The Side Project Cellar 5-Year Anniversary Celebration

Draft Cooler Construction – October 2014

About five years ago, I was loving my job with Deschutes Brewery. Cory was working full time at Perennial Artisan Ales and in every spare moment he had, he would be at the future Side Project Cellar working to get it open. I’d drive straight to Maplewood from a week selling beer in Kansas to find my husband drilling pallet wood onto our draft cooler or putting together the shelving in our beer cellar. One long evening, we were grateful to get the help of my father Phil Ivers and Doug Teramura as we unwrapped every single chair box and put those chairs together piece by piece. (Those original chairs have since been retired. RIP.) We were thrilled to be working toward Side Project Brewing having its own identity, The Side Project Cellar.

We opened our doors at The Side Project Cellar on November 11, 2014. And by “we” I mean three employees plus Cory and me. Big shout out to Shae Smith who’s been with us since that very first day! In five short years we’ve gone from three wonderful employees to 12. We’ve also grown from just two Side Project drafts on that first day to 12 Side Project or Shared draft options today. Some of you might remember that we also had ZERO To-Go beer for those first couple years! We were also thrilled to build our own brewery in the same Maplewood neighborhood with an additional tasting room.

We are grateful for all the support from customers, friends and family. We are so appreciative we were able to build a place where Cory could showcase his blending talents with our original “white label” beers and our personal favorites like Grisette, Saison du Fermier and Marietta Ave. And I’m happy to have a place where I get to organize things (literally my favorite thing in the world!) and get to chat with you all, happy people enjoying good beer, whiskey and wine in our cozy setting at The Side Project Cellar.

On an even more personal note, we are so grateful to our employees. Because of them, Cory and I have been so lucky to have two children in the last three years. Having our incredible employees has allowed me to have two maternity leaves and just the flexibility that’s needed with having young children. We can always trust that Side Project is in good hands with our talented work family.

Sorry for the personal ditty, but my overall point is that Cory and I have a lot to celebrate! It’s been a wonderful five years at The Side Project Cellar! So let’s do it – let’s celebrate, Everyone!

Read on for our Cellar Anniversary Week schedule. And an endless thank you for all the love & encouragement over the last five years!

-Karen King

ALL BEERS LISTED BELOW ARE DRAFT:

Tuesday, Nov. 5th: Tilquin Tuesday!

All tapped at 3pm:

• Tilquin Mûre (Blackberry Lambic!)

• Tilquin Quetsche (Plum Lambic!)

• Tilquin Gueuze (Lambic!)

Wednesday, Nov. 6th: Vintage SP Night!

• 3pm: SP Blueberry Flanders Blend #1 (OUR FINAL KEG OF BLEND #1, Kegged the year we opened – 2014!)

• 6pm: SP Derivation Blend #Surprise

Thursday, Nov. 7th: #BarleywineIsLife Thursday!

• 3pm: Firestone Walker Sucaba 2014 (Seriously one of the very first kegs that was delivered to The Side Project Cellar!)

• 3pm: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Barleywine 2014 (Have you noticed our 2014 theme yet?)

• 5pm: Shared Sulla Terra!

Friday, Nov. 8th: BBT Vertical Night!

• 4pm: SP Beer : Barrel : Time 2017

• 5pm: SP Beer : Barrel : Time 2018

Saturday, Nov. 9th: 5-Year Anniversary Celebration! OPEN 12pm to 8pm

(The Brewery Tasting Room will be CLOSED Sat, Nov. 9th.)

Note: The City of Maplewood has granted us some access to the street in front of The Side Project Cellar for overflow party time space! All three of the following beers will be tapped inside and outside! So bring your coat and warm up with some Side Project Barrel-Aged Stout either inside The Side Project Cellar or outside on Marietta Ave 🙂

• 2pm: SP 4 Candles

• 3pm: SP 5 Candles

• 4pm: SP 6 Candles DEBUT!

• Additional drafts will be flowing inside and outside from 12pm to 8pm!

Note: Due to the celebration indoors and outdoors, all beers will be poured in plastic cups 11/9. No glassware.

Whoop whoop!

We are going to be digging out a lot of beer over the next week, so if we need to make any changes, I will post them on this blog post. It’s going to be a fun week of celebrating! Thank you!