Side Project Brewing attracted intense interest even before the first drop of beer left its taproom. People began lining up outside The Side Project Cellar in St. Louis the evening before its first scheduled bottle release, which was set for noon the next day, for a chance to taste what Founder/Brewer/Blender Cory King had been up to.
King had a well-established reputation as head brewer at Perennial Artisan Ales, where he developed beers such as Abraxas and Savant Beersel that helped to put Perennial on the map. And now that he was going out on his own with Side Project, expectations were through the roof.
“It was crazy,” King says. “Our first release was tiny—we’re talking five total oak barrels of three different beers—so a lot of people didn’t even get some of the beers they wanted because we ran out. It was definitely eye-opening. But I guess the beers tasted good because people came back.”