Not only are we blessed with great metal bands and shows in the Twin Cities, but we have one of the best breweries anywhere in the world, Surly Brewing. If you are a beer enthusiast then surely you already know this.
Saturday, October 23 marks the annual release of Surly Darkness with Darkness Day, a day-long party held at the brewery (4811 Dusharme Dr., Brooklyn Center, MN 55429). For those unaware, Darkness is consistently rated amongst the top 1-3 beers in the world, any style, on many beer websites such as Beer Advocate. Darkness is a thick, potent Russian imperial stout that packs a big punch. It's no stretch to say that Darkness is one of the most sought-after beers in the world and bottles are only sold in limited quantities at Darkness Day. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a stray bottle at an area liquor store or a keg at a local bar, but purchasing your stash at Darkness Day is the only way to guarantee your supply.
The label for 2010's Darkness.
The event officially begins at noon, although people usually begin lining up outside the gates at 6 or 7 am. Approximately 7,500 bottles of Darkness will be for sale at $18 per bottle (these are wine-size 750 mL bottles) with a limit of six per person. Food and beer are available for purchase, and Surly usually serves some of their limited edition beers, including cask beers. It's fun to meet people from all over the country who make the trek for this event.
Surly is the country's fastest-growing brewery, and is working hard to increase their brewing capacity. They even had to pull Surly from all distribution markets outside the Twin Cities this summer just so they could meet the backlog of demand for their beer here in The Cities!
There will be also be bands playing all afternoon inside the brewery, but the bands playing this year haven't been announced yet. The cool thing is that many of the brewery employees are metalheads, and almost anytime I've been at the brewery to purchase growlers (when they were available) Slayer or another similar band would be blasting in the shop! A couple years ago Powermad played a reunion show at Darkness Day, so usually the bands that play this event are good ones.
The latest details about Darkness Day 2010 can be found at Surly's newsblog.
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