Thicket
Side Project Brewing

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From:
Side Project Brewing
 
Missouri, United States
Style:
Wild Ale
Ranked #13
ABV:
6%
Score:
99
Ranked #197
Avg:
4.51 | pDev: 5.99%
Reviews:
36
Ratings:
306
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 09, 2023
Added:
Jan 16, 2015
Wants:
  218
Gots:
  27
SCORE
99
World-Class
Notes: For Blend #2, we chose a blend of not only our “Flanders - Inspired” red beer, but also used a touch of our French Oak Foedre Beer, a beer that lays the base for Fuzzy, and has been aging via a solera method for more than 5 years now. This blend was then moved to Missouri Oak and aged atop more than 3000 lbs of Oregon blackberries from our friends at Decker Farms. The blend and the blackberries were combined in April of 2018 and allowed to re-ferment for almost a year before being bottle-conditioned prior to release.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.32 by bsuedekum from Missouri

Mar 09, 2023
 
Rated: 4.84 by bruindre from Massachusetts

Feb 08, 2023
 
Rated: 4.49 by Bhubbard34 from Pennsylvania

Jan 31, 2023
Photo of cdinardo21
Reviewed by cdinardo21 from Pennsylvania

4.24/5  rDev -6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Blend #1, on tap at the cellar. Nice and tart. Just funky enough. Wine barrels did this well. Quite enjoyable. Would really like to contract with Blend #2 eventually.
Nov 07, 2022
 
Rated: 4.25 by Affinity from Missouri

Jun 02, 2022
 
Rated: 4.65 by Hefewiseman from Florida

Mar 05, 2022
 
Rated: 4.27 by jhavs from New York

Mar 03, 2022
 
Rated: 4.25 by rodmanfor3 from Vermont

Jan 25, 2022
 
Rated: 4.85 by MrNate from Florida

Jan 21, 2022
 
Rated: 4.25 by Dharms from Pennsylvania

Jan 16, 2022
 
Rated: 4.25 by not2quick from Missouri

Jan 12, 2022
 
Rated: 4.5 by rstump24 from Ohio

Jan 05, 2022
 
Rated: 4.46 by kreg02 from Illinois

Jul 23, 2021
 
Rated: 4.49 by mattmarka1 from Minnesota

Jul 17, 2021
 
Rated: 4.5 by Rkitchen from Michigan

Jun 19, 2021
 
Rated: 4.5 by BEER88 from North Carolina

Jun 10, 2021
 
Rated: 4.77 by Eman17 from Illinois

May 22, 2021
 
Rated: 4.71 by beefbucket from Missouri

Apr 20, 2021
 
Rated: 5 by Ziosa from Missouri

Apr 20, 2021
 
Rated: 4.75 by RiceOwls27 from Texas

Apr 19, 2021
 
Rated: 4.51 by chepi141 from Missouri

Mar 16, 2021
 
Rated: 4.4 by BeerRay from Rhode Island

Feb 23, 2021
 
Rated: 4.27 by Duncian from Pennsylvania

Jan 26, 2021
Photo of RaulMondesi
Reviewed by RaulMondesi from California

4.49/5  rDev -0.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
This one is really thick (unlike that loser Robin). Yeah, this one is like pure and ripe like the day Bridgette Bardot was born. For reals, it’s just beautiful and it hits you well and good like Bruce Smith trying to make you fumble.

Hut! Hut! Hike!
Jan 17, 2021
Photo of jrc1093
Reviewed by jrc1093 from Connecticut

3.56/5  rDev -21.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Blend No. 2 (2018 release); consumed on 1/14/21

Pours a deep, jet-purple body with an airy half-finger of extra-pale mauve head, retreating quickly to a few paper-thin, spotty islands of cap, a sizeable, bubbly collar, and virtually no lacing beyond an occasional splotching isolated at various points around the glass.

Aroma shows fresh blackberry pits engaging with an increasingly rounded lactic funk, sharpwning over time while simultaneously embracing jammy blackberry and a deepening sweetness as the beer warms; old leather and wet stone peak over the middle into fresher oak and some grape-like tannins to close.

