Boulevard Brewing Double Wide IPA

Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri

I will say i do not know much about this company but since it is sitting right in front of me i will do a quick review on this.  Cellar is really full and would love to get more reviews down.

Appearance -  The initial pop of the cork was pretty silent and I was scared that this was not going to have much carbonation.  When poured into the glass it comes out with this dark amber color which then the carbonation is apparent and as seen above has quite a large head which took about 2 minutes to settle down.  Small spots of foam clouds reside on the outside of the glass when it finally settles.

Smell - Caramel, toffee & molasses are some characteristics i am getting out of this which before tasting i can tell this is going to be on the sweet side.
Second pour - I let this warm up and it is getting more dankier with the hop smell and also i get some orange and citrus notes from this beer.

Taste - Sweet flavors come up like like caramel and then gets more floral when it starts to open up.  When i opened it initially it was on the bottom of my fridge and i think some of the flavors were subdued due to the cold temperature. While time passes i let this warm up it is becoming more apparent that this would taste great on cask and i am appreciating this more and more at warmer room temps.  More tropical fruit and tiny notes of pineapple/papaya are coming out but still has that ever so bitter hop kick at the end of each sip.

Mouthfeel - Even with the foamy pours this drinks relatively smooth.  Personally i like my DIPAs a little sticky/candy coating in the mouth but this drinks like a nice single IPA.

Overall - Noticing that this DIPA is bottled corked and caged it might have been sitting for a bit and it has been sitting in my fridge for at least two months.  I would want to try this fresh in bottle or even on handpump and i would assume it might taste like a totally different brew.  This beer is also reasonably priced for a DIPA which appeals for me to try it again. 

Bell's Hopslam Ale

Bells Hopslam - Has been getting a lot of hype online and it rates at the moment #13 on beer advocates top 250 beers.  This is a seasonal release Double IPA which comes out to a 10% abv.  Bell's Brewery is located in Michigan and has been rated one of the best craft breweries in that state.  Some of the staples which Bell's is known for is their Two Hearted Ale, Oberon & Expedition Stout.  I am excited to try this and see what my Michigan friends keep talking about and find out for myself if it is a beer worthy of this praise!

Appearance - Pours a light brown/hazy yellow color and when poured it has minimal foam head only as high as seen in the picture.  After the foam dissipates it leaves some foam around the glass.  On the bottom of the glass i see continuous bubbles forming telling me this is going to be a nicely carbonated ale.

Smell - Cantaloupe, honey, citrus peel & grapefruit are some of the characters that i pick out from the initial pour.  Closer up smell i can smell the sweetness coming off of the honey and it has a small undertone of flowers coming out as if you were in a car for a long time and just opened the door next to a garden store.

Taste - Liquid hop cantaloupe bomb!  The hops linger around in your mouth way after you drink it and you are left with this sweet honey and some awesome dank hop flavor in your mouth.  This is an exceptional tasty beer where the hops and the sweetness are balancing each other out and do not overwhelm the palette for a hop forward ale.  Compared to many high abv hop bomb double ipas this hides the hops and the abv well and almost too well just like their two hearted ale.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation but enough to feel a little bubbles in your mouth.  This stuff is way to easy to drink for a 10% abv beer.  I believe i drank this pint in about 6 gulps because of how smooth and well carbonated it was.

Overall - I am blessed that i am able to try this beer and if this was in my distribution zone i would pay off a bartender to let me drink this nectar from the tap!  I started to feel the 10% abv after a good 30 minutes and it does kick in.  This is one of those beers which i would classify as a creeper because how easy it drinks and how high the abv is because i can see someone buying a 6 pack of this and dropping it off at a party and the person who is not a craft beer drinking would have the worst blackout and hangover the next day.  If I could buy more bottles of this I would say without a doubt and would compare this to many of the top rated ipas and would say it just hit my top 10.  Bell's has not disappointed me yet and this has proved they deserve the hype and still wish that they would distribute out to the West Coast.

Oud Beersel - Framboise

Oud Beersel - Framboise

Ok i know that we have seen this symbol and wonder hrmmm sours Oud Beersel with that black castle label and archaic beer bottle label.  Most people will want to take a pass on this for the new and improved wild ales from America or want to hunt down the rare of the rare lambics of Belgium.  I stare at this bottle and know that this brewery has been pumping out beer before my grandparents where born.  The brewery seems to have been built around the early 1900's and has been passed down to many family members.  The beer quality of this company has always been a main staple of the original styles of lambic and krieks to me and am excited to try the framboise offering from them.

Appearance - When poured into a glass this happened.

Super carbonation!!!  I will say this poured out wildly and some made it onto the floor because of the huge rush of foam that came out of the bottle.  This bottle was sitting in my fridge for 4 days before i opened it and upright so i would like to warn people that this fresh might become a gusher. 

Back to the actual color of this framboise it is magnificent from the dark purple base to its almost white/pink foam that comes around the glass when it finally settles down.  Every pour i made this has foamed up and had to cover the top of my glass to make sure this beer didn't foam off over the top.

Smell - Raspberries, Oak barrell funk (dirt, ground & fresh soil), Red gummy flavored candies.  Smell is subtle and keeps in the glass but when close up it is a maze of complex smells.

