Fuzzy
Side Project Brewing

 

 

I'm finding I am really enjoying white peaches specifically in wild ales, just lend themselves to barrel, funk and botanicals so well. Here SP has done well to allowing the juicy peach tones shine too. Smell is damn impressive: sour peach, yogurt, barnyard, and barrel funks, bright and rustic oak, pressed flowers, dry earth, a touch of lemon and lime zest, and finished with big hay. Taste is more sour and less complex with funk losing the barrel variety to the sour fruits, otherwise the same with sneaky complexity yet potent. Feel is sour and decently acidic, but gentle, dries out with various funks, almost feels more pungent than it tastes or smells. Clear yellow body with a pinky finger of white foam. This is right up there with the best peach wild ales, little less acidity and it could be the very top

 

2022 vintage

Here we are, the #1 Wild Ale on BA for my 1500th review! This is a special one that has been a long time want for me, so I’m very excited to finally try it. I’ve only had a few Side Project beers, but they’ve all been fantastic so I have no reason to think this one wouldn’t be. Let’s get into it

Pours a cloudy pale gold with 2 fingers of whitehead that quickly fades to a ring and leaves no lacing

This is certainly tart in the nose, but it has a surprisingly nice balance to it. I'm picking up on aromas of tart peach, lemon yogurt, sharp oak, tannic white wine, straw, bready malt, wildflower honey, apple skin, light vinegar, stone, and even a touch of smoke

In taste it starts off with a balanced tartness similar to the aroma, and on the back end explodes with an aggressive flash of tartness before settling down once again. On the front end of the sip I'm tasting jammy peach, lemon juice, vanilla, wet hay, straw, smooth oak, leather, and white grape. The swallow brings notes of tart peach, lemon juice, crabapple, white wine vinegar, sharp oak, wet hay, vanilla, bready malt, and light peat smoke

A medium body pairs with gentle tingling carbonation, resulting in a puckering beer. Finishes a tad sticky but dries out over time

Oh yeah, this is damn good. Despite the not so good looks, everything else here is awesome. A truly unique beer

 

Appearance - The beer was the color of a peach. It was orange with red hues toward the center.

Smell - The beer smelled like sour peaches. There was an undercurrent of sweetness, like vanilla.

Taste - The profile was quite acidic, like a soured peach. Notes of peach and peach skin were detected. There seemed of be the presence of vanilla sweetness as well. The profile had a nice sour peach finish.

Mouthfeel - The body had little carbonation, but a pleasant smoothness.

Overall - This is a sour that I can enjoy, and I am not a sour guy.

 

 

This was a guest beer on tap during the 2021 Zwanze Day celebration I attended.
2020 Fuzzy, at a year’s age.

Loved the nose on this. Stone fruit in season, white peach and a hint of funk. It’s tart, without being overly sour, with a nuanced finish. More of the peach notes, leaving the palate tingling. Fantastic.

 

A: Tangerine pour with fiery hues to apricot. The neck films a shade of macaroon cream that’s dismissive per inscription, from the preset retention. Howbeit, an irksomeness to turns offers lace docility, as the intervals thermally protract. There’s a touch of transparency upon the settlements of course, while effervescence becomes a mobilized variance

S: Pierced rusticity for white peach with esterification authorities. Illustrated by, a bitingly tart eruption that’s tamed enough for the developing – wild yeast – appearances. The progression opts for some grainy malt to the motivated horsed phenols, which quietly idle funk steps. Principally, satchels and farmstalls with soiled mold. Nonetheless, acidity is tenacious on fruit bouquets, as the lactic stability is detrimental to frowzy quirks. There’s elements of solvency thru the open air drafts, which incriminate nail polish and naphtha agents. On the other hand, that piece is often stupefied, given the peppery phenol attunement to floral hops, and biscuit-y malt brackets to stone fruit minerals