Taste ooens with suggestions of blackberry quijcly overtaken by lactic funk and a splintery oak profile; hints of dried peppercorn pair with a sturdy tannic structure into a mid-palate of barnyard funk and lemon zest, while tones of blackberry pits, lactic funk, and a brief burst of red berries mark the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a medium-light body with a fine, moderate-mild carbonation; a huge acidity is sharp and biting over the mid-palate, acetic and puckering though crisp into back end; a brief juiciness dries steadily with slight tannic textures on the finish.

Increasingly palatable as it warms, an overwhelming acidity remains dominant, relegating the blackberry to an underdeveloped background while largely glossing over the nuance of the funk; this wild ale is clearly designed competently and shows sporadic sparks of genuine depth, but a relentless imbalance ultimately takes away from the overall product.
Jan 15, 2021
Photo of SierraNevallagash
Reviewed by SierraNevallagash from Maine

4.03/5  rDev -10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Batch 2 - 375ml bottle - poured into a zin stem at 45°F.

Pours a deep blackberry purple - foggy anf crimson when held to the light, with a lasting sudsy pinkish collar. The occasional rising bubble can be seen. Not as saturated, but quite similar to a merlot in appearance.

Nose: Really wonderful blackberry presence here. That classic, instantly recognisable Side Project grist and culture character forms a simple foundation, with some toasty grain, bright acidity, and white oak, with subtle threads of hay, wheat, dusty leather, stone, petrichor, wet leaves, and lemon. The fruit is fresh, vibrant, and seedy, with an underlying jammy element. Reserved, but elegant.

Palate: Thicket greets the palate with a sharp zing of acidity, with a ton of lacto-driven lemon juice pucker, and a bit of acetic bite following. Like many fruited Side Project wilds, there's an underlying sweetness that seems like it's from both the malt as well as some fructose. The sweetness tuns parallel to, but beneath the sourness, taming it a bit. The blackberry character is unmistakable, buy leans towards the dry, seedy, unripe, tart end of the spectrum, rather than juicy or saturated. The acidity is aggressive, and thankfully, burns fast and bright, settling down quickly, and revealing some grains and a bit of oak. Some ripe berry pokes through, along with some wine-soaked oak, finishing quick, clean, and dry.

Mouthfeel/Body: Thicket is medium-light in body, wispy, fluid, and crisp. Puckering acidity up front causes some mouthwatering. Effervescence is fine, lively, amd sparkly. The finish is dry, with some very subtle oak tannins.

Overall: This is one of those wild ales that could have been stellar if it wasn't so acidic. The reviews are polarising - some saying it's jammy, others, that it's crazy sour. As it warms, some ripe berry sweetness does begin to emerge, which helps a lot, and it does become enjoyable, but the aggressive acidity holds it back and stifles the complexity. It's certainly fruit-forward, and very much Side Project, but it isn't the most balanced or complex offering. This one is good, but not amazing.
Jan 15, 2021
 
Rated: 4.25 by allenson21 from New York

Dec 26, 2020
 
Rated: 5 by Destiney from Indiana

Nov 25, 2020
 
Rated: 4.49 by Gtwreck45 from Missouri

Nov 03, 2020
 
Rated: 3.98 by stmoorea from Illinois

Sep 13, 2020
Photo of RAlmeida77
Reviewed by RAlmeida77 from Massachusetts

4.34/5  rDev -3.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
FFBL draft. Holy sour blackberries! This is what a sour is. I enjoy the thick and gloopy fruited stuff but this is a real sour. Tons of lacto on the nose and in the flavor. Nice blackberry flavor with a lot of sour. Puckering! Great fruited sour here.
Sep 11, 2020
 
Rated: 4.69 by JBowenGeorgia from Georgia

Aug 19, 2020
 
Rated: 4.63 by notchucknorris from California

Jul 28, 2020
Photo of BillRoth
Rated by BillRoth from Maryland

4.48/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Blend#2 on tap at SP STL pub
Jul 22, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by akang from California

Jul 08, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by sordyl from Illinois

Jun 30, 2020
 
Rated: 4.38 by MTKATL from Georgia

Jun 21, 2020
 
Rated: 4.75 by eawolff99 from Minnesota

Jun 18, 2020
 
Rated: 3.8 by Wayne17 from Texas

May 22, 2020
 
Rated: 4.25 by Beerbom from California

May 22, 2020
Thicket from Side Project Brewing
Beer rating: 99 out of 100 with 306 ratings