You may remember Side Project Brewing from SAVOR this year...they brought an awesome barleywine as well as their "Oud Fermier", which I found fantastic. Well, they're only a few miles down the road from Urban Chestnut, the subject of my last post, so why not! Hopped in an Uber and made it to the brewery.
Closed that day.
Bummer! I did discover, however, that a few blocks away was Side Project's other location, The Side Project Cellar. Open for business that day, and pouring beers. Let's do it!
I met up with a former colleague, and we had a nice sampling of what they had to offer. The taproom, if you can call it that, is a cozy and chic tasting area with a generous spread of whiskeys and other distilled spirits. I'm not here for any draft beer, though - I'm here for the bottle library.
The raison d'etre here are bottle-conditioned beers, many of which spend quite a while mellowing. These are usually northwestern European styles, and are often served in 750mL formats. Their list of bottles available was respectable but not overwhelming, and I settled on the "Saison du Fermier Blend #6", a 7.00% ABV saison aged for 10 months in Pinot Noir puncheons, then bottle conditioned for 3 months. Apparently they typically use Chardonnay casks to age their saisons, which makes sense given the complementary flavor profiles of Chardonnay and that style of beer. I believe they use spelt as the base, and also wild Missouri yeast.
Pours swiftly into tulip glasses and generates thick, lacy foam.
Fantastic! Some heavy wood character on this, more so than some of their other offerings (I also had the "Biere du Pays" and the "Provence Blueberry Rosehip".) I'm getting a main backbone of open fermented tartness, but more rounded, and deep in flavor. It's less piquant than their lighter, more fruit forward offerings. The touch of pinot sweetness mellows out the more astringent notes you might find, as well, and makes this beer wonderful to savor.
Tabitha and Roilen behind the bar took great care of us, and I do believe Side Project deserves to be on any beer lover's list if they travel to The Gateway City. Bottle-fermented beers and Belgian/Flanders styles are really worth investigating if you haven't already, and it's cool that there's a whole place dedicated just to it!
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