Arsenic Culture

Side Project Shin Shin: Pronounced SHEEN SHEEN, You Plebian | Review

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Jason and Jordon sit down to review Side Project’s Shin Shin, one of the brewery’s newest and most talked-about dessert stouts. We break down the sweetness, barrel character, viscosity, mouthfeel, chocolate profile, and how Shin Shin stacks up against other Side Project classics.

Is this a must-buy release… or one you can safely skip?


#SideProject #ShinShin #BeerReview #CraftBeer #StoutReview #ArsenicCulture

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Speaker:

That's kind of weird, but uh, I think the key part of that was I can't get that open up

Speaker 2:

few moments later.

Speaker:

Seamless. Welcome back to our Senate culture for this review. I am Jason Jordan. And we got Jordan with us. No, Matt today. So it's just me and Jordan. We're gonna try to hold the fort down though, you know?

Speaker 3:

Yeah. It's tough to fill in for such big shoes on the show, you know?

Speaker:

Yeah, it's, uh, it's a lot, it's a lot to do. We took this about 45 minutes to get the camera set up, but, uh, we got it and probably the audio might not be as good. Have a little bit different mics today. But, uh, Matt let us borrow the cameras, but gave us the crappier audio, so thanks, I guess. Yeah. Thanks Matt. All right, so today. We're gonna review a beer. This one is from side project. It's, it's spelled hin hin. S-H-I-N-S-H-I-N. Pronounced Sheen. Sheen. Um, I think one thing about Side Project, go ahead. Oh, like Charlie Sheen? Yes. Okay. Yes. So Sheen Sheen. I think one thing about Side Project I've learned is that they're very, they have some weird pronunciations. Um, and like Anabasis.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I think you've called it Anabasis.

Speaker 3:

Yeah,

Speaker:

ABAs. I've heard it called

Speaker 3:

Anabasis,

Speaker:

right? Yeah. And, and when you go there, they're nice ish, but they'll definitely correct you, you know what I mean? Like for pronunciations,

Speaker 3:

they, they're not redneck friendly, you know?

Speaker:

No, not at all. Not at all. So I got to have this one up there. Me and Bill went up there. I had the, the Lako, I think is how you say it. So I got a membership this year and we got to go up there. I had the membership party had several beers on draft. Um, I couldn't take a plus one, so that's one negative I would say about it. I thought the venue size being small, that's the reason why they didn't want you to, but when we got there, it's pretty big. They did three different sessions, so there's really enough time to do it or enough space to do it. They just didn't, I guess, want to mess with that crowd. So that was kinda weird, but. Uh, I think the key part of that was, I can't get that open now.

Speaker 2:

Few moments later,

Speaker:

seamless after, uh, about an hour and some scraped knuckles.

Speaker 3:

Yeah,

Speaker:

we got open.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. You know, and that one even had the tape on it, but, uh, it did. I guess the opener doesn't do well on, uh, the small opening, uh, bottles like that.

Speaker:

It's tough. It's a tough one. So we'll tell you a little bit about this beer here. So this one's a double barrel aged imperial stout. It's got sump coffee that's conditioned on and then barrel maple syrup. So it kind of similar to me to like A-K-B-B-S from Toping Goliath. So one of theirs, it's 16% A BV. On untapped, it's averaging a 4.75 out of five with 115 ratings. So pretty good. Nice. Um, this is the first time they bottled it. They did make this one before in 2023, but they released this one first time bottle when we were there for the Lakota RI party. So it's been about three weeks or so. Um, you wanna take a stab at what the cost on this was? This is a 500 milliliter bottle. Yeah. What do you think? Shoot for the stars.$75 Close. Uh, 65.

Speaker 3:

Oh, I was gonna say 65. Yeah. That didn't seem like a brewery number, honestly. Yeah. So

Speaker:

one 30? Actually no. What would, what would be seven 50? Be It'd be about 90 bucks. A seven 50 About time and a half. What? This is

Speaker 3:

sounds right.

