Side Project / Shared (2020)

It's a dick move to give LC members no limit and not have a public release. That's all I'm saying. The fact that people could buy a case is crazy when it didn't go public.

 

Members have had to buy every non BA Shared bottle this year (except for the old LC/CSV & now Achromatic) and Sulla Terra in bundles.


Not to mention a lot of members are still buying these bundles anyway, myself included.

 

Good lord

 

Man, this just reeks of entitlement. Most of this stuff would probably be member/on-site only if it wasn't for Covid, so, as a guy from FL, I am super happy to have access to this stuff, even if I don't have access to everything and/or miss out on some of it.

 

I didn’t get an invite and I was on the waiting list. So it’s not unheard of...

 

"Congrats on becoming a member! To show our appreciation for supporting our brewery for many years, we will give you an opportunity to purchase our limited releases bundled with three other beers. It doesn't matter how many of these bundled beers you've already purchased, this is the only way to buy our limited stouts/barleywines. Meanwhile, we're going to sell single bottles to the general public and allow anyone to proxy for the buyer. Congrats again!"

That makes sense to you?

 

anyone else think it’s time for a Shared Oktoberfest / Marzen Lager?

 

Well said as fellow FL guy

 

If a bottle is offered to members and offered to the public as a package, members should have to pay the same package, yep. Makes sense to me.

There's no entitlement here - I'm not even competing to try to purchase these. It's not like I think I should be entitled to bottles, I just think it's shocking that virtually everything related to LC/SP is tilted in favor of LC members, and there's virtually no clap back. . It's just crazy to me that no other thread is as homerish as the SP thread, and virtually any other brewery out there gets way more shit for way less than SP in their threads. As an example, no one really talked about the Tete incident; but had that happened to another brewery it would have devolved into a shit storm.

Historically, there's been almost nothing but praise across the board for SP in all the SP threads. No matter the issue, somehow there's this mindest that SP can do no wrong. I just don't get it. Everyone has faults, but SP/Cory's are seemingly always overlooked; why is that?

 

I really hope you never find out that Modern Times has a membership or how theirs works.

 

SP has not been devoid of criticism, however, they usually take the feedback (where it makes sense) and make the system better. At first, the releases were a free-for-all. Now, there's a proxy and a non-proxy link with extra effort involved via an additional step that a human has to complete. All of this was done to actually help people buy their beer. That to me, should be commended. And where they have failed, they generally have apologized. The Black is Beautiful can release comes to mind where Cory apologized for it going up the day before he said it would. There's absolutely no reason for Side Project to have to explain why they did the Tete release the way they did. None. Not everything is going to get a public sale, so the sooner that is accepted, the better off you'll be.

There are perks to every membership. Why is it a huge shocker that one of them happens to be that members don't have to buy beer packages? Again, as others have stated in this thread, the members will generally buy the bundles as well. Some of the big releases have been public only anyways, which requires members to buy the same packages as us plebs. Sulla Terra and CdC B3 come to mind. At the end of the day, if the bundles upset you, just skip them and buy all of the other easy to get delicious beers that stay on the webstore for days if not longer.

 

because the very next week you can try your luck with the next big release. idk if it’s just where things are at in relation to how long SP has been open now or just perfect timing of barrel stock maturing, but they have stepped their game up for covid times. people from CA to NY to FL are getting BA stouts and saisons shipped to their friggin door. a couple of great white label saisons is a small price to pay, at least to me.

 

Hell yes. I love Okatz and some others (Mother's might be my favorite), but Shared would be a must-drink.

 

Brewer Drew can do it! he’s the Shared “lager guy” right? someone with some pull talk to Cory and the team please.

 

Lol. What’s the point of having a loyal group/membership if they’re aren’t any perks?

The Tete situation is being way overblown here. They’re we’re 400 bottles left. A very small amount to have an online beer sale for. So they sold them to members at no limit. Most of the 600 members just grabbed 1-2 more. Maybe 1-2 took advantage of the moment. It wasn’t a FU to anyone and suggesting such is childish.

And SP catches just as much grief as anyone on social media from people who miss out on bottles/and how they handle releases.

 

I guess I’ll take the unpopular opinion here and admit that this year’s Tete release method was disappointing. Not so much to me, as I wasn’t expecting to get one in the first place, but more so to the non-LC locals. Tete is arguably SP’s best saison (let’s ignore Oude Fermier ), and every prior release the public had been given a chance to score a bottle. With ~1500 bottles, I expect there could have been a solution that could have satisfied more people (say 1 pp for LC, and 900 public bottles). While that didn’t happen, I’m not losing any sleep over it.

Overall, the fact is SP has been doing an absolutely killer job of adapting their strategy during COVID. Just so many crazy drops week after week, and the fact that I can personally score most of these world class beers, sitting on my butt in California, is truly remarkable. While they haven’t been perfect, they’ve definitely been listening and improving, and I totally respect that.

 

Next anti-bot question: “What percentage of Tete de Cuvee 2018 is Tete de Cuvee?”

 

The bundles are pretty whack. I remember the first time I bought KBS 8 years ago I had to buy a 6 pack of Founders to purchase. I never went back to that liquor store. If people are happy buying them then that's great but it seems like a cash grab.

 

The packages are in place because of Covid. These beers are normally released on site and when people come for those sales they spend money on draft pours and grab bottles. It's a necessary practice for them and any reasonable person can see that.