DLD 2010

Live at the festival!  Well kind of…I’ll be posting stuff here throughout the day.

Update:  Twitter was the most convenient method.

You could also check out the hive mind by searching Twitter for #darklordday and #dld2010

The conditions we’re ideal.  The drive to Munster was fine.  It looked like rain most of the day.  My face did burn a little from the UV via overcast clouds.  I dressed in layers, kept my jacket and light winter hat on the entire day.  It was slightly windy…felt good in the sun.  Driving home was the exact opposite.  Dark clouds rolled in, it started pouring.  Heavy rain and high winds on the journey home.

Folks who parked next to us were setting up chairs behind their vehicles.  They were preparing their bottles and coolers.

It was 7 A.M, time to drink.

Kyle is standing by the black vehicle approximately lined up with the flag.  There were about 30 more people behind us. This panorama was shot about an hour after arriving.

View from my parking space CLICK FOR FULL IMAGE

In the line we were standing behind a group of beer enthusiasts and homebrewers calling themselves The Inebriati. They had matching shirts and were recording video reviews of their beers. All had coolers and were generous a to share samples with us. It seemed they were opening bottles at the pace the line was moving. We tried a lot of interesting homebrews some notable ones were the scotch pine and raspberry rhubarb.

Cooler of homebrews courtesy of The Inebriati

Here’s a shot of spent bottles laid out on the curb at around 10:30 A.M. I dubbed it “The Graveyard” we’ll check back on this at the end of the day. Look at some of these rare bottles!

The Graveyard before

A view of the line while standing on the cooler.

The line with no end in sight but thats OK.

A drunk dude walked up to one of The Inebriati and handed him a fresh 2010 Dark Lord to open and share. Drunk dude tipped the bottle spilling it down his face and neck then gave a short review! I know there’s video, I hope someone posts it. The Inebriati member proceeded to pour everyone in his group a sample. I didn’t get one, but I did get a tiny sip and liked what I had. Kyle is cracking open a bottle this weekend for his birthday.

Pouring some Dark Lord 2010.

Sampling Dark Lord

We approached the “Mosh Pit” this is where the 2 lines converge and the crazy beers start coming out. They were pouring various Dark Lords under the light blue umbrella.

The Mosh Pit

Finally made it inside the loading dock. Going from being packed together like sardines to having space to walk around was a relief. The bottle limit was lowered from 4 to 3 which was kind of bullshit but regardless, Kyle and I exchanged our golden tickets for 9 bottles of Dark Lord totalling $135! Cha-ching! Making sure to hold the case from the bottom we wandered around the dock for a little bit checking out the live band. I didn’t catch the name but they resembled Danzig. Total wait time: 4.5 hours.

The Docking Bay

Finally!

We went back to the truck to drop off the bottles and assess the situation. I realized that we forgot our free sample of Dark Lord! But what was this next to us? A guy was unloading 2 kegs. We asked what was in them he replied, “Topless Witch. I’m trading them for 2 kegs of Dreadnaught” Whoa!

2 kegs of Topless Witch

The folks from the beginning of the day were still there drinking. They were waiting until the end of the day to buy their Dark Lord bottles. Obviously this was not their first DLD. We offered the keg guy and everyone around some Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree and Left Hand Milk Stout which Kyle and I brought with us stored in growlers. This triggered a tasting session from everybody essentially turning the back of my truck into a tasting table.

Yes that is a Black Cat, Imperial Stout Trooper, and a Black Albert

We met some really cool people that we will certainly try to locate next year. Rick (left) had the hookup! The back of his SUV was loaded with all kinds of beer from the Northeast to the Midwest.  You should check his post on the Bayview Beer Blog.  He breaks it down!

Rick (left) texting and not opening a Collaborative Evil

The Magnum is loaded!

We forgot our Dark Lord sample! Heading back to the docks, let’s check back on the graveyard.

The Graveyard after

The Dark Lord samples were gone. Then it started to rain. This place is dead anyway. See you next year!

No more samples for you!