Dark Lord Day 2018
Date: May 19, 2018
Tickets are SOLD OUT
Contents
Overview
Dark Lord Day 2018 will be held on Saturday May 19, 2018. The date was announced on October 23rd, 2017. Website went live and ticket sales were announced on Tuesday, March 20th. Band lineup was announced on April 25th. Variant list and select tap times were announced on May 15th.
The first notable change this year is the introduction of a RFID chip wristband which will be used to validate entry, validate your group for bottle pickups, and also can be used to purchase food/drink/merchandise, for more information on how wristbands will work, visit the Wristband Information page. In addition to this, the amount of beer each person is allowed to bring into the fest was reduced from 288oz to 72oz. Outside food is also listed as a banned item this year. It is unclear how strictly these restrictions will be enforced.
On May 15th, along with the variant list, Three Floyds released a schedule for select tap times, a notable change from previous years where variants would go on tap seemingly at random.
As always, details are subject to change prior to the event.
Details
The festival hours are: 9AM – 9PM
Wax Color
Silver
Allotment & Price
4 bottles of Dark Lord and 1 barrel aged Dark Lord variant. Included in ticket price.
Food Trucks
- DönerMen Food Truck
- Grindhouse Cafe
Brewpub
The brewpub will be closed for the event.
Group Sales Schedule
- Group A - 9:00am - 11:00am
- Group B - 11:00am - 1:00pm
- Group C - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
- Group D - 3:00pm - 5:00pm
- Group E - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Festival Map & Layout
The festival layout is largely unchanged from 2017. There is a new DJ tent in the staging area to the south, and the draft tents are now named.
Sattelite overlay map.
Tickets
Cost: $180
Vendor: eTix
Date: 3/31/2017
Included with the ticket:
- Festival admission
- Metal show
- 4 bottles of 2018 Dark Lord Russian-Style Imperial Stout
- 1 bottle of a rare 2018 Dark Lord variant at random
- Tote bag
Tickets went on sale Saturday March 31st at Noon CDT and took just over 2 hours to sell out.
Early Ticket Sales
After the website went live, the ticket sales link at eTix displayed a password field allowing early access to purchase tickets. Users began guessing passwords and many were able to correctly guess the password, which was: dld2018. A number of people were able to purchase tickets early before the error was corrected. Initially Three Floyds indicated these tickets would be refunded and cancelled, but later indicated that those who purchased early could keep them. It is not clear how many tickets were sold early, however Three Floyds indicated that the early sales would have little impact on the official 3/31 sales date.
Don't Drink Beer tweeted about the drama.
Password entry screen
Screenshot of checkout screen on 3/20
Initial indication that tickets would be refunded
FFF indicating they are valid via Twitter
FFF email indicating tickets are valid
eTix confirming tickets are valid
Shipping Confirmation E-mail Snafu
On 5/2/18 eTix sent out shipping confirmation e-mails with details on how to activate your wristband. Also included in the e-mail was some general information regarding Dark Lord Day. However, this information was copied from last year's confirmation e-mail which had two notable differences. One, it indicated you could bring in 288oz of beer, instead of the new limit of 72oz. Two, it indicated that a variant was not guaranteed and that you could receive 2 vintage bottles, as was the case in 2017. Fears were quickly put the rest however, with a followup e-mail confirming that the e-mail contained old information and that correct information can be found on darklordday.com
Brewpub Ticket Sales
Brewpub tickets went on sale on Saturday May 5th at 9:00am. Around 200 tickets were available. Sales were announced on Friday May 4th at 5:00pm Central via social media.
With advance notice, there were around 50 people lined up by 6:30am the next morning, by 7:30 close to 200 people had lined up. Tickets sold out after about an hour around 10:00am.
Wristband Designs
Unique designs for 2018
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Taplist
This year the list of guest breweries was announced in advance. The first time since 2012 that the list of breweries was formally announced.
Select tap times can be found here: https://www.darklordday.com/tap-times
Draft beer will be available for purchase with a wristband or credit/debit card; no cash will be accepted at Dark Lord Day. Select tap times TBA.
Guest Taps Provided By
- 18th Street Brewery
- Against the Grain Brewery
- American Solera
- Anspach & Hobday
- Ardent Craft Ales
- Barrel Theory Beer
- Beavertown Brewery
- Bent Paddle Brewing
- Boneyard Beer
- Burial Beer
- Burn ’Em Brewing
- Central State Brewing
- Cigar City Brewing
- Commonwealth Brewing
- Country Boy Brewing
- Crooked Stave
- Crown Brewing
- Dark Horse Brewing
- DryHop Brewers
- Fat Head’s
- Firestone Walker Brewing
- Founders Brewing
- Gigantic Brewing
- Half Acre Beer
- Haymarket Brewing
- Marz Community Brewing
- Mikkeller San Diego
- Modist Brewing
- New Oberpfalz Brewing
- Off Color Brewing
- Oxbow Brewing
- Penrose Brewing
- Perennial Artisan Ales
- Phantom Carriage Brewery
- Pipeworks Brewing
- Pizza Port Brewing
- Prairie Artisan Ales
- Revolution Brewing
- Scarlet Lane Brewing
- Short’s Brewing
- Side Project Brewing
- Sour Note Brewing
- Sun King Brewery
- The Answer Brewpub
- The Bruery
- The Devil’s Trumpet Brewing
- TRVE Brewing
- Upland Brewing
- Urban Chestnut Brewing
- Victory Brewing
- WarPigs Brewing USA
- Wiseacre Brewing
Dark Matter Coffee
Dark Matter Coffee will again be present at Dark Lord Day. More details to come.
Variants
- Marshmallow Handjee — Bourbon barrel aged Dark Lord with vanilla beans
- ChemTrailMix — Dark Lord aged in rye barrels with cinnamon + pink peppercorns
- French Vanilla Militia — Dark Lord aged in Sauternes barrels with vanilla, cocoa nibs + coffee
- Spaceforce! — Dark Lord aged in Pineau Des Charentes barrels with vanilla, cocoa nibs + coffee
- Lounge Against the Macromachine — Tequila barrel with Mekong cinnamon, cocoa nibs, guajillo peppers + tangerine peel
- Greatest Teachable Moments — American brandy barrel with verbena, ginger + orange peel
- Hung Drawn N Quartered — Rye barrel-aged Dark Lord
- Cavaleiro of Varnov — Oloroso sherry aged Dark Lord
- Brozerker — Ruby port aged Dark Lord
- Brotilla — Carcavelos aged Dark Lord
- Turtledogg — Scotch barrel-aged Dark Lord
Bands
- Dying Fetus
- Pig Destroyer
- Revocation
- All Hell
- Brain Tentacles
- Canyon of the Skull
- DJ sets by Gregg Elzinga of Metal Vinyl Weekend
Shuttle Buses
A number of shuttle buses will be operating this year. These have been announced so far:
- FestDrive - Chicago (West Loop) - https://festdrive.busbank.com/dark-lord-day/
- Reggies - Chicago (South Loop) - https://www.reggieslive.com/busrides/dark-lord-day-5/
- The Beer Temple - Chicago (Avondale) - http://store2.craftbeertemple.com/event-tickets/?sort=pricedesc
- The Open Bottle - Tinley Park - http://theopenbottle.com/store/?product=dark-lord-day-2018-shuttle-bus
- Beer on the Wall - Park Ridge - https://m.facebook.com/events/178856029411538