T: A clean, consecutive, punch-down stomp that puts natural peaches in vanguard. Notations subtly follow in ripening depictions of Goldrich apricots and Armking nectarines, while briny minerals perimeter Neptune grass. In correlation, an engine for Eugenol to promptly pump in cloves and nutmeg, while maintaining that peppery attenuation. The ongoing drive is earthy and persistently bright, with calming acidity on the advances of rural funk. To that end, the move adds haystacks atop the citrus connotations, but keeps that musty jazz in a distant place. Aerial attacks begin setting in, from oak dragged elasticities, and prompt in some leathery satchels. Whilst, Chardonnay attenuates a staleness for Budapestlängd with an oxidative nuttiness

M: Does not puncture with puckered acridity, but rather maintains a level of energy that rationally aids. Namely, a backend for rustic brettanomyces, and a pillar for biscuit-y grains. The approach is brisk in carbonation, as the approach is crisp in sensation. Thus, cleanly bright with minor overextensions in the presetting bites, but pleasingly uplifting in the dry – erosional – reliefs

O: Showcases clean peach natures with a caustic effervescence that’s costly to the preliminary entwines, of wild yeast. Though, development is rapid enough to calm the impaling authorities, and make rational moves. In this situation, light malts provide an aid to earthy hop kicks, while acclimating spiced esters with musty phenols. The approach is thereby tart with brett funk complexions, and spurs wooded fruit tannins on an astutely dry/crisp exhibition

 

 

Look - Great clear golden color with a slight white skimming
Smell - nice slight peach wild ale smell
Taste - Fantastic peach easy going slight tart
Feel - Crisp with a medium body
Overall - just fantastic

 

 

Excelent beer

Bottle generously shared by Seth. Cloudy pale yellow pour with a white head. Sour peach aromas. Big tart/sour notes with peach highlights. Lemon zest and citrus lowlights. Good body and mouthfeel.

 

 

Blend 4. Delicious and well balanced lambic style fruited Wild Ale with Loads of peach and stone fruit flavors. Nice and tart but not overwhelming. Love this beer.

 

 

 

Bottle @ Perennial. Hazy golden pour with a tall white head. Super fresh, juicy peach nose. Hints of lemon juice and green apple. Some light oak and white wine as well. The peach flavor is great, but the lactic sourness is just too aggressive to be a supremely crushable beer. A nice juicy fruit sort of tropical character and some nice grass and damp wood funk.

 

 

 

 

 

Such incredible depth & balance.

375mL bottle into a Teku
Blend 4 (aka Vintage 2020)

A: Pops and is a gusher which is inexcusable as this has sat undisturbed for months. Several ounces wasted and sedimentation disturbed from the bottom. Color is apricot yellow/orange with a fizzy white head that dissipates almost instantaneously. Once that’s gone it actually looks flat. It’s quite hazy, nearly opaque. Certainly not much of a looker.

S: Aroma is a great balance of fruit sweetness and tart sour characters. Huge fruit flesh characters with big peach as expected but also tangerine and apricot. Lactic acidity and sour citrus to balance, I would say the tart/sour characters are moderate on the nose. A bit of melting plastic like funk and mineral notes round it out.

T: Taste is very delicious. Much more sour than the nose, with huge puckering tartness. Wonderful sweet fruit notes to balance, it’s very orange-family fruit forward with notes of oranges, tangerines, nectarines. Peace is primarily on the finish, but is quite nice. Pretty big lemon tartness as well. Really fantastic.

M/D: Mouthfeel is fuller bodied, carbonation is appropriately high even though it looks flat in the glass, drinkability is very good.

O: Overall, this is an excellent beer, no doubt. Although #37 overall rating on BA seems damn high. Fair or not, I always compare these American Wild Ales to traditional Lambics, and even very well done ones such as this tend to lack the depth and complexities of most offerings from the likes of 3F and Cantillon. Regardless, still a treat, and would happily drink any day of the week.

Happy New Year BA’s!

3.5/4.25/4.75/4.5/4.5