Surly Brewing… Darkness Day Cometh!

Brooklyn Center, MN – On Saturday, October 25, the Surly Brewing Nation horde will arrive at the brewery, clamoring for the impending release of our Russian Imperial Stout, Darkness, and will spend the afternoon drinking great beer, devouring food, listening to live music (METAL!), and claiming their allotment of Darkness bottles. And this year’s bottles of Darkness will be especially coveted, since they were aged in High West Rye Whiskey® barrels.

What: Darkness Day 2014
When: Saturday, October 25, 11am – 5:30pm
Where: Surly Brewing Co., 4811 Dusharme Dr., Brooklyn Center, MN

If you’ve forgotten how awesome Darkness Day is, HERE’S a reminder, in slo-motion….

Beer:
Darkness Tappings (ONLY outside): Barrel aged and non-barrel aged Darkness will be tapped at both outside locations at 1, 2, 3 and 4pm.

We’ll also be pouring The Devil’s Work, Todd the Axe Man, Damien, Cacao Bender, Overrated, Hell, Furious and Cynic.

AND we have a few special casks for you to try:

• Non-barrel aged Darkness dry-hopped with Simcoe and Amarillo
• Damien dry-hopped with Chinook and aged on Red Oak
• Overrated dry-hopped with Chinook
• Mole Bender (Bender with cacao nibs, vanilla, ancho and chipotle peppers and aged on oak)

Beer tickets are $5. CASH ONLY.

Food:
From 6am until 11am Chef Shack and Caribou Coffee will be available to those in line. Caribou will be giving out coffee and collecting donations for SGAD to donate to a children’s hospital.

Chef Shack, Red River Kitchen (Republic’s food truck), Stanley’s On Wheels, Asian Invasion, Groveland Confections, Natedogs and AZ Canteen will be serving up grub from 11:30am until 5:30pm.

Music:
We’ve got a live music lineup befitting Darkness Day, as usual and it’s gonna be LOUD. (Note: Set times are subject to change without notice).

• 11-11:45am: God Came From Space (featuring employee #3, Sarah on guitar)
• 12:15-1pm: Yakuza
• 1:30-2:15pm: Oozing Wound
• 2:45-3:45pm: Vulgaari (featuring our head brewer Todd on guitar)
• 4:15- 5:30pm: GOATWHORE

Merch:
Darkness swag, featuring artwork by this year’s Surly featured artist, Erica Williams, will be available for purchase at Darkness Day, and on our web store the week following the event. Erica will be signing merch at Darkness Day in the Taproom from 2pm to 3pm.

Parking:
Surly’s neighbors have been gracious enough to let us use their parking lots. Don’t make a mess. Overflow parking is available at Caribou across Hwy. 100. Limited bike parking is available for those of you who are hardcore enough to go green. Look for it on the North side of 48th and Drew. If you need to leave your car here, no problem. Please have it moved by Sunday morning or it will be towed.

Rules:
Must be 21+ to enter unless accompanied by a parent. No tickets needed. Don’t be a dick or we will throw you out and as always, be safe and arrange a ride or take a taxi home.

(Pro Tip: The event always thins out later in the afternoon. Come on out in the afternoon to enjoy the free bands, delicious special release beers and the brewery.)

Heed The Gatekeepers

You don’t need a ticket for Darkness Day, but if you want to buy Darkness you need a wristband. To get a wristband and get yourself a few bottles of the precious stuff, heed the rules of the gatekeepers (a.k.a. our awesome volunteers).

1,500 wristbands for Darkness bottles will be given out on a first come first serve basis. Darkness bottles are $20 each, CASH ONLY, with a limit of 6 bottles per wristband.

Darkness wristbands will be color-coded and marked with your purchasing time. The bottle purchasing line is no longer in the brewery, it has moved just down the street to a warehouse near the corner of 48th Ave. N. and Drew Ave. N. Don’t worry, it’ll be clearly marked on the day of the event. Please remain within the event grounds until it is your specified purchasing time. No loitering in the street or around the warehouse will be tolerated.

If you miss your allotted time, you will be able to enter up until 2:30pm to purchase bottles. If there are extra bottles after the initial sales, you will be able to buy up to four bottles of Darkness starting at 3pm (while quantities last, which typically is not long).

We will have Surly volunteers working through the night and early morning getting ready for the event. The volunteers can and will blackball anyone being a dick in the line. Please respect the line because line cutting and space holding are not cool.

You Must Obey…
DON’T SHOW UP BEFORE 3:30pm on Friday! If you do, we will ask you to leave! Neighboring businesses will still be open and we want to respect their space and employees. Any tents/structures that are up during daylight hours will not be allowed. We will have volunteers helping with the line overnight. Please follow their direction as they can blackball you from the event if you don’t. As always, be safe and arrange a ride or take a taxi home.

Darkness Day Eve Events

There’s lots happening on Darkness Day Eve, Friday, October 24. Check it out:

Surly Presents Mill City Nights Pentagram Concert 8pm Show / 7pm Doors
American doom metal pioneers, Pentagram, couldn’t have better timing for their Friday, October 24th show at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis. They’ll take the stage on the eve of Surly Brewing’s much-anticipated annual bottle release of its Russian Imperial Stout, a.k.a. Darkness. To celebrate, Surly is sponsoring the Pentagram show and giving concert-goers a sneak taste of this year’s Darkness. Everyone 21+ with a ticket stub, can get a complimentary 10 oz. pour of Darkness 2014 at the show. Surly Furious and cans of Hell will be available for $5 at the venue. Plus, Vulgaari, with our head brewer Todd Haug on guitar, will be one of the opening bands. Get your tix HERE.

Stub and Herbs 7pm
Stub and Herbs in Minneapolis will be turning their taps dark on Darkness Day Eve. They’ll be tapping Darkness 2013 at 8pm and Darkness 2014 at 10pm. They’ll also be pouring Todd the Axe Man, Devil’s Work, Pentagram, Cultivate, SeVIIn, Cacao Bender, 2013 Smoke, Furious, Hell, Cynic, Bender, SurlyFest and Overrated. That’s 15 Surly beers total. Seriously!

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