Dark Lord 2016

[disapowzment]

This is def my last year buying tickets. Its always great seeing everyone and probably the only reason I got tickets this year. The plus side of this year is elkhunter36 handed out "VIP" bracelets that when flashed inside go you to the front of any line pretty fast. People move over when you're large and important. I ended up just giving all but 2 tickets to some dudes that were fighting over there last ticket, they obviously needed it more than me.

 

[BobCobb1]

More JEG: he threatened to have me kicked out and actually called me a c**t when I refused his demands on where to stand as he was playing Paul Blart line cop.

 

[ClCardinal84]

Given some time to reflect I believe this is the last DLD for us as well, at least going into the annual line waiting festival, likely just stay outside at the compound going forward and engage in drinking significantly better beer being shared than the crap they had on tap this time around.

Volunteers were awesome and doing the best they could to work the horribly mismanaged event, especially the ridiculous North gate line which took us an hour and a half to get through starting around 9:30. Volunteer accidentally gave me two wristbands so after going on in and getting food, checking out the underwhelming options inside and coming back out to the compound I found a guy way back in line to give the extra wristband to so he can skip the shitshow at the north gate.

The bottle line was extremely well run, great job there, but that's basically the end of the good highlights of the day. Between reports of ****** people stealing bottles as always, including a few issues at the compound, the horrible weather, no bathroom options in the north gate line resulting in people peeing through the fence, nothing of particular interest on the guest taps save a few things here and there, lines on top of lines with more lines, the $40 in vouchers that no one actually used (between the two of us we had $60 in vouchers left unused that we gave away), having to get police involved after JDF out of nowhere got super aggressive and said that my wife and I were committing animal cruelty by taking our dog to DLD and that he was going to release a video of the dog on my wife's lap unless I apologized to JEG for calling him out back in August for going through the New Glarus line twice, **** it man.

Came back to the house to play two day old Yellow Rose pong at 4 and crack all the **** we didn't get to and had a way better time among our small group away from the rain and cold, which turned into the highlight of DLD. Great seeing everyone and big thanks to a ton of great TBers for making the best of a ****** situation, you know who you are. Cheers.

That is all unfortunate. Makes me glad I stayed on my couch yesterday.

More JEG: he threatened to have me kicked out and actually called me a c**t when I refused his demands on where to stand as he was playing Paul Blart line cop.

JEG really is the lowest form of a human being out there. He'll get his day just like the O'Doyles did when they hit that banana peel in the road in their station wagon.

 

[MordorMongo]

Can someone please post a summary of JEG's day? He fell off a chair, used a crony to strong-arm someone with a PETA threat and self-appointed himself the line nazi? There has to be more. Don't keep this from me.

 

[TheJB]

I had fun in last year's monsoon. I was miserable today and left to go sleep in the car at 2 completely sober.

The difference being I didn't wait in a single line last year.

This was probably my last DLD. rmalinowski4 suggested not buying tickets and if the weather was nice just showing up at the compound/Rose Hulman tent. I'm leaning that way.

I didn't go this year but had the same thought for DLD going forward. Catch the shuttles and just skip the event, when I went last year the tent had by far the best beer at the event.

 

[lb304854]

Given some time to reflect I believe this is the last DLD for us as well, at least going into the annual line waiting festival, likely just stay outside at the compound going forward and engage in drinking significantly better beer being shared than the crap they had on tap this time around.

Volunteers were awesome and doing the best they could to work the horribly mismanaged event, especially the ridiculous North gate line which took us an hour and a half to get through starting around 9:30. Volunteer accidentally gave me two wristbands so after going on in and getting food, checking out the underwhelming options inside and coming back out to the compound I found a guy way back in line to give the extra wristband to so he can skip the shitshow at the north gate.

The bottle line was extremely well run, great job there, but that's basically the end of the good highlights of the day. Between reports of ****** people stealing bottles as always, including a few issues at the compound, the horrible weather, no bathroom options in the north gate line resulting in people peeing through the fence, nothing of particular interest on the guest taps save a few things here and there, lines on top of lines with more lines, the $40 in vouchers that no one actually used (between the two of us we had $60 in vouchers left unused that we gave away), having to get police involved after JDF out of nowhere got super aggressive and said that my wife and I were committing animal cruelty by taking our dog to DLD and that he was going to release a video of the dog on my wife's lap unless I apologized to JEG for calling him out back in August for going through the New Glarus line twice, **** it man.

