La Ruche
Side Project Brewing

4.43/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A delicately beautiful sour saison. No obnoxious or overwhelming flavors, rather subtle pieces make a wonderful whole. The taste has sour oak, sweet honey and citrus, funky yeast and floral overtones. Smell is more sour forward than funky, has a oatmeal element in the background with the oak. Well craft in feel, smooth, medium to full bodied sweet spot, slightly chewy and easy drinking.

 394 characters

4.74/5  rDev +9.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75

Blend #1 poured for birthday celebration and paired with several cheeses including humboldt fog.

Pours a light golden orange color with no head retention and with a quick burst of carbonation that died down rapidly.

Aroma is so rich in oak and pure lactic tartness. I love the smell of truly wild ales. I get some tart apple character, a little funk, but the major aroma is oak and pure lemony acid. I do get some floral notes, which attribute to the honey.

While this beer does have a bit of age on it, the orange blossom honey doesn’t scream out on the taste. Lots of lactic tartness/sourness which I personally enjoy; the beer is sour for sure. Lots of lemon and more oak. Very reminiscent of a dry (and incredibly sour) white wine; many vinous qualities. More green apple.

Overall, another killer sour from Side Project. My only complaint is that the honey doesn’t come through as much as I would have liked. Everything else is great in my opinion. This paired amazingly with the meat, cheese, and olive plate. It gets a 95/100.

 1,043 characters

4.28/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 3 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

750ml bottle, Batch #1 - 2017, poured into a Side Project bulb glass. Enjoyed on 1.20.18, reviewed from Tasting Journal.

The beer pours a bright honey gold color, lightly cloudy with a soapy white head that offers little retention and no lace. The aroma is excellent, very floral with tons of orange blossom honey, citrus peel, a bit of spice, nice oak and a soft and delicate funk. The flavors are excellent as well, huge floral honey character, fruity with candied grapefruit peel, nice funk and bacterial expression that offers a touch of tartness while soft pale doughy grain lingers nicely with a hint of earthy oak. The mouthfeel is spot on, coating with a lively medium body, crisp carbonation with a dry and tart finish.

Verdict: A great Saison from Side Project. The orange blossom honey is fantastic and really amplifies this beer's floral and delicate qualities while adding some nice complexities that makes for a great beer.

 939 characters

4.5/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5

Pours a darker yellow with not a ton of head. Smells tart and citrusy. On the palate, there is the typical Side project tartness that gives way to a mild acidity. On the finish however, there it was...the honey! A slight kiss of honey at the end of the palate. It becomes more prevalent as it warms. Outstanding beer.

 323 characters

4.31/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25

Enjoyed in the Funk Factory Geuzeria taproom, this Blend 1 had the appearance of hazy but bright apricot with a faint white ring.

Smell is peach, honeycomb, peanut, apricot, wild herbs and spiced oats.

Taste is perfectly tart peach-apricot with spiced honey funk almost like herbal raspberry graham. I mean wow.

This beer is nice and light with a mild froth and a tart, puckering semi-dry finish.

 399 characters

4.28/5  rDev -1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25

On site at Side Project Brewery in Maplewood, Missouri. Served in a stemmed glass. Pours a darker orange body, clear in clarity with a big one and half finger white head, lots of retention and good lacing. Smell is mild-moderate acetic acidity, light lactic funk, oak, a clean sweetness perhaps from the non-fermented honey, floral notes, white vinous character, mineral. Nice complexity. Flavour is slightly sweet heaviness from the honey, floral, white vinous and oak, light lactic funk that helps smooth out the honeyed sweetness, minerals, moderately acidic. Tasty. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, creamy, and this I think is where the honey comes in play for this beer. Another tasty saison from Side Project, really well-rounded.

 731 characters

4.35/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25

another beautiful saison from these guys. this one done with a highly citrusy and floral honey, and perhaps one of the most natural and robust honey flavors to come through in any beer i have ever consumed. the base beer is very light, yellow in color, hazy with some sediment, bubbly but not holding much of a head after the initial pour from the bottle. pale white wheat malt type base is evident in the aroma, some bright hops too, but the honey is what stands out to me. notes of lemongrass and orange in it, a summery sweetness, and a highly fragrant flower aspect, really pretty. the flavor is even more honey forward, with an almost confection element about it, reminding us of some sweets from our youth, and lasting for a really long time. orange and honey together it seems, carrying well though the long finish, and seemingly aided and enhanced by the modest acidity of this one, which has the classic side project funk and sour elements in play, but seems quite subtle compared to many of their other brews. citrusy tang in there is balanced nicely by the prominent honey, and a funky wood heaviness comes in late as well. white wine notes in the final stages too. better carbonation than it looks like it would have, and some body from the wheat, yet this is a very delicate brew on the whole, almost fragile in its balance, a moment in time. expert saison, incredibly unique, brilliant use of this honey!

 1,418 characters