Side Project Brewing, St. Louis, MO

Also I imagine it is a lot easier to control the quality of the beers when doing smaller batches, especially when you are the only person involved

 

You understand that not every ounce went into bottles, right? There have been kegs of mornin delight at lots of events lately.

 

Lets also keep in mind that for the time being Cory is brewing his beers at Perennial and is still head brewer there. His majority of time is focused on Perennial, not SP. Not that the owners would care (they are awesome), but I personally wouldn't feel right taking up half their barrel room for my beers not under the Perennial name.

I believe these may be factors in batch size

 

I probably shouldn't even post, but the making of MD does not allow for 10 bbls to be made on our 10 bbl brewhouse. It's actually less than half of that that is able to be packaged. By the time you fill up a bourbon barrel (for the barrel aged version), 53 gallons of that is gone, then bottle up the few hundred bottles we did and put the rest in kegs that are released throughout the year for special things... it disappears pretty quickly.

 

You can't seriously be saying that TG crew made a business decision to intentionally refuse to brew 2,700 bottles of MD that it could have sold easily at $10 a pop, and instead decided to impress a bunch of nerds sitting behind their computer screens and any perceived "trade value" by brewing only 300? Dude, TG could produce 3,000 bottles of MD a WEEK and there would still be demand for it. JFC. And as Mike just said, where do you think Kentucky Brunch comes from?

I'm going to pretend you know what you are talking about and instead chalk these up as epic troll posts. Well done. Slow clap.

 

You sure seem to know for a fact they keep it limited just to make it a rare whale, huh? Have you ever thought that it a very expensive beer for them to make? Also, I'm fairly certain it is intended to be a seasonal release. This was the first release of the beer to bottles. They also kegged some to serve on draft in the taproom and at festivals and other special events. They didn't make much of it their first go round. They have already said they will be brewing more for the next release of it. What about any of that means they only make the beer with the intent to keep it rare? You just come off sounding like a cry baby who is upset he didn't get a bottle and is pissed because in order to get one, you currently have to trade the world for it. Guess what...myself and thousands of other Iowans/Midwesterners didn't get to try it either. Hopefully we will be able to with the next release. Until then...get over it and quit making crazy assumptions about Toppling Goliath.

Also....sorry to contribute to the derailing of this thread. Back on topic, I'm stoked to hear of this new brewery. Sounds awesome and hope to get to try some of the beers sooner than later!

 

I wish we had stayed on the original subject: Side Project

 

Debating on whether or not I should reply to this .

 

Replying late at night is never a bad idea.

 

The problem with Ultra beer nerds is "they" don't like small batches because they might never get to tick it. They get upset and troll around forums and bash small breweries for not having millions of dollars to sink into a huge warehouse and brewery. Brewers like Cory don't have millions of dollars and employees that it takes to make huge amounts of bottles for the whole world to drink. You also have to remember this is a "side project". Im not saying Cory doesn't want to one day have his own brewery where he can pump out thousands of barrels of each beer but as for now I'm assuming he doesn't want that. This of course is my own opinion and maybe i'm completely wrong....

I have talked to both Cory and Mike (toppling G) and i get the impression they are wanting Quality over Quantity as of right now. Actually TG is expanding pretty quick if you read their twitter page. They are wanting to keep up with demand. However, i don't believe they will ever put quantity over quality. Mike takes a lot of pride in his work with his beer from TG. (yes they are worth the hype )

Fact is, these two brewers IMO are the most down to earth guys you can meet. They care about the people drinking their beer and love that we all go crazy over it. That is why they pour their hearts into their beers. The best beers i have ever had have come from both of these guys. I think the ratings prove it.

If Cory releases a small batch of 200 bottles and its the best beer ever, ill try to get one. If i don't.... ill wait for him to release another.

If you all want the small batches to become bigger then SUPPORT them!

Sorry for my rant...

 

You coming to the release CJ?

 

This pretty much sums it up

 

Another fact that needs to be pointed out is just because you have a 10BBL system doesnt mean you can make a 10BBL 14.3% beer. I would estimate you would get 5BBL on a batch of that high of original gravity unless you double mash.

 

Im hoping to make it. I have a son being born on Sept 3rd. Im gonna just go ahead and assume ill probably be broke or the wife wont let me out of the house by then.

Hopefully someone will share a pour with me someday if i cant make it.

 

First, Mike, thank you for giving another brewer's perspective on all of this. All too often, because we have a brewhouse that is size X, everyone assumes that we must have X quantity of beer... We have the same issues with our huge beers, where our yields can drop down to close to 50% of what a smaller beer will yield..

Second, I wanted to make a quick post just to make sure some of these statements in this thread do not grow and become rumors...

"As far as I've heard so far these batches are intentionally being kept smaller than necessary."

I have no idea where you heard this, but it couldn't more inaccurate. Side Project is just me, one person. For the Saison du Fermier bottling day, it took me close to 12 hours to bottle. Intentionally kept small - yes. Smaller than necessary - no.

"the guy", thats me, "running Side Project said that he intended to keep all of his releases really small."

At first, yes, my releases are going to be small. I am trying to grow into what I want to brew, what works, and what I can afford. I have no investors, no help, and little time at this point. Its going to be a growth period with speed bumps and road blocks, but the end goal is produce enough beer to support my family, yet not too much beer where I have to sacrifice quality or become overwhelmed with hours spent away from my family, just to meet a demand that will never be fulfilled. I have no immediate plans to distribute, so whats so wrong with small batches? The experimentation and workload right now makes me happy, and thats the important thing.

Its truly an honor to see you guys talking about my beers and I thank you for all of the support. I am very excited about Side Project's first release and I hope that everyone likes what I have spent so much time trying to perfect.

Cheers,

Cory King
Owner/Brewer
Side Project Brewing

 

Any idea on price or bottle count? Planning on coming down from central IL.

 

Origin is going to be $30 I believe and there is going to be less than 200 bottles

 

I heard its all "infected" anyway...