Dark Matter Coffee at Dark Lord Day 2014

When Drinking Craft wrote about Three Floyd’s move from partnering with Intelligentsia Coffee to partnering with Dark Matter Coffee, the speculation began immediately in some beer circles. Would there be glassware as there had been in the past? Would the beans be available for sale at the event? I recently reached out to Kyle Hodges, Dark Matter’s “Minister of Propaganda”, to get some more details since Dark Lord Day 2014 is next weekend. He was nice enough to share a few of the details of what you can expect from Dark Matter at this year's Dark Lord Day:

Jake: You guys seem to enjoy barrel-aging the beans, but you mentioned barrel-aged iced coffee as well. What barrel-aged variants are you releasing and can you tell me what barrels were used?

Kyle: We have three variants of our Black Splash Iced Coffee:

Burundi Dukorere Ikawa aged in a Koval Lion's Pride barrel. 

Rwanda Misozi Kopaki aged in a Woodford Reserve barrel.  

Black Hole Necromancer, our Unicorn Blood Espresso blend aged in a Remy Martin Cognac barrel

We will also pulling espresso shots of Ethiopia Idido aged in a Letherbee Absinthe barrel and Unicorn Blood. The Unicorn Blood is not barrel-aged.

Jake:  I know you mentioned some glassware options. What can you tell me about the plan for those? Is everyone going to get handed one or are they strictly for sale?

Kyle: Yes, we are releasing 800 snifters split between two different colors. Not everyone will be able to get one, unfortunately, but we are still looking to release them systematically to try and be as fair as possible. We are keeping the colors a secret until Dark Lord Day. 

In addition to the snifters, we will have our classic diner mugs and an extremely badass shirt for sale. No limits per person on either of these. 

Jake: Which beans, or blend of beans, were used in Dark Lord 2014?

Kyle: This is our Unicorn Blood espresso blend, part of the DMC portfolio, aged in Remy Martin Cognac barrels

Jake: You mentioned Black Hole Necromancer. With a description like “Dark Matter Coffee introduces our Cognac Barrel-Aged Unicorn Blood espresso blend. This warlock's elixir is strong enough to summon the spirits of the dead and is sacrificially prepared for Dark Lord Day. Brewed and bottled by the hands of Dark Matter Coffee, cursed and waxed by the vikings at 3 Floyds, this limited edition coffee will be available only at Dark Lord Day. “ it sounds pretty awesome. Will you be selling bottles for carry-out at Dark Lord Day?

Kyle: There will be 800 bottles of the Black Hole for sale at DLD. They will not be opened at purchase and the customer is free to do with them whatever they want. These are not limited to one per person.

Jake: Specifically on Black Hole Necromancer, were the beans aged in barrels and then extracted or did you extract the coffee and age the liquid in barrels?

Kyle: For BHN, we aged the green beans in the barrel and then extracted. However, for the BA Dark Lord, we brewed the BHN into the barrel. 

So, there you have it coffee drinking beer folk. Go find the people from Dark Matter during Dark Lord Day. I have had their Chocolate City iced coffee. It comes in a 22oz bottle and I really enjoyed it. They take extra steps to make sure that it is shelf-stable at room temperature and are doing some really cool things to push what many coffee drinkers consider “normal”.