Side Project Brewing (2025)

I hear ya, I definitely agree it has a bit of smokiness that most of their stouts do not, and maybe “roasty” as you mentioned is the better word for it. I think the moral of the story is I need to try another one of the Tenths soon to see if my opinion has changed! Because after swapping out the glassware that day -- it went from “head in the campfire” smoky to a much more nuanced flavor profile imo

Just had one of the Minutiae @ P3 (2024 I think) and the description of “subtle smoke” translated to roughly the subtlety of a freight train for me haha

 

The plastic cup wouldn’t concentrate the smell as much, so that probably played a role regardless of glass cleanliness/cabinet funk. There’s also something to be said about the type of smoke (“clean” vs “dirty”). With meat people normally talk about it as the taste, but in beer in seems like people talk about it more as the “light and leaves the palate quickly” on one end of the spectrum vs “smoke and meat” on the other. I had a smoked lager - and I hate smoked beer - recently that was so refreshing and clean. It wasn’t just palatable; it had me wanting more. Didn’t know that could happen in a smoked beer.

 

Public sale of The Blend packages tomorrow

 

Crazy that Oude Fermier used to be one of the most sought after sours and the pinnacle of side projects saison lineup and now it's lumped in a package and doesn't even get a word in the announcement today. I haven't had this one obviously but the most recent blend was still really really good.

 

Slightly tempted to buy a bottle of The Blend for my office shelf.

How much was the package for LC?

 

$110+

 

Given that 3 bottles on the store are now “out of stock” I’m wondering if the public bundle has those added in

 

I love a good conspiracy theory.

 

Wow. They offered the public the exact same package. Definitely thought they'd add more to it.

 

Grabbed one. Seemed like the right blend of things I want:

1. Cool airplane
2. No adjuncts
3. Excuse to take GF to SP in our next visit to STL

 

I can get behind that package. Oude Fermier is one of my fav saisons. I just wonder if these packages are starting to hurt/delay some of their saison sales just because people (like me) wait to buy them until packages because I don’t want to buy 2 and then get 2 packages that include 2 more.

 

See they’re releasing a 12 anniversary Barleywine. Gonna cross my fingers but I ain’t gonna hold my breath.

 

Pretty wild to look at the beers available and see

• The Blend Package
• Coconut Vibes
• Marble Lions
• Redux
• Continuance Package
• With Tarpey package

I know this has been discussed ad nauseam, but 'the reckoning' with prices and packages is happening a little faster than (at least I) expected. I will say, if those 3 non-BA stouts were in $40/(12-oz) 4-packs, $40/(16-oz) 2-packs, or $15/375ml, they would sell so much better. Coconut vibes is the only one that I *might* spend the money on, because I can have like 6oz a night for 4 nights and be totally satisfied. -But, there's a local shop that has coconut medianoche for $25/500ml. Essentially the same price, but one can be purchased locally, and arguably at least as good if not a better beer (and actually has some BA flavor, so a more expensive beer to produce and more enjoyable to consume). Plus, that would support my local bottle shop. Not even sure I will, just saying that these type of decisions exist more each day, and it won't be long before something else at SP has to change. Just not sure what direction we'll see it go.

 

Yeah great point @ the vessel shape/type. I don't think that was the whole story (bc I've replicated the effect at home with glasses from my similarly-musty cabinet) — but on Tenth Stout release day, I think there was definitely at least *some* impact from that!

Man I hadn't considered that at all, and that's a great point too. I'm sure that you're not the only person out there who feels the exact same way. It was nice to see a different pattern with The Blend + OF '23 *both* being exclusive to that package (for now, at least...) but on average, the pattern you're describing makes a lot of sense.

 

SP really has already shifted to seemingly be a neighborhood staple with all the food options. Plus ditching Shared (??) to produce non-BA beers under the SP label. Plus they ditched 4pck packages for 2 bottle packages, even for the annual big hitter - BBT. It seems like they're making efforts to simplify and update.

Tough part is their initial market was exclusivity at the near peak of craft beer popularity, then it was hype, then it was easy whiskey trading beers. Now craft beer hype and whiskey trading have tanked. They probably burned some bridges in the initial package offerings, stacking loyal customers up with multiples of the same beer. At least other memberships offer malty only (and BA only) beers.

But I do lament on the changes in craft beer to my craft beer friend often. It will always be wild to me how much the landscape has changed.

 

SP stouts used to be so much better than anyone else’s, but it seems like a lot of places have caught up, at least to my palette. Very few of the dark malty beers lately have blown me away, and there is an excess of other cheaper options that taste almost as good if not better.

 

True, but i also value consistency from SP. i know pretty much any ba stout they make im gonna enjoy, and one or twice a year i get floored by a dbd artifact, etc.

 

Yes, agreed. AM's and BKS's BA beers are 85% if not more of SP. Pathlight's (RIP) No Touchy BA Barleywine was compared with Anabasis - favorably at that. The fact that you can get good BA beer without a huge inflation in price per ounce and/or a membership without unwanted bottles really has really relocated the desire for a lot of SP stuff.

Jaded take, but I always admired that SP was a BA only brewery. Serving up non-BA beer really undercuts their image.

As @BarnyardPhunk mentioned, the biggest thing going for SP is their top notch consistency in blending. Keeps all their products really excellent (except Derivation Grand Cru.)

 

I totally agree with this. Don’t like the move away from BA-only.

 

It’s not like SP hasn’t been serving up non BA beer for almost nine years already, whether under their name or Shared.


But yes, I would say other breweries definitely closed the gap over the past decade.