Beer in the new era

Oh, hey I had (or rather my wife did, but I had sips of) a Stillwater Stateside Saison a few days ago.

Well, I think I may have had all my enthusiasm for craft beer crushed this weekend. Friend of a friend managed to somehow "lose" my ticket at Dark Lord Day on Saturday, so I didn't get to buy any, despite spending $30 on a ticket, $40 on a portion of van rental, and spending the entire day in Munster. Worst part is that the dude that lost it a) didn't have the balls to tell me in person, he sent his girlfriend's friend over to tell me and, b) two days on and he still hasn't apologized or made any attempt to contact me or make even a nominal effort to rectify things.

Been struggling through a lot of bitterness this weekend and tempting to just sell what I've got and give up the game of even trying anymore.

the entire day in Munster. Worst part

Did this friend have a ticket? They should at least give you a bottle if they got the full allotment.

He lost his as well. I'm still not sure how, like I said this guy hasn't even offered the tiniest excuse.

Maybe he "lost" it someone else for above face value.

Maybe. Probably. I don't know. I do know, since he rode in the same van as us, that he didn't leave the grounds with any Dark Lord either. So either he legit lost both tickets or he made off with a lot of cash and didn't care about the beer. Anyway, ultimately it's my fault for letting my ticket out of my own hands, I'd just like even a lame apology attempt.

Why did you rent a van? Did you make it all the way to Munster before you found out there were no tickets, or were the tickets somehow lost *in* Munster? Dunno how it works.

You buy a ticket in advance just to get into the grounds. Once in the grounds, they break everyone into five "Groups" to actually line-up to purchase the Dark Lord. So we were already at the event grounds and about 20 minutes from lining up for our Group when the tickets were lost.

Sounds like a shitty experience, Jon.

Have to admit that I kind of hate the whole concept of Dark Lord Day, tbh. (And other such clusterfucky events that prey on the demand of aficionados.)

the problem is if ppl want the beer enough there's no non-clusterfucky way to do it

DLD really just turns into a large bottle share party. Many don't even consider DL a phenomenal beer, but go for the sharing.

i've had some amazing DLs and some pretty mediocre ones

Many don't even consider DL a phenomenal beer, but go for the sharing.

That's interesting. Didn't know about the sharing.

I've never actually had Dark Lord, but it's weird to me that there are some beers that command such rabid hordes. I have to think that much of it stems from breweries inflating demand for their beers by limiting their release and using the rarity as a selling point. Like, even Bell's uses the seasonality of Oberon as a marketing tool, getting everyone excited about "the first Oberon of the year," "you know it's spring when Oberon's back," and so forth. Of course, an imperial stout like Dark Lord also has the whole "extreme beer for serious beer drinkers" thing, too. I dunno, it all just seems contrived and silly.

Jeff is otm, the main draw for me is really getting to hang out with some (normally) cool people and sharing great beers, while listening to some good metal bands. The Dark Lord is secondary, for me, but the 2013 Dark Lord I tired on tap Saturday was way better than its been in the previous two years.

I get why people avoid Dark Lord Day though, definitely.

I like DL. It's a little too sweet, but nice to have every once in awhile. I'll never be able to go to DLD though, I always have to work that weekend.

At this point I just wish there was a way to get my hands on some '13 Dark Lord. But with nothing of enough value to bait traders and being 100% adamant that people don't buy this shit on eBay for exorbitant prices means I'm shut out.

xxp i don't think most breweries actively "inflate demand" any more than it would be inflated on its own by the beer culture of the moment. most breweries can't really scale up something like dark lord to even come close to satisfying the real demand.

around here, up until this year, we had kate the great day which organically developed from something southern new hampshire locals would grab from the brewery over a period of weeks to a one-day event with lottery tickets and 5-hour lines.

i generally don't like barleywines but i had a great bell's barleywine yesterday - lots of chocolate/coffee/mocha malt notes so it wasn't too sweet and they totally hid the 10.2% APV so it was super drinkable

Third coast?

that's the one

I remember hearing about Eccentric Day at Bell's years ago and thinking that it sounded like a completely horrible experience. I put DLD in that same vein. For me beer, especially craft beer, is about relaxing and maybe socializing a bit, not spending a bunch of time and money to be lost in a crowd of dorks.

That said I drank like 9 different New Glaruses over the past weekend. I don't dig on fruit beer as a rule but they're just really good at it somehow.

Events like DLD can be very annoying, but they can also be a blast if done well, especially if you have a ton of friends going. I like ticketed events, they are generally less annoying than the free for all's like tap invasions or beer events at random bars.

ever drink jever its like urquell but more

― ice cr?m, Wednesday, April 1, 2009 1:29 PM (4 years ago)

you'd love jever then i bet

― scream blahula scream (govern yourself accordingly), Wednesday, January 30, 2013 3:20 PM (2 months ago)

Words of wisdom. I bought a six-pack of Jever recently, and it's my new favorite beer.

i think i forgot to wax rhapsodic about the New Albion Ale thing from sam adams on here (yeah, I know, sam adams who would think). Mild pale ale hoppiness riding on a Kirin Ichiban backbone, if that makes any sense. Super fresh spring beer, 6.0% without any hit of booziness. the story behind it is fairly badass as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Albion_Brewing_Company

Going to be in DC next week. Hoping for a few Churchkey visits in which I will spend too much money.

had my first pliny today (the elder) - so good, totally worth the hype

Drinking a Oude Gueuze Tilquin a l'Ancienne now. Since the weather has turned warm I've been craving sours.

mmmm sierra nevada hoptimum 2013

i'm thinking about getting myself a homebrew kit for my b-day -- can anyone recommend a good one?

Too much work. I pay other people to brew beer for me.

Are you looking for something all in one simple, or like a full blown brewing deal?

a simple introductory starter kit

The equipment needed is fairly simple, and I've never seen an all-in-one kit that looked like you'd get good beer from it. A pot that can hold 16 or 20 qts, a food-grade 5 gallon bucket with lid (drilled to accept an air lock), the air lock, a food-grade siphon hose with a filler attachment, a thermometer (and a hydrometer if you want to calculate the alcohol level), some sterilizer (I use something called B-Brite, which seems to work fine), and a capper. The rest is ingredients, bottles, & caps.

Even this may sound complicated, but beer supply stores usually have package deals for getting newbies started.

http://brooklynbrewshop.com/

i went to college with the kids who make these kits. brewing is too much work for me but it was fun to do once.

it makes a gallon of beer which imo is a good way to start and feel out if you'd ever want to do a bigger batch.

Oh yeah, I've seen those kits in Whole Foods, they do look like higher quality than the usual Mr Beer type.

xpost thanks mordy for letting me know there is a beer called pliny the elder. i'm going to try to seek it out, lol.

http://russianriverbrewing.com/where-to-get-our-beers/

thanks! philly it is then

are you in philly treeship? we should ilxfap!

it's craft beer week here, tons of events happening. i splurged on one last glass of goose island 2012 bourbon county stout last night, it was worth it.

philly beer week is the end of May i think - anyone coming in for it???

i live roundabout princeton new jersey and am in philly sometimes. craft beer week sounds awesome and i might go to it. i'll keep you posted if i do.

sweet! i wanna be your first irl ilx meetup!!!

that would be cool, i think we'd have a lot of interesting things to talk about. hopefully it will work out with my schedule.

w/out googling it, one guess which brewery made it:

Doughnut Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Ale

do not want

what separates this from like fluffed marshmallow Smirinoff ffs

About 30% abv?