2013 Dark Lord Day

My negativity for Three Floyd's was abandoned Saturday, April 27.  The combination of the company, the beer, the weather, and the overall atmosphere made this one of the best beer events I have ever attended.

Three Floyd's expanded the festival grounds this year, working with the Town of Munster and their neighbors to essentially double the size of space for attendees.  The brewpub was closed, but there were plenty of tables available with food and beer, especially with Dark Lord being poured from the tap for those willing to pay $10 for a 10 ounce cup.  Yes, I was one of those people.

Two entrances allowed for traffic to be spread about and the ability of beer buyers to break away from the general admission pack during their allotted time made the flow of patrons work wonderfully.  The one drawback was the Dark Lord bottle allotment went from four to three, but price was the same.  

The name on the ticket philosophy seemed to have worked, but I will readily admit there was a loophole that was easily exploited.  I was the guest of a group A buyer and he was my guest as a group B buyer.  I did walk away with six bottles of Dark Lord, but I also sold three for face value for a guest who was unable to attend.

Personally, my friends and I had a great plan and it worked to perfection.  We arrived on the scene at 5:00am and was blessed with a relatively close parking spot.  We set up our grill and tables and cracked open a Founder's CBS at 5:15 to celebrate the day.  At that point, there were already 40-50 people lined up  at the north entrance camped out and enjoying their brews.

Our position was right in the pathway for everyone parking at Centennial Park and walking to the festival.  Let me tell you, bacon is amazing leverage that early in the morning.  We garnered a lot of attention from passersby with our tailgate and we were afforded the opportunity to meet people from across this great country and try beers we would never have the ability to buy.

Aside from the much loved April 27 sunburn, one sorry sap of a soul that maliciously stole our 2013 Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Dark Lord, and some choice words from the love of my life about dedicating 16 hours of my weekend for beer, Dark Lord Day 2013 has made me look forward to Dark Lord Day 2014.