Längst
Side Project Brewing

 

This one pours a dark-ish golden brown color, with a small head, and a bit of lacing.

This smells quite fruity, with a touch of must, some chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and oak.

This is really fascinating, but I’m not sure it’s entirely for me. There’s a bit too much fruitiness and musty peat like flavors here. The barrel character is killer, though, with loads of drippy boozy caramel and lots of oaky vanilla. I just don’t know if the base beer works quite well enough for me.

This is medium bodied, with very little booziness, and a decent enough drinkability.

I like that Side Project is making a beer like this, but it’s not entirely up my alley. There’s just too much funky and peaty character.

750 mL bottle. Just about black. Smells of strong bourbon, earth, tobacco. Tastes a little less dynamic. Bourbon, sweet vanilla. Brown sugar. Back end has a little earthy bitterness, but nothing like the tobacco aromas. Heavy, boozy. Strong and slow to drink. Smells great, but tastes much simpler than it smells.

750 ml bomber, poured into a snifter at ~40 degrees F and allowed to warm during consumption.

L: Pours a stouty inky-black that fades to cola at the very edges of the top. Forms a short-lived ring of light ecru bubbles, which leaves no trace of a head at all behind when it fades.

S: When cold, this is redolent with chocolate and molasses. As it warms, the nose breaks up, revealing anise, fig, black cherries, polished leather, dark toffee, and black earth alongside the aforementioned chocolate and molasses.

T: When cold, quite beautiful - sweet molasses hits right up front, followed by charred oak, boozy caramel-vanilla tones, chocolate, dark soil, sour plum, and dark toffee. As it warms, one can pick out notes of fig, raisin, and cherry swirling by, with a leathery undertone. The heat from the barrel oddly also fades as it warms, smoothing this into a layered, complex melange with just a hint of afterburn post-swallow.

F: Thick and, as mentioned and foreshadowed by the lack of head, nigh still.

O: This is absolutely lovely.

Blend 3, poured at fridge temp. Pours a thick motor oil black with almost no head. The Nose is insane. Black licorice is the major component here! Roasted malts, toffee, bourbon, leather, vanilla, a bit of booze, figs, and dates. Super complex and intense!

The taste is equally complex. Again, intense black licorice that sticks around on the aftertaste. The taste is where a pretty awesome smoky note comes through. Leather, burnt wood, vanilla, brown sugar, a hint of soy sauce, dirt, dark fruit (raisins, figs, dates, blackberries), molasses, and bread. A good fight between sweet and bitter.

The mouthfeel is amazing. Very little to no carbonation. Silky smooth. Big mouthfeel with a significant thickness. Overall, this is a masterpiece.

 

This is my first time to review a Side Project beer. This was not the first beer I had during my visit, but it was my favorite. Dark, rich, funky, boozy, damn good beer! Why are there not more Adambiers?!

This was served to me from tap at the SP Cellar in a fluted glass. Deep ruby colored dark brown color with with a creamy smooth beige head and excellent lacing. First smell and taste can only be described as smokey chocolate. So much more: dark red wine, sweet dark fruit, raisins, oats, dark bread, molasses, hint of maple syrup. Pleasant, warming, comforting bourbon booziness. Very, very smooth and silky. A Blessing!

 

 

 

 

 

Tar black shimmering pour with a tan cap that fades quickly into a ring, spotted lacing. Bourbon barrel sets up the nose with peated earth, leather, cocoa, caramel, dried dark fruits, tobacco and a touch of smoke. Robust yet complex and has an inner sweetness. Taste is even deeper with everything from the nose plus roasted nuts, light molasses, some vanillins and a touch of nougat, so complex yet smoothly melded into one. Feel is warm, smooth, decently thick, and shaped by barrel and lightly by yeast. Reminds me a lot of HoD old ales with a dark complexion

 

B3 Langst drank next to a 2014 Adam from the Wood (obviously far older than the Langst but it's the only one I had; it's also my favorite batch which is why I stocked up). The Langst has just a tiny bit of carb and makes some noise when you pop the cap, unlike the Adam. Both pour dark with Langst just a hair darker. Langst is the smoother, more barrel forward, more cohesive and well blended of the two but in turn that makes it far more one note and less interesting. Those unique HotD flavors I love so much just aren't there. Langst still does a good job of copying the OG but it leans a bit more toward a stout and that makes it lose much of a character I think it's going for.

