Bruz: Waited a loooong time to finally taste this. Many people have emailed me saying they could hook me up with it but noone ever came through... until Jim E. that is! Swilled this while watching "Session 9"... some classic yet unknown horror flick. Unfortunately, the video was messed up so we didn't get to watch more than 38 minutes of it. Anyway, the initial taste made me think of the ever so unpopular Magnum & M-X flavors. This stuff's kinda harsh, I'm not much of a fan to be honest. Same feeling throughout the whole experience too, actually. Slight buzz, made me pee once, & the swill tasted like the rest of this kind-of skanky brew. Overall 4/10 swills. SPA results in some horrifying brew beefs the next morning as well. Thanks out to Drunk Gunner & 1sts13 for a couple of the variants!

3/3/11 troobie: First off, I found this in Guymon, Oklahoma, in January 2011. I see some of the other reviewers hint that this was discontinued? There is some type of code stamped on the glass, but I can't decipher it: 1821-0535. This was sitting on a shelf next to Side Pocket High Gravity MALT LIQUOR, 10.5% ABV. I bought two of each. I have yet to try the 10.5% ABV, thought I would start with the "weaker" 8.5% ABV first. I see they are calling this a High Gravity ALE. Whatever. This is a really ghetto looking 40. Almost looks homemade. The gold-colored widemouth cap has no graphics on it. You would think with a name like Side Pocket they would do some graphics that relate to a pool table, pool balls, pool cues, or maybe a pool player. Hell, even an 8 ball? Instead, there is simply some cheesy fonts. This label is about as bad as Silver Thunder. About. The only redeeming value for this label is that it says "SERVE COLD" on the right side of it. I've never seen that before on a 40 label. And who the hell is the brewer Universal Sales? Taking the label's advice I left this in the freezer for 1 1/2 hours before opening it. Ice cold. I think that is helping with the taste. The other reviewers seem to think this is a bad brew, but I disagree. The overall flavor is a strange spiced clove mixed with banana flavor. Otherwise this is as smooth as water with low carbonation. I've had much worse. This is actually extremely smooth, even more so considering the ABV. Overall, based on only one 40, I will give this a 7/10. For 8.5%, and ghetto, this goes down really easy.

brooks79Z: first off, big thanks to rusty for hooking me up with this unique 40. it had a great crack and hiss. it has been in my fridge for 3 days chilling. first gulp was harsh, not what i was expecting. i imagined this 40 to taste like st. ides for no particular reason. but it was no where near that. this is a horrid HG. like other reviews, i must agree that this 40 is really bad. i felt like it was very thick or heavy. killed it in maybe 35-45 minutes. painfully i might add. at 8.5% the buzz factor is great. the swill was awful, but i managed to finish it. im thankful for the bottle for my collection, and even more thankful that i will never have to drink another one these again. label is gay. taste is a 4/10 and buzz is 8/10. only because of the buzz, i will give this a 6/10 rating

Buzzcore: The only thing going for this 40 is that it's hard to find. From what I remember, the regular old Side Pocket malt liquor labels had some roper playing pool on them. They looked goofy, but it's a lot better than just stupid-ass "Side Pocket" written on it like one of those airbrushed license plates you can get down on the Jersey shore. It don't taste too good either. At 8.5% it's got a good kick, but there are others that are higher and much easier to find! I can't see how anyone would buy this on a regular basis. Maybe if it was the only HG they could get in their area, but I've yet to find such an area. I have the bottle now, so I don't ever need this stuff again. Not horrid, but it's got nothing going for it either, well except it being tough to find for people like us bottle collecting geeks. 3/10

DC40s: First of all, thanks to MyLiverHurts for hooking me up. This is apparently the last Side Pocket there is so Liver gets super props for giving it up.

This is going to be a short review. Side Pocket tastes like the malt liquor version of the water that comes out of drinking fountains in rundown urban parks. It tastes horribly metallic.

Also, what the fuck is up with the label? Looks like a four year old made it. Good thing this is discontinued.

The buzz is ok. I just ate a fat meal, so the 8.5% is taking it's time to cross the blood/brain barrier...

DolbyZero: So I drank the Side Pocket last night, It was really cold and it went down like......a camel pissing down your throat. It was even worse than the MX. This shit is so nasty, I had to choke it down. I normally wouldnt even finish a nasty 40 like this. Yes, even I wont drink some 40s, but I said I would post a review of it. I got an awesome buzz after it was all over with. It wasnt worth it, but I must thank MLH for exposing me to this high octane gut trauma. 4 outta 10 swills.

Four Teas: It is my sad duty to report that, much to the detriment of 40 aficionados like myself everywhere, this toxin called Side Pocket High Gravity Ale is still available (at least in Oklahoma). I did not go into this adventure lightly, as the looks of this 40 had me pretty convinced that it was not going to be a cakewalk from the get go. So to limber up and get ready I swilled a 40 of Schlitz Red Bull before pulling this atrocity out of the freezer. Ice cold, I thought "how bad can this really be?" Maybe if I'd drank a 40 of, say, vodka before setting out into this debacle, my tasebuds would have been sufficiently anesthetized. In dulling my senses however, the Red Bull was woefully not up to task. Twisting the cap off gave zero crack and the initial smell was a cross between oil paint and overflowing septic tank. The initial pull yielded the same sensation in taste. It never improved, but never really got worse either. After wrestling with this horror for the better part of a half hour I decided it was time to close the book on it. I tried to think of a happy place as I closed my eyes, pounded, and kept reassuring myself that it would all be over soon. I can't imagine what the swill would have tasted like at room temperature. All in all, terrible. 2/10 for the decent buzz.

ImissMy64oz: shit came in at a whopping 8.5%
not as bad as i imagined
killed the pocket and a crazy horse
felt alll right
id drink S P more often than a camo if i could get it
not bad for a true style high gravity

neufutur: Completely smooth brew, went down easily even though I killed an Evil Eye Ice before hand. The 8.5% of the bottle really made me reminisce of a green label Camo, while the taste was plain but allowed me to get drunk the fuck off of the 40. Still to see what's up with the 10.5%, but something to check out for sure in the 8.5 section.