Another month, another big beer release. This highly-lauded liquid comes from the fine, heavy metal-loving folks at Three Floyds, the pride and joy of Munster, Ind., which is essentially East Chicago. Three Floyds is constantly regarded as one of the top brewers in the United States and is known for its consistency, experimentation, small distribution–of which Wisconsin is luckily part of–and tendency to put ludicrous amounts of hops into nearly every beer they make. Their special release is one they thankfully show some restraint on. The beer is aptly named Dark Lord, another imperial stout like Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout, although this time of the Russian variety. Before delving into the beer, perhaps a history lesson is in order.
A British brewer started the style of Russian imperial stouts in the 18th century. The reason for strong beers in those days was to make them endure shipping better as a higher alcohol content would result in better preservation. The Russian imperial stout was one of the biggest at the time because it was in high demand by Russian royalty and thus had a long journey from England to Russia. In fact, Catherine II of Russia, the first Russian monarch to request what would become known as the Russian imperial stout, is the namesake of a famous Russian imperial stout, Kate the Great, created by Portsmouth Brewery in New Hampshire. The act of making bigger beers to better survive transport also resulted in the India pale ale, again named for the place it was being shipped to rather than the country in which it was brewed and from which it was shipped. Fast forward to 2013 and the release of this year’s vintage of Three Floyds Dark Lord.
The Russian imperial stout has come a long way from its royal beginnings. Originally, the alcohol by volume was likely around 8 percent, but these days some regular stouts approach that level. Dark Lord stands at a hefty 15 percent, more than the bourbon barrel-aged KBS at 11.2 percent.
The kicker with Dark Lord is there is no chasing down a distributor truck, no hovering around liquor stores like vultures and no watching Twitter accounts. No, the only thing that one must do to get his or her hands on some Dark Lord is get a ticket to the annual Dark Lord Day, which is held at Three Floyds brewery all the way down in Indiana. This is the only place in the country to acquire an allocation of Dark Lord, and it only happens one day a year. This year it happens to fall on April 27.
Getting down there is the easy part, however. Getting tickets is where, as with Founders KBS, luck comes into play. Tickets for Dark Lord Day 2013, priced at $30, went on sale at noon on March 17 and were sold out within five minutes. Some tickets timed out and were released back into the wild, extending the possibility of getting a ticket to around 45 minutes but only for the extremely lucky. Those with tickets bought the right to purchase an as-yet-undisclosed amount of the famed Dark Lord. In addition to the normal Dark Lord, each customer has a chance to win the opportunity to purchase a special barrel-aged variant of Dark Lord. In the past there have been options such as Dark Lord aged on vanilla beans, Dark Lord aged in bourbon barrels or even Dark Lord aged in cognac barrels on hot peppers. As expected, the exclusivity of this event draws quite a crowd to humble Munster.
Many people make a weekend of Dark Lord Day and come from far and wide to attend the festival. The beer-loving crowd typically brings beer from its respective neck of the woods to share with the other attendees the night before in many of the local hotels or while waiting in line to enter the festival, which begins at 11:00 a.m. As is expected of Three Floyds, heavy metal bands are booked to keep the crowd entertained while they mill around the industrial park that in which the brewery is situated. There are also plenty of rare beers and regular Three Floyds offerings on tap throughout the day. Because of all this, Dark Lord Day is not just a beer release, it is an experience–an experience I will be writing about after I attend it for the first time.
Any beer geek more curious about Dark Lord Day (or other releases of similar repute) should make their way over to www.limitedreleasebeer.com, where two enterprising individuals have taken it upon themselves to record what goes on at such events. The videos paint these events as a great time, if a bit rough on the liver. I can only imagine and eagerly anticipate what it will be like firsthand.
Regen McCracken is a senior and English major at UW-Madison. He is a fan of metal and jazz music and spends his time playing guitar, gaming and, of course, drinking and reviewing beer. Email him at [email protected] with any questions about picking the perfect pint. Cheers!
