shuttles as well; a few people from Milwaukee mentioned that their liquor store arranged for the 50 people in their group to shuttle down together. Most people stayed at a nearby hotel and caught an uber, or stayed in Chicago and found one of the shuttles throughout the city.

3. Crowds/lines were exactly what I was expecting coming into the day. It's tough to manage 12,000 people in any area, but from what I heard they've gotten better each year and this year was the smoothest yet. Really impressed with the bathroom situation; they had porta potties lining most of the area and I never saw anyone wait to get in one. We got in the habit of just talking to everyone and asking what they were waiting for, and then maneuvering around to find the best use of our time. Everyone I met was insanely friendly and we had some great conversations, whether is was waiting for an hour in line or respectfully asking around to make sure there wasn't anyone waiting for the previous hour's variant when we'd cut in front of hundreds of people. 10/10, would go again.

Great info. Thanks. Somehow, I was afraid all the "samples" were a la carte. Those prices make it really spendy for the day. It's still on my bucket list and there are a couple/three ways it might work, especially with a daughter and her husband living < 25 miles away in South Chicago who *might* provide lodging for a couple nights, a meal or two and a family lyft service. I'd have never thought 12K attendance. Still amazing.

[devildeac]

Despite the name, I still might have to try this: The Expulsion of Devils-Burial Beer Company

[fuse]

Despite the name, I still might have to try this: The Expulsion of Devils-Burial Beer Company

After reading what it was, I’d buy a four pack for sure. DIPA with honey? Sounds...familiar.

[devildeac]

If you like "juicy," look for Galaxy hops in your next IPA/DIPA/NE IPA.

[fuse]

Bruisin Ales has 32oz growlers of Foothils Dead and Berried.

Might also mean they have it on draft.

I hear it is quite nice.

[devildeac]

Bruisin Ales has 32oz growlers of Foothils Dead and Berried.

Might also mean they have it on draft.

I hear it is quite nice.

I'll be looking forward to the bomber Tripping William exchanged with me for a couple Torn Paper Leaves. And cash. No "draft" picks.