Side Project / Shared (2020)

One of the important points about Shared is it is the outlet for non-BA beers. They do release some BA bottles(BACSV, BA Ambiente, etc.), but most of the volume is canned IPAs/lagers/etc. Also, the recipes for Shared beers belong to the brewer, not the brewery. If Brian, Tommy, or Drew want to open their own brewery someday, they can take their Shared recipes with them when they do.

 

I obviously don't know the answer, but I would deduce that there is a lot more than most people would think. Let's take a look at the description of recent blended BA releases:

BA Ambiente-
"We selected a blend that consisted of:
20% Vibes recipe (same as the Ambiente base) aged in TWCP barrel selects with Vanilla Beans (4 Roses and Jim Beam) for 33 months
60% D3 recipe aged in Willett Rye barrels for 24 months (same as the Rye BBT components)
20% OWK recipe aged in Buffalo Trace barrels for 19 months"

Sulla Terra-"Barrel 397 - Experimental English Barleywine aged in a Maple Syrup Weller 12 barrel for 18 months
Barrels 370, 371, 372 - Anabasis aged in Blanton’s barrels (blend 4 barrels) for 21 months
Barrels 332, 333 - MJK aged in Willett Bourbon barrels for 25 months"

For Gabe-"we blended threads of Derivation, BBT and OWK, with threads of Anabasis and MJK"

IMO Cory's real passion and expertise that is often overlooked lies in his blending. I remember asking if he ever thought of buying some MGP barrels and blending his own bourbon. Talk about a highly sought after bourbon.

 

I’m pretty sure all profits from Shared beers are shared amongst the other brewers as well. I remember reading that somewhere a while ago, and it was the main reason for the name choice. I would guess SP’s brewers are some of the highest paid in the industry.

I think we definitely would have seen one or two Derivations since D13 if it were not for the pandemic. D11 was on-site for two days only I believe and was an LC beer. D12 was on-site for almost a month, but also not an LC release. D13 was LC and only on-site for BBT week. Cory probably just doesn’t want to bend the exclusive trend with Derivations to the new business model.

 

All these posts are highlighting a question I’ve been pondering for awhile, but even more so recently, especially since I have Had only 1 SP stout and no Shared stouts.

Where exactly is the dividing line and whose beer is actually in the Shared bottles, and who brews it?

OWK base is in a bunch of SP beers, but also shared. I understand the relationship here is different than between two other breweries (if we can call Shared a brewery?), but I honestly don’t know really what the difference is between these. Other than that SP tends to be less heavy on the adjuncts (from what I have read?) with a greater focus on the barrel (compared to BA Shared options).

 

I know they were pretty transparent about Sulla Terra. It appeared that that was made by Brian, however, maybe the base beers were made by Cory, and the blend was made by Brian? Not exactly sure

 

There is no dividing line. Cory has something like 15 stout recipes. Any of those recipes can end up as part of a blend in any SP or Shared BA beers. For non-BA Shared Vibes releases, the base is Vibes, which is one of the 15 recipes. Collab Vibes being an exception as the base would be whatever the collab came up with

 

Very helpful, thank you.

 

probably already been touched on (had a busy work week so i kind of skimmed) but regarding stout / barleywine vs white labels: most of the white labels these days are aged in foeders so much more massive of a vessel than a bourbon or spirit barrel. they also age for a lot less (3-6 months compared to almost 2 years for the stouts / bw). i’ve also heard Cory say his yield on stouts is around 50% if he’s lucky. that includes stainless (vibes) too. and certain adjuncts soak up liquid too (coconut for sure). basically they are just more expensive to make, more time consuming to make and to age and you get less yield out of them.

 

50%? That seems crazy high. Not questioning the accuracy of your information, just stating that seems far higher than i think I’ve heard from any other brewery. I wonder why.

 

i really don’t pretend to understand any of the science behind brewing, but i swear that is what he told me at the CSV 2019 release. as far as brewing a stout goes, would it be evaporation because they boil / ferment it for so long?

 

Guesses...

Loss to evaporation in the aging barrel. The “Angel’s Share”.

The treasured higher viscosity of SP BA stouts. Less liquid, more flavor per cubic inch.

If you’ve ever been disappointed in a thin BA Stout it’s cuz that brewer is definitely targeting a price point.

 

Barrels leak, that’s part of the problem with loss during BAging.

 

this was referring to non-BA stouts though... so it’s more to do with the brewing than the aging.

 

Think it’s a much longer boil to concentrate fermentable sugars from the mash (which then convert to higher ABV via yeast). Much less liquid at the end than the start. Think, that is. Someone jump in if I’m off

 

Thanks for the correction. I misunderstood.

 

That’s the model private press is following

 

This is what I imagine it is as well, horus has some really expensive beers, mainly because of the long boil time (and liquid loss) to get the big rich stout, that sp/shared stouts also have, plus both use high quality And expensive adjuncts

 

All I know is I can't say how impressed I am with how side project/shared keeps pumping out hit after hit during the pandemic. It's been nonstop and seems like every couple weeks. I consider myself lucky for sure to be able to get their beers now through a proxy since I'm in California. On the other hand one of my favorite breweries, Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, hasn't dropped anywhere near the amount of new, sought after bottles in the past six months much to my dismay.

 

after having some big SP stout offerings, my backstock of BA Bottle Logic stuff doesnt satisfy like it used to. the discussion came up at a share, and our conclusion is that BL's yeast was attenuating too high and not leaving enough residual sugar. we guessed their goal was higher abv. however, most of us had a preference for a bit of residual sugar left in our stouts and more mouthfeel even at the expense of lower abv. google 'plato' or dive into the clusterf*&$ that is homebrewing forums, the answer is out there somewhere