Speaker:

Quite a bit. Quite a bit. Um, do you know what the name means? It's a Japanese writing Japanese name. Any idea?

Speaker 3:

I have no clue about it. Uh, no. Inside project is deep meaning.

Speaker:

Well, there's, there it is. It's a cool meaning. Um, so there's not a lot of information about this beer online. I had to, there's a video about three minutes long or something. Corey King talking about it. Corey talking. Yeah. So she, sheen is the Japanese word. For the sound that falling snow makes. So I, I can actually hear that. I mean, like, you know, growing up and stuff, it's like that really eerily quiet. Yeah. With like, you just hear that like a little bit of raking, like, just kinda like coming through. Yeah. Very interesting. So what do you think on the nose? Have you have you's smelled it? It's

Speaker 3:

every, like, you already know it's gonna be outstanding just off the nose alone. Yeah, I mean it's, uh. It's borderline soy on the nose. Yep. Like soy sauce. But, uh, man, the, the thing that hits me first is that coffee though.

Speaker:

Yeah. I think, uh, I think a lot of the really good stouts, the big barrel aged stouts, so the ones with the thick mouth fill, they borderline on that soy. Especially with adjuncts, right? Yeah. I think if dark Lord, um, from three Floyds, I think the base dark Lord is pretty awful. It's mediocre at best. But some of the barrel ways dark lords fantastic.

Speaker 3:

Now, 20 years ago, dark Lord was ahead of its time. Was it? You know?

Speaker:

That's right. That's right.

Speaker 3:

But uh, I'm getting some similar notes to that. I don't give much of the, what was it? Barrel age maple syrup.

Speaker:

Barrel age maple syrup and s coffee.

Speaker 3:

But you know what, I appreciate that because if it had the fake maple syrup, you could all, you could just, that'd be the only thing you would smell in it.

Speaker:

Yeah. Agreed. So talk a little bit about the blend on this one. So this is a blend of double and then single barrel aged imperial stouts. So what I think that means is like he's got a double imperial stout and then a single imperial stout, right? Like it's less of a base. I guess he's blended it together. But before he did that, all these were aged in, will it five year bourbon barrels. Um, there was only four barrels total, so I'm assuming he probably kept back. What do you think a barrel's worth for draft, at least?

Speaker 3:

Well, I think they didn't

Speaker:

have it on draft when we went there.

Speaker 3:

I think if he's, uh, I think knowing him and how long he ages barrels. Mm-hmm. I bet he just did maybe a two barrel blend and kept two barrels back for something else. Some sort of blend into another stout, you know, and I think, you know, a four barrel blend in, uh. 500 milliliter bottles. Yeah, that's a lot of bottles. That's a lot of bottles. So I don't think he intended to release that many bottles. I bet he's keeping some back for a blend in the future.

Speaker:

So they released this one at the brewery and we were at the cellar. We got there, you know, at a little bit of time. I figured it's plenty of time I've been to side project releases. They used to be crazy people camping out overnight, stuff like that. I feel like beers died down a lit a lot. It's died down enough to the point where I don't have to stand in line for that amount of time. So we went in there, it was raining, and we sat at the bar, had a few drinks, shared a few pours of people there, and then I walked outside in the rain with my rain jacket on, walked straight to the back and got bottles limit six per person.

Speaker 3:

Oh.

Speaker:

But I mean, at $65 a pop. That's true. You know,

Speaker 3:

and you know, now you say six per person. Mm-hmm. Maybe he did the, uh, make, I don't know. But, uh, did they, did they sell out? Uh,

Speaker:

so. They didn't, they never said they were sold out. I think what it showed you was, even though there was a lot of hype right there, a lot of people in town for La Coing stuff, everybody got bottles. I don't think anybody went without, they just kinda like shut down the back where they were selling 'em at the back door. But I'm sure if you wanted some

Speaker 3:

yeah,

Speaker:

you could have got one.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. And we kind of talked about this off camera, uh, one of the last times we filmed the episode and you know, Matt. He'll scoff at the price of bourbons, but to me, I'd rather pay $200 for a fifth. That's gonna last me a while.