Came back to the house to play two day old Yellow Rose pong at 4 and crack all the **** we didn't get to and had a way better time among our small group away from the rain and cold, which turned into the highlight of DLD. Great seeing everyone and big thanks to a ton of great TBers for making the best of a ****** situation, you know who you are. Cheers.

Who is JDF?

More JEG: he threatened to have me kicked out and actually called me a c**t when I refused his demands on where to stand as he was playing Paul Blart line cop.

That is all unfortunate. Makes me glad I stayed on my couch yesterday.



JEG really is the lowest form of a human being out there. He'll get his day just like the O'Doyles did when they hit that banana peel in the road in their station wagon.

All of this after powz87 made a ten minute speech about how JEG wasnt that bad. Lol.

 

[JulianB1]

having to get police involved after JDF out of nowhere got super aggressive and said that my wife and I were committing animal cruelty by taking our dog to DLD and that he was going to release a video of the dog on my wife's lap unless I apologized to JEG for calling him out back in August for going through the New Glarus line twice, **** it man.

LOL this actually happened?! Wow some beer people are so ******* ratshit haha.

 

[TheJB]

Also who the hell is JDF?

 

[stxSS07]

Any gems pop up in guest taps? Struggled to find ones I wanted to drink 10+ oz of, unlike last year.

Notorious was tasty.

 

[auracom]

Last year I needed a break from this event, after negative sentiments boiled up from a couple years' attendance. Taking a break really helps with a carefree attitude for the next one.

This year ended up being my favorite DLD, all said and done. Had to switch plans last-minute and skip out on the compound because an out-of-town friend I rarely see texted he was making the trip, so I met up with him and his crew at South line around 9:00am. That decision seems to have made the day. We got inside in less than 30 minutes upon opening and grabbed a good table spot under the center tent for the shares. I finally was able to get some Necromancer at Dark Matter (two years ago this was the worst experience, waited 90 minutes and gave up after people constantly ignored lines and cut), and the $5 coffee cup with free refills was the best deal of the day. Grabbed a burger at food tent #2 prior to noon and waited maybe 2-3 minutes. I ran solo in Group B bottle line since all my friends were D or E and met some great folks eager to share (thank you to whomever poured Regal Rye, much appreciated!). Once the queue ramped up that bottle line really flew by. Got my bottles (finally a decent variant. hooray), ran back to the car, then re-entered and finished some samples at the share.

The only mistake was not heading back to the car a bit earlier... my friend needed food around 4:30pm and I joined him for a 90 min wait at food tent #1. Rain left me good and soaked after that, so went back to car while the other guys hopped to Group E line (which started dramatically early). Back home by 7:30pm, earlier than intended but energy and spirits also much better than expected .

TL;DR... sometimes not caring as much seems to help improve situations. At least for me. Leaning towards a 4th DLD trip next year.

 

[daniel1]

All of this after powz87 made a ten minute speech about how JEG wasnt that bad. Lol.

Please tell me someone has this on video.

 

[Lansman]

Who is JDF

Also who the hell is JDF?

http://www.jfeldmancriminallaw.com/

 

[Lawyer21]

I would like to apologize to Kevin and his wife regarding this. His recap was accurate and my actions were unwarranted. If someone could please forward my apologies to him in case he does not see this. Hope everyone had a good Dark Lord Day, it wouldn't be DLD without cold and rain I guess.

 

[JGlitz87]

Think this guy has a chance?

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/iso-fff-dark-lord-marshmallow-ft-kbs-multiples.412035/

 

[ChicagoGuy]

The north gate line at 9am was indeed a soul-crushing experience. We met some good folks, shared a bunch of good beers with randos, etc., but it took 1.5 hours to get in, and the lack of pissing options showed a complete lack of common sense on FFF's part.

