Chicago Business Article

Dark Lord Day is upon us.

Munster, Ind.'s Three Floyds Brewing will release about 6,000 tickets March 14 for its 11th annual beer festival. The tickets, which cost $40 and are nonrefundable, go on sale at 12 p.m.here.

The one-day festival, held this year on April 25, on the grounds of the Indiana brewery is theonly day of the year beer enthusiasts can purchase its coveted Dark Lord Russian imperial stout, a 15 percent alcohol-by-volume monster made with coffee, Mexican vanilla and Indian sugar.

Haymarket heading to Michigan

West Loop's Haymarket Brewing is building a 30-barrel brewhouse and production brewery in Bridgman, Mich., that's scheduled to open in spring 2016. The brewery will be built in a former Michigan State Police building on 17 mostly wooded acres just south of the southwest Michigan hamlet, not far off I-94. It's about 85 miles from Chicago.

It will allow Haymarket, which opened its pub and brewery in December 2010 on West Randolph Street, to begin distributing packaged beer. It plans a full canning line and a bottling line with the intent to distribute beer in Michigan and Chicago, said Pete Crowley, partner and head brewer at Haymarket.

Initial plans call for four Haymarket beers to be canned: Aleister IPA, Mathias Imperial IPA, Speakerswagon Pils and Last Chance Belgian IPA. Other styles, including its Indignant imperial stout, will debut in 22-ounce bombers. The new facility also will allow the brewer to expand its barrel-aging program.

The production brewery will have a 100-seat taproom and restaurant serving wood-fired pizzas and house-made sausages. The large property will allow for an outdoor beer garden and give Haymarket the ability to host outdoor events, Crowley said.

Haymarket hopes to reach 5,000 barrels of production in 2016, 10,000 barrels in 2017 and up to 20,000 barrels in 2018. Its 2,000-barrel-capacity West Loop pub and brewery produced about 1,500 barrels of beer last year.

“We think we have a pretty well-recognized brand, and we think we'll have a strong market in Chicago for” retail can and bottle sales, Crowley said. “We'll start with Chicagoland and Michigan, and once production grows, we'll spread out from there.”

Unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell coming to suburbs

Heads up, beer nerds: The largest trans-Atlantic shipment of unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell is on its way, with a limited number of kegs scheduled to hit the Chicago area.

The Czech-brewed, cask-conditioned beer will arrive at World of Beer in Evanston and Naperville March 12.

While Pilsner Urquell, a full-bodied Czech-style lager, is a MillerCoors brand and sold in bottles, cans and on tap throughout the U.S., the unfiltered, unpasteurized version is rarely available stateside. Kegs of the beer are being express-shipped from Plzen, Czech Republic, and carried in refrigerated vans to the World of Beer locations as part of the tavern's “Journey Through Pilsners” promotion.