23 December 2008

DarkLord Day 2009 - What We Know So Far

Thursday, 12/18/08 - BeerAdvocate forums user "grynder33" makes a post titled "Dark Lord Day 2009 Lottery System??" on the US Great Lakes section of the forum, in which he states that he has overheard (at a homebrew party) that 2009 DarkLord bottles will be for sale through an advanced registration lottery. He then asks if anyone else can confirm the rumor.

2 hours later - User "yock" says to check the website 3floyds.com, where the following info was posted:
Darklord Day 2009 will be greatly improved to accommodate larger crowds, including expanded parking, more porta johns, shorter lines and more food choices.

In order to facilitate a fair and much more convenient system for buying DarkLord on DLD 2009, we will be implementing a lottery system. Don't worry, you'll have a much better chance of getting a winning ticket than almost any other lottery you can play.

Basically our DLD 2009 lottery system will break down as follows:

* Everyone interested in purchasing DarkLord by the bottle will have to first register here at our website
* We will capture your name and email address and place you into a randomized database
* Once we've determined our estimated level of production for bottled DarkLord, we will then calculate the total number of winning tickets that we will make available
* We will then select, completely at random, email addresses from our databases and send winning registrants a confirmation email informing them of their winning slot in the lottery
* We will then require all winners to confirm their mailing address and we will send out the winning tickets
* All those that fail to respond within the designated timeframe will be dropped from the winning list and new winners will be picked
* All those that have a winning "golden ticket" will be able to get in line, during their scheduled "tee time" as indicated on their ticket, and they will be able to purchase up to one case of DarkLord

While we know that this will upset some of our customers, we feel that this is simply the easiest way to insure that everyone, regardless of geography or budget, will have the best chance to get their hands on some bottled DarkLord this coming April.

We hope that this will resolve much of the confusion and frustration of our patrons who failed to get any DarkLord at the last DLD.

Check back here soon, or go ahead and register now to get yourself on the DLD 2009 Early Bird Notification list.
And that's where the confusion started.

First, the domain - most folks are familiar with the three floyds site at www.threefloyds.com - so the new address at www.3floyds.com seemed like it might be a hoax.

Secondly, attempts at preregistration brought up a wordpress page asking for a username and email address.

So something was definitely "off".

A whois lookup of the domain registrant info looked legit - the domain 3floyds.com was property of the brewery - so what was going on? Was the info accurate?

Well, not exactly.

Sunday, 12/21/08 - Nick Floyd logs on to the BeerAdvocate forums and explains:
3floyds.com is now Three Floyds Brewing Co official website but you can still order things from threefloyds.com .We are having trouble getting our own domain name back?? Three Floyds will be selling DarkLord Day Tickets in the near future to assure everyone that waits in line will get to buy some DarkLord and as always we are trying to smooth out any kinks in the festival so everyone is happy. check 3floyds.com in January for further details.Happy Holidays to all :)
If you're interested in attending (which we highly recommend), there's your heads up.

6 comments:

  1. Seeing the pictures from years past, and having been there before (not for DLD), I could never justify going through all the hassle just to get a beer.

    Good luck to those that attend.

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  2. For us, it wasn't so much about getting the beer as seeing so many people who were into beer.

    Having said that, having a case of DarkLord at home is pretty rewarding - it's not like you can just run out and get the stuff. And the bottles make really awesome gifts for people who are into beer - we probably gave half of ours away. It's fun to see how surprised and amazed people get when you hand them a bottle.

    In a way, DarkLord Day is sorta like Beerapalooza - even if you don't get a bottle, there's plenty of other stuff going on.

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  3. Agreed w/ Mike... I've been to DLD twice but never got there early enough to get DL bottles. Didn't intend to either. It's just fun to drink 3Fs on tap all day with lots of fellow beer lovers and listen to interesting bands. (Plus, even if you don't get there in time to get DL in a bottle, you can taste some on tap at the fest all day.) I plan on hitting it again this coming April for sure and maybe I'll get a hotel this time.

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  4. Dark Lord day is a blast. That being said the last year was pretty nuts with the line being formed so early, etc... I'm really glad they're going to do some sort of pre-event ticket system. I've already got the entire week off work and planning on doing another Michigan Beer Trip before DL day...

    By far the best thing about going to DL Day is hanging out with beer lovers and tasting a bunch of stuff. Then there's all the stuff on tap (Barrel Aged and Vanilla Bean DL were AMAZING!!!).

    And finally, getting DL bottles is the icing on the cake.

    I'm going to pop a '08 Dark Lord in the next week... Can't wait.

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  5. Fellas and Ladies,

    Dark Lord Day is less about buying Dark Lord, and more about hanging out in the parking lot with people who bring their jockey box and 4 kegs (like us *hint*).

    Come for the party and you won't be disappointed. Come to get some Dark Lord, and most definitely you will walk away dejected and mystified as to how such a cool event could be so poorly executed.

    We've been for the past 3 years, and seeing it grow from 45 people in an an empty brewery with death metal to last year's free-for-all has been a great joy.

    Listen, arrive early, bring beer to consume (of course you'll drink *some* 3F but save your $$ for take-home), stake out your claim in the parking lot and unleash your care-free attitude and video cameras :)

    Look for us with the Red Jockey Box. See you there!

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  6. Note to self - *find* jj and his kegs & jockey boxes... :-D

    If nothing else, the environment of good beer is worth your presence. It's like Woodstock, I imagine, without the brown acid (stains on certain Bell's hockey jerseys notwithstanding).

    If I get DL, great. If I don't, I'm still having a great time at Flossmoor on Friday and the 3F brewery on Saturday. Having the guest breweries there was a good idea, and the barbecue pulled pork was pretty damn good too.

    Meeting other people (and setting up trades for beers not available in my town) was a blast. A busy morning trading, a fine afternoon with some three coolers full of craft beer to share with folks still in line, that was us. Is it April yet??? -bh13

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