Speaker:

Great point.

Speaker 3:

Than 65. I mean, it's great to share with you. Yeah. And I'm glad you shared it with me, but it's 65 is just dust in the air right now, you know, but it's, it's a very good beer. Yeah.

Speaker:

Uh, two things. I agree with that. So two things about that, I would say with B bourbon and beer. Once I open this beer, it's over. Like I can't drink it again. I mean, I guess I could recap it, but it's not gonna be nearly as good. It's not gonna last more than a day or two, you know, with that bourbon hell, I can have it for years. Yeah. I mean it changing the bottle, but still,

Speaker 3:

and I'll always pay it once. If it's something I really wanna try, I'm definitely gonna pay it. Yeah. You know, 65. For an experience like this, especially if somebody's never had something like this, it's definitely worth.

Speaker:

Sure. Trying. Sure. So what they did after this, those will it five year bourbon barrels, after they aged it and blended it, they added sump coffee and then a barrel aged maple syrup. So the sump coffee was a special blend of sump, three different coffee rows. Uh, Corey told what the names were, but I, he had a hard time pronouncing 'em. I wasn't gonna try. But what he did say on there was that. Some of the best coffee to age beer on or condition beer on is not the same coffee you would drink. So it makes me think maybe it's overly bitter or something different. Roast, you know, 'cause some coffee you get it's not very good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker:

Um, but I like some coffee so I'm betting they made some kind of weird roast just for him to get those effects he wanted.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. You know, there was a coffee I got from intelligentsia once. Yeah. Uh, and it had famous

Speaker:

for in Bourbon County. Yeah. And, and

Speaker 3:

it. Had like, uh, aromatics and flavors of. Like grapefruit and hops and I thought this is kind of an odd coffee, like once I brewed it. But yeah, I, I get what, uh, Corey's saying there, like there's probably as many different coffee varietals out there that there is hops in the world, you know, a hundred percent

Speaker:

and different. Like probably more. Probably more.'cause you know, the other thing is you can roast them to different degrees, right. Like thinking true a char level, you know. Um, he did say drink fresh, but it's done very well from aging from the previous batch. I guess he kept some in kegs from 2023'cause I know they didn't bottle any.

Speaker 3:

So a question.

Speaker:

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3:

So does he add, I'm sorry, I might have spaced out, but does, does he add the, the coffee in the barrel with the beer? Or like, does he add it secondarily because a lot, like a lot of breweries for a coffee beer mm-hmm. They'll add it right before package to have that biggest kick of coffee flavor.

Speaker:

Correct. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

This one seems, you can smell it really, really. Great on the nose, but it seems a little more subdued in the, in the foot. A hundred

Speaker:

percent. I think it's, it's very well blended with that maple syrup too. So what he says is conditioned on. So I guess just take that how you will, but I'm with you. Every coffee, beer I've had, to my knowledge, even Bourbon County Coffee from Goose Allen back in the day that was aged, I think fresh on that. Inte Jesse a coffee. So I would assume he did it right before packaging

Speaker 3:

probably. So

Speaker:

it's not, it's not hitting you in the face though. It's very balanced. No, no.

Speaker 3:

No.

Speaker:

So if you, I think you had KBBS with us, right? From topping glass? Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

Uh, it's, it's been a couple years. So would you compare this to that? Like what do you, what do you think similarities, differences?

Speaker 3:

I mean, I, I think mouth fill on this is better than that from what I remember.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

This has a thick, oily, I mean, it's leaving, you know, brown stain on the glass Oh, sure. When you, when you drink it. Um. I, I actually really appreciate that the coffee on the flavor is not overtaking the whole beer, and more of that maple has come through. Mm-hmm. As you sip the beer more and more.

