Last winter a sellout crowd paid big bucks for tickets and trekked to California to taste one Missouri beer. Why? Because it was from Untappd’s #2 Rated Brewery in the World: Side Project. 

The event was Firestone Walker’s Invitational Beer Fest, but the hordes of fans weren’t just there for Firestone. Nor were they only there for heavy hitters like Monkish, The Lost Abbey, and Half Acre. The masses came for a once in a lifetime taste of the People's Choice winner: Side Project’s Terroir Project Vidal Blanc 2017.

Outside of Side Project’s taproom, we are the only ones to have this sought-after vintage.

After cellaring for a full year, this complex 8% ABV brew opens with aromas of white grape. It greets the palate with tannic oak, rustic funk and a twist of citrus, and finishes with a dry, lingering grape must. In Vidal Blanc, lucky attendees got to taste why Side Project made the Nations Best Breweries lists from Hopculture, VinePair, and Thrillist.

It must be bittersweet for those dedicated travelers to spend all that time and money, only to fall in love with a beer this difficult to obtain. We wish we could fulfill every ISO aching heart plea for another taste of Vidal Blanc. But our stash of this cellared 2017 vintage is small, and Tavour members are thirsty.

Rated 4.14 on Untappd

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