I remember last year barely being able to walk I had to piss so bad at one point and choosing the fence piss option about half way through when it was clear all hope was lost. I mean it WAS one of the greatest, most life altering pisses of my life

This was absolutely us this year. We talked about that amazing fence piss for hours afterward. To quote Biggie, we "went from negative to positive" as a result of that piss. Best piss of 2016 thus far.

Group A bottle line was an absolute breeze...no line whatsoever, actually. I kept thinking I was in the wrong place, because it was like when you go to an amusement park at 10am on a Wednesday in October, and no one's there and you speedwalk past all the empty serpentines straight to the front. It made that stupidass entrance line 50% worth it. Ran in, got French Vanilla Militia, ran out.

Right after picking up my allocation, I tripped over the lip of one of the wood pallets coming out of the back pisser area, went sprawling, and smashed one of my four regular DLs to smithereens. To make up for the sadness, spent a beer ticket on a pour of 2016 regular DL, then had the brilliant idea of reaching through the fence & setting it down on the pavement so I could exit, retrieve my beer and pass it around at the TB compound.

elkhunter36, your picture of the compound saved our bacon. The compound was a great experience as always - everyone was more friendly & welcoming than I could have imagined, the sharing was out of control & on an unbelievable level, and everyone was super gracious (every time multiple people effusively praised the bottles I brought and took pics of the labels, I felt like such a bigshot...I greatly appreciate it). I wish I could've made it to the south gate RH compound again this year...missed seeing a lot of you guys.

While at the compound we basically forgot our cares, but was the compound started emptying out we realized we were cold and soaked and quickly became miserable. So we spent two more tickets on some random crap beers and got on an early bus to nap/sober up. I was home in time to take a shower, have dinner with the fam, and help put the kids to bed.

All in all, just like last year, the TB compound was the highlight of DLD.

 

[JulianB1]

More JEG: he threatened to have me kicked out and actually called me a c**t when I refused his demands on where to stand as he was playing Paul Blart line cop.

Someone more skilled in Photoshop than I am needs to make this happen.

 

[rjose]

Any impressions on any of the non vanilla variants?

 

[BobCobb1]

Any impressions on any of the non vanilla variants?

I only had 16 Muerte on tap and actually thought was quite nice despite not being big on pepper beers.

 

[atoulouk]

So for E group people, what variants were actually left to choose from?

It felt like slim pickings even in group C

 

[mjohnson171]

Despite the terrible weather I still had a blast. Go in with very low expectations and you can't be disappointed. You're bound to have a great time.
Bottle share before the gates and skies opened up was the highlight. Great company and great beers. After standing in the cold rain for 12 hours has my body feeling like I spent 3 rounds with Mike Tyson.

I'm not sure why people are complaining about having to wait an hour in the North gate queue. What did you expect when they moved you into the queue at 9am and the gates opened at 10am. I will concede that the no bathroom thing was an issue. Lots of people pissing in line. That gravel basically became a giant litter box. My group formed a friendship circle and successfully peed about 9 times between 6 of us. I think people only noticed 1 or 2 times.

The volunteers did a great job in a ****** situation. I have to hand it to FFF, every year they learn from most of their mistakes and improve the event. Bottle line took 5 minutes. I cracked a beer at the beginning of the line, poured a few pours to people then all of a sudden we were at the front of the line and I had to ditch the rest of the bottle before entering the brewery. Kudos to the efficient bottle line.

Dark Matter line: Only took about 5 minutes to go through. Hands down the best deal of the day was the mug with free refills of awesome hot coffee for $5.

Food was super tasty. Those carnitas tacos were bomb, i crushed 4. Burger was decent, chorizo sausage was tasty, especially that sweet corn relish on top. The poutine was also tasty. Yes the food line was long in the late afternoon, but it took less than 10 minutes to get through.

Toilets: I never waited in line for a toilet. On the far east side of the fest there were about 100 porta johns. You just had to traverse that rickety bridge, which was challenging while drunk.

So many drunk people. Great people watching. I saw lots of people falling, including a dude standing on a picnic bench and faceplant directly into the picnic table full of bottles. I thought he was dead, but he popped back up a little dazed, but didn't miss a beat. Respect.

