Side Project / Shared (2022)

Black & Wild B3 to go @ the cellar! Go get some dark fruits and visit their IG for more info cheers BA

 

Gonna wait on that Pulling Nails until it eventually ends up in a package!

 

Can someone explain to me why the packages still exist other than it being a complete money grab? They were touted as a way to help Side Project pay their employees and bartenders during covid back in 2020. Cory mentioned the loss in revenue due to people not being able to come in and have pours or on-site bottles. Feels like the Illinois tollroads that were supposed to be paid off in X number of years....

 

ISO news about what Saturday’s release actually is

 

Please oh please NOT the next batch of BA Coco Vibes…unless it also comes to LC

 

i’m thinking (hoping) we’ll know by tomorrow afternoon

 

Lol toll road being paid off

 

I think the last reason given that holds weight is it deters flippers. So I guess if someone buys one and his wife, and his neighbor for the sole purpose of flipping, It’ll be 12 bottles and spending $400 plus for 3 bottles to flip for bourbon

 

Was this actually a reason given by Cory? or is this others speculation on the reason?

 

Well if he allows someone not present at SP to purchase a bottle (that would also sell out in person if he so chose to release it that way) that loss in revenue still exists......

It's his business. Don't buy the package if it bothers you, someone else absolutely will.

 

I think the point being made was the packages were explained as necessary when they weren't open and I think many were under the impression when they reopened packages would be a thing of the past. Now they are open 7 days a week between the two locations and packages are still even more prevalent.

 

I don't recall anyone saying that. Again, selling stouts online didn't exist before. He could sell every single one in Maplewood. And people would be there buying onsite bottle and getting pours while they did..... If a stout is sold on webstore those are revenues he/his staff are missing out on. That's all pretty easy to follow.

 

I'm not so sure that's true anymore. Locals seem to take the ability to try damn near any release on-site for weeks on end that it's probably no exaggeration to say that 50% of the typical hype crowd wouldn't even care to line up for bottle releases anymore. IMO larger volumes of bottles would hang around for longer than they'd prefer.

Couple that with the fact that the entire limited beer scene is taking a continuous, slow motion nosedive thanks to the same recipe so many breweries are seeing around the country: there's quality barrel aged beer to be found around every corner, and many consumers simply can't keep up anymore.

Despite the pandemic, or maybe because of it, a lot of cellars have actually swelled over the last two years. More geeks seem to be looking to consolidate and offload rather than acquire and accumulate. Especially those trying to cut calories and waste lines while shifting focus to whiskey and wine.

 

Well the IP release this weekend will be a good barometer to that opinion. A lot of what you wrote is true but so far SP is more of the exception than the rule. I don't think they'd have any trouble moving any on site BA stout release over a weekend. That would result in said on site pours/bottles and to go sales.

 

I do remember part of the discussion about packages being related to the fact that they were closed; however, no mention was ever made that that was going to change when they did, in fact, reopen. That thought was definitely a premature belief made by some at that moment. However, @Readmorevols is correct in that this is Cory & Karen's business, and outside of their employees and potentially some investors, they don't really owe it to anyone to run it a particular way. They are creating a product that has significant demand; and frankly, they're not stupid and ignorant to what a lot of their stouts/barleywines fetch on the secondary market, which, as mentioned above, is lost profit.

I personally think SP has does an incredible job navigating the balance & transition from a small, niche brewery into a growing & sustainable business model. Excluding LC, they continue to support their loyal local customers w/ frequent access to all their beers, including their incredible BA stouts/barleywines, package-free, w/ the only caveat that they need to be consumed on-site. They've also been doing cellar in-person to-go sales, and are restarting their in-person brewery stout releases.

Then, they made the amazing decision to allow people from across the country (& world) to participate in purchasing their beers, but again, w/ the caveat that some of the more desirable beers being a part of a package to help showcase some less sought after styles. BTW, it's not like the beers you're getting in the package are trash. Whether that was done to help curb some of the secondary price gouging that was going on, who knows, but let's not forget that it wasn't too long ago where this option didn't even exist.

And look, I get it, we want prices to remain the same, but that's not realistic, especially w/ the current economy & out of control inflation. The packages aren't cheap, but again, it's not like you're paying all that cost for one single beer, unlike some other breweries. At the end of the day, they're not going to make everyone happy, that's impossible. But cheers to Cory, Karen, & the entire SP crew for at least trying!

 

To your point though, I'm not driving the 7 hours up. Because i think it will be BA Ambiente and I'll be able to attain it rather easily. I'll be rather upset with my self if its RBBT2 though.

 

Happened in Virginia Beach. The Norfolk-VA beach toll road was paid off and now it’s free. That’s the exception and not the rule. I remember I80 in Ohio’s contract was up and they said it we close it we will have to raise taxes to cover the cost or we can keep it a toll road and it’s still a toll road.

 

Below is what @coryking said about it in an old thread.

“Our new model is the COVID model, hoping one day, we can adjust to some kind of new normal that is both on-site releases and maybe some online releases.”

I think with their move to a better online system, it’s become easier for them. So I think maybe became certainly. In the thread he also mentions people getting to try beers they normally couldn’t (me being one). More in person to-go packages have increased as time goes on, and now the in person BA Stout release.

It seems to me they are figuring out what works best for them and listening to feedback from customers. They know they can’t make everyone happy, but are mixing it up more and more in attempt to please the majority.

 

ISO all flippers' unwanted white labels. You can drop them off on my doorstep, no questions asked. Because I want society to be a better place.

 

Of course. It'll be dependent upon batch size, but otherwise, agreed, I'm interested to see what the weekend brings.

And SP may have been the exception to the rule for a longer span of time than what dozens of other early hype breweries enjoyed across the country, but that can only last so long, as those breweries can attest to. In particular, upon expanding or successfully making their limited or barrel aged programs more accessible, perceived hype has never failed to drop, even if quality remained consistent or even improved.

Yet shit does happen, and the quality of product some breweries put out may not always entirely hold up, as subjectively was the case during certain spans for breweries like Firestone Walker, Goose Island or Bruery. Still, breweries like Revolution, Cigar City, Fremont, and several others continue to put out exceptional barrel aged product, some of which gets significant distribution, yet they've simmered down to minimal or almost no hype, outside of perhaps an annual release, if that. Where insta-sellout was once taken for granted, it's now management of inventory, and making sure you aren't over leveraging resources and taking up space at the expense of cheaper, more movable product.

Many other breweries began utilizing the online proxy method for limited releases during the pandemic, while also expanding output only slightly before Side Project seems to have, and they are finding that they can't look back at this point because the demand isn't there locally. The definitions of success, quality and hype don't always entirely overlap, but at some point, it will begin to feel like a top-heavy pursuit, if it hasn't already, as people can only drink so much liquid malt, and something's got to give. It's a good problem for the consumer to have, but it also explains why packages remain when almost no one else does that. The outsiders looking in still view the malty bottles more as a commodity, and they are keeping that engine fueled.