Overall a great beer but it's not good as HotD despite being twice as expensive per oz. I'm not even sure it's better than the versions made by Cherry Street.

 

 

Blend #2

Tan head, fades to a ring. Dark brown black color.

Bourbon, whiskey, oak, vanilla, caramel, toffee, plums, molasses, figs, dark fruits. Chocolate and caramel. So incredibly smooth. Love the low carbonation. Such a great feel to it. Very well done.
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Blend 3 consumed 10/21

This beer continues to impress me. The barrel on it is simply outstanding. Bourbon, oak, light char, vanilla, and warming booze. Toffee, caramel, molasses, dark fruits. Love the low carbonation. Complex, flavorful, and just all around well made. 4.65-75

I wanted to hate this, simply because of its price point, but I couldn't. Think of your best bottles of Adam, with their rich, deep, leathery, earthy bitter brown sugar, add a dollop of bourbon with some caramel and you get this beer. Maybe a little too sweet. Astounding.

Dark brown pour with dense cream lacing and no carbonation. Dark fruit, oak, roasted toffee malt, brown sugar, and Bourbon. Thick, viscous, and lip smacking sticky. There's some booziness and warming on the way down.

Not often you some across an Adambier, in fact I'm pretty sure the only one I've ever had prior to this one was from Hair of the Dog. Anyhow, The beer pours a deep brown color with a thin tan head on top. The smell of the beer has a nice rich malty nose with some wood and bourbon in the mix. The taste has a good amount of caramel, toast and some chocolate in the mix. The feel of the beer is smooth, similar to most barrel aged barleywine's but a bit thinner. Overall it's a very enjoyable beer and was a good experience trying it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blend #2. On-site, Side Project Cellar. 01/31/2020.

A boozy prune juice monster. Stewed dark fruit, caramel, bourbon, and oak all balance each other perfectly. Excellent as it warms.

Blend #3. 07/09/2021.

This beer is always a treat. Loaded with dark, stewed fruits, malt, and a huge barrel character. As it warms, more complex notes of tobacco, leather, and homemade caramel. Finishes boozy & warm. Excellent. Truly under-appreciated.

Pours a near black with a dark caramel brown edge. Head is a finger of modestly dense, khaki foam. Aroma is nutty, earthy, caramely malts with thick layer toffee, chocolate, char, bourbon and molasses across the top. There is a dollop of peat at the back. Flavor profile is molasses, toffee, raisins, caramel, chocolate layered over deep and complex earthy, nutty, caramely and bready malts. Peat malts come on heavier at the finish, just enough to dry up the initial sweet characteristics. Bourbon is present, but smooth, adding a swell of heat towards the finish. Mouth feel is dense and thick, but with a surprisingly velvety and faintly grainy texture. Overall, dense, thick and chewy with a sugary undertone. Despite the dense profile, it's remarkably well refined.

Served in a wine glass from a 750mL bottle. Blend #2. Consumed and reviewed on 1/18/2020.

 

 

Dark brown to black with almost purple hues in a sunlit room, the moderate creamy tan head settles to a curled collar leaving some spots of lace on the glass. It's a bit watery and the head is kind of bubbly and lacking in retention.

Very woody and lightly ashy but thankfully not actually significantly smoky, this features persistent and pervasive hints of maple throughout the creamy body which showcases chocolate caramel cut by some light but cutting peppery bourbon. Hints of nougat and pecan intermingle with a touch of sassafras as it warms.

This is pretty mature yet nicely drinkable. The body is quite light for Side Project, maybe of medium heft, with a fine carbonation and a semi-sticky finish that's warming on the way down.

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The 2021 batch has even more dark fruit and charred barrel qualities, but all in good ways that elevate the overall experience moreso than past batches. While still a bit thin and boozy, and nothing whatsoever like an actual adambier, it's a delicious brew more like a barleywine-stout blend than ever before.

Caramels, maple chews, nougats, Raisinets, whiskey, Reisen, and more. I have to increase my original 4.11 score.

 

 

 

Bourbon, dark chocolate, cocoa, roasty, cherry, caramel, charred oak, prune, plum