Metal bands in one tent and the DJ playing a killer drunk playlist of 80s/90s/early aught stuff in the other tent provided a great choice of entertainment. I wish I could post my Snaps, but seeing 100s of drunk, wet, beer geeks singing Vanilla Ice, TLC, Eminem, etc was quite entertaining.

Drafts: Overall drafts were pretty mediocre. Best things I had on draft was Vanilla Handjee, Notroious, Persica, and that BA Gin Yuzu. OMG was that beer is amazing. I didn't see any other BADLs on draft, although regular DL was everywhere. To be honest the only other BA FFF beer I saw was Cognac BA Blot Out the Sun. Everything else was pretty average.

Any impressions on any of the non vanilla variants?

BADL variants - Handjee was marshmallow goodness as always. Legio Gemina (Pineau de Charentes barrels) was decent. Not good but better than expected. Haven't had any of the other ones yet. The rain washed off most of the hand numbering and many of the paper labeled variants this year. I have a feeling this year's DLs will all look like Brabantiae bottles.

Overall: I had a blast. Great people, great beer, good food. A little too many people, and weather was ******. But at this point DLD has been ****** 4 of the last 5 years (only 2013 was sunny and 70s, but people still bitched about sun burn that year so you can't win). So at this point I go in with low expectations and almost always have a blast. But I can defintely see not getting tickets and just hanging out outside the gates being just as fun. It's always about the company you're keeping.

 

[franch]

another miserable ******* weather DLD. another DLD i didn't try to find the compound because it was raining and waiting in the line to get back in would be horrendous.

the bad: everyone crowding under the two tents and there not being more of them, moving the biggest tent in front of the awful music, inexplicably putting a DJ in the small tent, the food lines due to $40 of vouchers, guest taps were weak, close quarters and drunk people with big backpacks

the good: the volunteers were all very nice, the bottle line went super fast and Group E got in by 5 or so, people bought shittier variants than expected so Group E got non-muerte/akvavit/Earl choices, many beer lines were very short, variants on draft, burger was delicious, Amazon prime rain gear ordered on Wednesday worked well, shared with some cool people in the metal tent, "Texian Brewing Company"

dwarven power bottom is really good.

 

[mjohnson171]

FWIW: both French Vanilla Militia and Vanilla Handjee sold out in Group A. I was towards the front of B and every variant except those 2 were still available.

 

[franch]

So for E group people, what variants were actually left to choose from?

It felt like slim pickings even in group C

Akvavit, Pineau, Port/Madeira, and Sauternes

 

[mjohnson171]

Since my bourbon variant's numbers rubbed off, anyone have bottle counts?

From what I saw on a few bottles I believe the following:
French Vanilla Militia - 1103
Porto & Madeira - 1600-ish
Both Ronaldo and Dwarvin Power Bottom were under 500

 

[gtx281]

Any impressions on any of the non vanilla variants?

Power Bottom was decent.

 

[RyanG1]

I would like to apologize to Kevin and his wife regarding this. His recap was accurate and my actions were unwarranted. If someone could please forward my apologies to him in case he does not see this. Hope everyone had a good Dark Lord Day, it wouldn't be DLD without cold and rain I guess.

i wil c u in court!

 

[Lansman]

Hmmmmmm... We were in Group B and both got French Vanilla. When I went through around 12:55ish there were about 5 cases left.

 

[mjohnson171]

Hmmmmmm... We were in Group B and both got French Vanilla. When I went through around 12:40 there were about 5 cases left.

Interesting. I was right behind you, maybe by 5 minutes... I thought I was pretty close to the front of B since most of the people ahead of me had A tickets. Maybe I was wrong. All I know was that when we got into the brewery about 12:45 they had placed "sold out" signs on both vanillas.

 

[cfh64]

Anyone try French vanilla?

 

[Lansman]

Interesting. I was right behind you, maybe by 5 minutes... I thought I was pretty close to the front of B since most of the people ahead of me had A tickets. Maybe I was wrong. All I know was that when we got into the brewery about 12:45 they had placed "sold out" signs on both vanillas.

That's odd. I edited my post as I recall the group B line not being let in until 12:45, so I went through a little before 1.