Side Project Brewing (2025)

Unless they're leveraging these to offload too much sour stock. Maybe that was the goal.

 

Counting in-person and the LC sale, this is the third bite at the apple or a lot of people for the Double Rye, Double Vanilla.

I assumed DB Willett would sell fast. I think that's the only one that didn't get extended during stout week.

 

There were at least 1300 packages (total).

1. SP give absolutely zero fucks about LC. There isn't 1 single thing SP did during the last LC year that gives any indication that LC was anything but an afterthought. There was nothing "special" about it. Repeated opportunities to do something, and nothing but a big FU.
2. They apparently refuse (too fucking stubborn?) to produce the amount of sours that equals demand. -At this point, I'm kind of assuming they need the revenue and can't afford to let sours sit without packaging them.

I'm not actually convinced they they will "fill up" LC this year. I think the # of LC will be less than last year. -And, I sincerely hope they don't.

 

Doesn’t make any sense at all. Had plenty to supply the LC 1 per right before asking for a new membership fee and chose not to after a full year of overall disappointment (for most anyway). Only thing that makes sense is that they needed those anchors to move sours (as mentioned above), but why do they keep making more sours that they can’t even move without attaching to a big stout??

 

Than why not sell them in packs in person too?

 

All I really wanted was the Willet, so just bought one and moved on thinking it’d go quick… went back 15 minutes later and figured screw it, I’ll take a DB Generational

 

I’m just happy that the sours are all mild and approachable and reasonably cheap. I’ll enjoy all of these packages. When I see a 375 stout with $75 of grapefruit saison and an experimental pulling nails entry I pass

 

Rye Vanilla is sold out.

 

And if you think about it, LC is a way for them to dump several sours to each member as included that wouldn't otherwise move. I like their sours and I'm done complaining about LC. I still plan to buy their beer and I'm not bitter just don't think the membership is a good fit for me. As soon as I drop, I'm sure members will get MJK or something... always how it goes but my beer FOMO days are over. Too many good beers to worry about ticking them all.

 

Have to wonder if the Perennial model is the future of LC. They shifted SdC to include 12 BA beers and no sours.

Sprinkle in some lagers and a hop or two and I'd prepay for a decade of that.

 

Honestly, I don't think there is a capacity for LC to 'fill up.' At this point, it's a cash cow for SP to cash in on an interest free loan at the end of Q1 and capture an audience to offload ~$250 worth of sours onto over the course of 12 months. So long as they can maintain a semi-stable LC membership count, there won't be any meaningful changes. With distro happening elsewhere, I would not be surprised to see a wider net getting the LC invite.

DB Willet is looking at me with tempting eyes though.

 

That's the reason I stuck to Madera membership.

If SP did something similar, it would be pretty epic, though it'd only translate to about 5 beers at current bottle prices. I did mention in my list of reasons for leaving that a single DB malty beer included in the membership would have me reevaluating my decisions.

 

That’s my question.

 

I bought all 3 packages. Surprised they lasted this long. TG definitely the king of stouts now, SP is nowhere near it in terms of demand.

 

Got everything I wanted, and a little extra with the money I’m saving by not renewing. Bummer how LC has played out, but looking forward to 2025 and sure there’ll be plenty of bangers. Downers aside, man I’m excited for these stout week bottles.

 

I have my issues with how they've handled some releases but it's crazy that anyone can see making more volume and variety of great beer as a way to lose esteem. A week ago people couldn't stop gushing about how great DB Generational was and now it's in the online shop for 4 hours and Side Project has fallen off?

PS Toppling Goliath released 5 stouts in the last year that cracked a 4.5 on Untappd. Side Project has released 12 since BBT weekend not including Silent Barrels

 

Yeah, well...my dad can beat up your dad.

 

How many stouts/BWs did TG put out in the last 12 months? I don't have a good feel for that other than what goes public. I feel like TG hasn't done much on the BW front and SP has crushed the BW scene. Also, do we know the quantity going out the door of stouts? It seems that SP has really upped their production of malty stuff per release. Also, I see Term Oil sit on shelfs locally... and I'd be curious on production numbers of Assassin and KBBS. I am in the minority and I'm also past my days of being interested in a maple stout, but I think KBBS is just OK. Off the top of my head I don't know how many BA Stouts SP dropped this year but I'd guess it was quite a few more than TG. I think demand for BA stouts is down across the board...