New limited ed. beers by Boulevard.

[Looneybomber]

You may have seen posts by me referencing the Sixth Glass quadrupel ale in the Smoke Stack series. Well Boulevard has come up with two "spin off" beers from that series, which I highly recommend checking out.

Here is the official info on the two beers.http://www.boulevard.com/image...e.pdf

I bought a bottle (bottle #189) of the Bourbon Barrel Quad, a complex quadruple ale "based loosely" off of my favorite beer, Sixth Glass quad ale. I say complex because of all the flavors! This beer is teeming, yes teeming with flavor! But don't expect the flavor rich stout bitterness to be there. Not only does it have the sweet, rich flavor of being a quadruple ale, it's also fermented over cherry's and stored in a bourbon barrel. And even though I don't have a good sense of smell, the aroma will have you scrunching eyebrows, puzzled, wondering if that's whiskey and chocolate you smell coming from a beer?.

This beer is a brown brown and semi-opaque, not near as transmission as the picture. Because of it's 11.8% alcohol, it's not real "fizzy" like the notorious domestics (bud, miller, ect...) are. It's also best served cool, but not cold! 45-65deg is great for this beer, but Boulevard recommends 50.

Tonight, I made a steak dinner with fried rice (long story, but suffice it to say, I ate the tuna steaks and sushi rolls before dinner) and it just wasn't quite the right beer for this meal. Though had I used a different seasoning, something a tad sweeter like I would have used on the tuna, it would have been pretty good. I could see myself cooking some mandarin chicken or lamb and serving this beer. I could also see myself snacking on swiss cheese slices while drinking this beer.

All in all, I give this beer an excellent rating, but will likely not buy it too often because of the price. My typical liquor store charges 12.50/bottle (minus 10% if buying a case), but I've found it as cheap as 11.50 else-where in town. My typical beer, Sixth Glass, sells for 7.50 at the same store and still tastes great, plus, because of it's more tame flavor, sixth glass quad ale, goes with more foods.

Side note: Those not familiar with alcohols, to put things into perspective, this is nearly a 24 proof beer in a 750ml bottle and wine averages 20 proof, meaning, you're consuming more alcohol than if you drank a bottle of wine. So don't go drinking a bottle of this, then driving to your friends house, unless you want to risk getting a DUI/DWI.

*edit*The site listed above has two Ltd Ed. beers; Bourbon Barrel Quad and Saison Brett. They have a third beer, and Imperial Stout. I have had the Bourbon quad and Imperial stout and will add a review for the stout soon. The Saison Brett I can no longer find so I may be SOL.

*edit*
Well it's 8/16/10 now and I was able to get my hands on that Saison Brett months back. However, I drank all of my Bourbon barrel quads and now can't find anymore :-(
Here's a picture of the limited edition beers that I do have, along with their first collaboration series beer, an Imperial Pilsner.

[audtatious]

Interesting. They make a wheat beer?

Would be good if you wanted to get drunk via beer in a short time. Usually that's not the case tho.

[Looneybomber]

Interesting. They make a wheat beer?

Yeah, here in KS - the wheat state - we have quite a few breweries around here that make a wheat beer. Boulevard is no exception. Their unfiltered wheat is really pretty good and I choose it over the typical domestics whenever I'm buying.

Would be good if you wanted to get drunk via beer in a short time. Usually that's not the case tho.

Nah, that's not the case at all. Anymore, I rarely ever drink beer to get drunk. I can't even think of the last time I got drunk off beer. Beer and shots, that's a diff story

[Looneybomber]

Well, one year of cellaring later and...



As you see from the picture, this beer produced hardly any head. I had to pour it like a little kid, glugging it from the bottle in order to get any bubbles. Normally I wouldn't have done this, but I like to have some head in the pictures.

This beer smells a bit different than the one I described a year ago. It doesn't have the whiskey and chocolate aroma, instead it has a slight hint of bourbon and cherries. But my sniffer is a bit messed up from breathing cold air while shoveling all day.

What I remembered of the Limited edition Bourbon Barrel Quad is spice, however, reading my post on it from a year ago, it doesn't mention spice anywhere. Oh well.

This beer is good, the hops have mellowed down from what I remember, but I am remembering this beer differently from what I mention above. It's smooth, sweet, and a lot like a Three Philosophers by Ommegang, but with a little more bite (alcohol?) and a tad bit of tartness (not something I want).

I'll likely buy another bottle of this, but it's not among my top 3 beers. Maybe not even my top 5, which for 12.50 a bottle, I would hope it'd be in the top 5.

For a score, I'd give it a 90%. It's a good beer and worth trying once, but don't buy a case of it (not like you could any more) before you taste it. Maybe in the future they'll age it in rye barrels or rum barrels. I think that'd suit the beer's natural flavor a bit better.

[Looneybomber]

Boulevard's Rye on Rye.

COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Why Rye? A fair question, given this assertively flavored grain is more often associated with whiskey than with beer. Even in that arena, it has largely been eclipsed by corn and barley, the sources of bourbon and scotch, respectively. But when we procured some seasoned rye whiskey barrels from our friends at Templeton Rye, we asked ourselves, "Why not?" Why not brew a rich, tawny rye ale, then mellow it in the warmth of charred oak rye whiskey casks? Thus, Rye-on-Rye: a marriage of very similar, yet very different embodiments of this unique, distinctive grain. Two kinds of malted rye provide a spicy sweetness, giving way to notes of caramelized wood and the citrusy tang of Perle, Magnum and Saphir hops before easing into a dry, lingering finish. Rye-on-Rye’s body and character make it the equal to any sort of hearty stew or aged cheese. At the risk of seeming redundant, might we suggest pairing it with a classic pastrami-on rye? A rye beer with a hint of rye whiskey aroma, alongside a rye bread sandwich. Why not?



MY TAKE
This will be a quick review, I have the charcoal going...
This beer pours easy. No need to worry about an over abundance of head. It also has a fruity smell while it's poured. Having been drinking various stouts for the last few months, this sweet and fruity aroma is very pleasing.

The flavor is interesting; it's not sweet, it's not bitter, but it has quite a bit of it. Oaky, woody, whiskey, grainy, and a few other words that end in the E sound Despite the flavor, this beer isn't the least bit heavy, but that may be because I'm used to thick tar black beers that pour like runny cough syrup.

Overall, I think I'd give this beer a 93 or 94%. It's a good beer with a unique flavor and style, albeit not as unique as Avery's barrel aged series, but their wine barrel aged beer was junk, so maybe that's a good thing. Sometimes being extremely unique is bad.

Pic to come after supper.

[Dano]

I love Tank 7, wheat is my standard go-to, and my favorite beer period is ZON. Franzenskaner Heife-Weiss is my 2nd fav. Boulevard definately tops 4 of my top 5 beers.