Speaker:

It's a little cold too.'cause I had on the ice at home, it brought it here in the cooler with no ice in it, but probably a little bit colder. And it's cold outside where we're at. Yeah. But we had it on from a bottle there. I don't think they were supposed to open it on site, but maybe some of the guys we met were a little too tipsy and, uh, decided to open one while we're sitting around. But it was really good. Better than I even expected secondary on this beer. I mean, beer doesn't have a ton of secondary anymore for the most part, but it's trading one to one for Weller 12. Wow. So 1 30, 1 50, you know, considering that, huh. And beer to bourbon, you lose money if you're trading, if you're going bourbon to beer, you gain money.

Speaker 3:

And I, I'm kind of walking back on my statement earlier. Mm-hmm. But I'd rather have this than a Weller 12.

Speaker:

Yeah. Okay. Great point. Right? Like, I'm with you. Like, I really like Weller 12. It's not a bad pour at all. It's a good one. Yeah. But for that price, it's like. You know, but they have something I've not had before. So, on this one, what do you think? What would you rate this one? So zero to five? Yeah. Point two five increments. What are you thinking?

Speaker 3:

You know, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go four and a quarter. Mm-hmm. Today, these style of beers, it's kind of hard to, there's so many breweries that do it now. Yeah. I need something a little bit different. I mean, coffee and maple syrup, I love it together. I love breakfast. I love those type of flavors together. I need something else. I think. I think maybe a touch of cinnamon might have sent this over the top. Yeah. For me. Yeah. Uh, but 4, 2, 5 plus four three. I don't know if we do it on quarter, quarter scales or not, or.

Speaker:

Yeah, it's quarter points.

Speaker 3:

Quarter points. But I'm right

Speaker:

with you. I know, right? Where, so when I, when I had this at the brewery, I gave it a four and a half. You know, I take it into account as experience too, right? Like you're in a moment, whatever. But it's a really good pour. But if I revisit it now it's four and a quarter. I think it could be better. It could also get worse in the bottle. I could see it taking a turn.'cause there's still that coin aspect sitting right there. Um, but would you buy it for 65 if you had the opportunity today?

Speaker 3:

If I walked up to a local liquor store and it was on the shelf for 65, I would have to do a double take. Yeah. And see if this is actually, or a charging like secondary for this. Yeah. Yeah. I would buy it once. Yeah. Probably would not buy it again. It's a great beer and mm-hmm. Uh, I appreciate the hard work and craftsmanship. It goes into making it. Yeah. But the price is gonna have to come down a little bit. Uh. Back down to reality for me,

Speaker:

I think we've seen, we've seen beer be up, we've seen beer be down. I think right now what we're seeing is the secondary is not there as much for most releases, but the retail price has reached a point where I'm second guessing all the purchases. Right. Um, if you compare this price point to KBBS, though, probably similar. I think KBBS was 80 to a hundred dollars, uh, retail at a 12 ounce bottle. So you also have a lot more information about what's in that aging process, all these things versus this one. So I don't know which one I like better, but for the price point I'm with you, I'd buy it once secondary. I wouldn't buy it for 1 30, 1 50, um, but I probably would trade it for well or 12. So that's all for this episode, guys. Uh, tell us what you think. If you've had this one hit subscribe. Give us your score if you have in the comments, and we'll see you on the next round. Until next time, drink what you love and argue about the rest. That's my new tagline. Julia. I, are you liking that? I'm getting there. I'm getting there. I like

Speaker 3:

it.

Speaker:

Uh, I got some work to do. Might

Speaker 3:

be a little long, but, uh, a little,

Speaker:

yeah, there's like, there's like three, uh, three I'm going through and I'm trying to blend them together. So this is the first time, but. Thanks for watching guys like and subscribe on YouTube.