Surly Darkness Day, originally uploaded by MNBeer.
Surly Darkness Day was a blast. It’s no surprise – gather a good crowd of beer lovers, add some hard-to-find beer, some more beer on tap and some music and you’re bound to have a good time. Eric and I rolled in about 2:00pm to help pour beer and met up with Mag and Kat almost immediately. I ran into a few other friends on my way in but didn’t get a chance to chat as I was on a bit of a mission – grab a beer, scope the place out and then get to work.
By 2pm, we had missed the lines that went down the street from the Surly gates. I spoke with a few people that were in the mid-to-late 700s and they estimated that another 300 people were behind them in line earlier in the day. As we pulled up, a number of people were walking out with two and three bottles and not surprisingly, there was still Darkness to be had after 6pm. If you didn’t come back (or stay) for Darkness after 5:30 or so, you missed out!
I was pouring beer inside – straight from the brite tanks. Smoke was immensely popular at our stand, though I must say that Furious straight from the tanks was probably my favorite. The location also afforded me the opportunity to take a few photos and catch the bands.
Over the course of the day, I had the opportunity to chat with a number of old friends as well as some great new folks. Beer nerds are the best nerds out there. Check out a few more photos from the event on our Flickr account.
Here’s Mag’s account of the event (linky)
It was a great time, although I drank way too many beers!!! And I want to know the gals name that stole my nametag;)
Wow, what can I say. Had a great time and drank “many, many” great beers. I especially loved the Cynic on cast but “all” were great. They were cheap to, only cost me a few dozen wooden nickles. It was a fantastic day to hang out with all my beer lovin friends…I didn’t want to leave.
Greg, were you the Greg that was guarding the towers of Surly cans with me? If so, I hope you find the gal that took it! ‘Twas a GREAT time! 🙂
Hey Chris that was me. I never did look at the nametags of you other “Security Guards”;) Were you the one that was going to follow me in a quest for a 4 pack of Surlyfest?
You got it Greg! That place in Osseo – I’m glad I didn’t follow you, sadly – Darkness tapped my funds… 🙂 WELL worth it, of course.
Glad to meet you. Hope to make it to Stub & Herbs for the Darkness kickoff this Thursday. I will not drink as many beers this time round though.
A good time indeed! Steve, you need to get the other guys out with you next time.
Indeed it was fun. However… I would have been about #730. 🙁 I did not get a wrist band (but thanks to friends, still got Darkness). I got there at 11:45. People getting there about 11:15 ended up in the 650’s I heard.
My pics and a vid:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/donosborn/sets/72157608371894145/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPtEHQ6gJ5g&fmt=18
Anyone know what temps Darkness should be stored at? No room in the current fridge for all six bottles, so I either need to aquire a second fridge if they need to be stored at a cooler temp than my basement will hold them at.
Don, does surly regularly sell growlers of Coffee Bender now? I havent been there on a sat. in a long time .
Greg: Somewhere between 50º and 55º should be idea. Put them in a dark place in the basement.
Basement doesn’t tent to get that cold, and too much junk down there to put in another fridge. I think it was right around 62 degrees down there this morning. Maybe just put them in a cooler in the coolest spot in the basement and throw one of those blue, refeezable ice packs in there every other day to bring the temp down a little further?
I am assuming as long as I can keep the temp around 60 degrees or so I will be fine for longer conditionaing, say 3-4 months or so?