Taste - YAHhhh Ok it comes out with a subtle taste of raspberries and follows up with the watery farmhouse funk like a saison which was brewed in an oak barrell.  The sweetness which you expect from the raspberries is taken away from a slight bitter aftertaste of raspberries which haven't had time to mature but the unsweetened flavor has kept.  The dryness of this reminds me of champagne but better because of the framboise styles i have seen in the USA today it seems like they are pumped with sugar.  This dry style framboise is a hit in the park of what i want to drink on a nice warm day watching a baseball game in the park while eating cheese. 

Mouthfeel - Like a champagne on how this is overly carbonated and tastes dry when you drink it down.  Compared to most sours and lambics i feel this has a great amount of carbonation and is where it needs to be at compared to some aged lambics which come flat.

Overall - Great framboise in a sense that it is not overly sweet and actually not sweet at all other than the part it has a hint of raspberries which to me correlates to me a mouthfull of happiness.  I would love to get more bottles of this and since I was able to find this one i would definitely want to try and cellar a few of these to see if the residual sweetness from the raspberries will come out more dry or actually make this more of a sour beer.  Many other notable framboise i have tried are Cantillon which is on the super sour spectrum of things to the Lindemans which tastes like raspberry Koolaid you would want to get a date drunk with who has no clue about craft beer.  This has fallen more on the side of the sour side and in a blind tasting I would say this would impress any sour beer nerd fan.

Surly Abrasive

Surly Brewing -  They are located in Minnesota and have zero distribution outside of that state.  Heck some people i know that live in Minnesota have never even heard about this small brewery.  Many people in the craft beer world have been hunting down bottles of the Surly Darkness which is their version of a Russian Imperial Stout and Surly Furious Ale which is their IPA.  Surly Abrasive Ale is a double IPA which comes in a 16 oz can and at a nice 9% abv.  The artwork on this can is awesome it is big, bold and in your face with what looks like a circular sander hitting a keg and exploding the hops.

Appearance -Pours nice hazy orange and keeps a good head when poured.  The head slowly calms down and leaves chunky white foam lacing throughout the outside of the glass. 

Smell - Pineapples, floral hops, pine & orange peel which smacks you right in the face when you pour it.  One of those DIPAs that you can smell almost 10 feet away because of how dank the smell of sweet hops come out of this.

Taste - OMG! Citrus & tropical fruit love nectar is what first comes to mind when this hits the mouth.  The floral hops mixed with huge pine taste as if it came straight out of the forest hits you and reminds you that this is a DIPAs and it is amazing.   The sweetness of this beer follows through from the citrus notes and finishes with a nice light hop pine flavor as it goes down.

Mouthfeel - First impressions is that this is one of those DIPAs that sticks to your teeth and inside your mouth.  The sweetness quickly covers the inside of your mouth and is like a small shot of syrup.  The carbonation is light and is still watery enough that the syrupy residue that sat in my mouth quickly fades away.

Overall - This is a beer I would dream of and can't wait until the next time I am offered to drink this beast.  This has been one of the best examples of an DIPA i have tasted in awhile because of the balance of the hops and the overall citrus flavors of this.  Many DIPAs out right now are trying to be way on the hopside or sweet side but this one stands out because both sides are tamed but still stand out.  If i was able to buy this i would have a good amount of these cans in my fridge at all times because it is one that tastes light and drinks like a low abv IPA and would go well with a lot of peoples palates. 

Food pairing - Curries, pulled pork dishes & caprese salad.  I would pair this with any food that is highly acidic because the citrus/pine flavor will cut through any acid/vinegar taste from food.

Three Floyds - Zombie Dust

Zombie Dust from Three Floyds has a ton of hype for this beer and is a huge hit with all of my friends from the East Coast mainly people from Chicago i know.  Three Floyds is located in Munster, Indiana where they are most famous for the Dark Lord Day where thousands of people stand in line to get a bottle of the Russian imperial stout named Dark Lord. The rants and whines i hear from them saying this is the best pale ale and nothing on the West Coast can even compare and how they would do unmentionable things to have a few sips of this liquid crack.  It is time for judgement and my turn to try this East Coast undead pale ale and maybe i will become infected with searching high and low to get another bottle.

Appearance - Pours smoothly into the glass with medium foam which then resides quickly.  After the initial pour this beer has a good amount of bubbles floating around the glass which shows decent amount of carbonation.  The color is similar to other pale ales i have drank from the east coast like Bells Two Hearted Ale and Cigar Citys Jai Alai with its nice dark golden hue.

Smell - Floral but with small notes of Amaretto liquor sweetness.  The initial smell of this got me excited because it has that nice floral smell but at the same time it has the rich hop smell of a good pale ale.  Before taking a sip i can already sense this has huge flavor packed inside.

Taste -  Wow I am converted to a zombie!  First sip has pine flavor, tropical fruit, floral flavors & a small hint of bitter hops at the end.  This is somewhat of a flavor profile between the two i mentioned earlier of Two Hearted Ale and Jai Alai.  This pale ale has the sweetness and the same hop character as the Two Hearted ale but it has the tropical fruit notes like the Jai Alai

Mouthfeel -  Even though this came out piney i would love to say it wasn't as sticky as many of the pale ales i have tried that are similar to this.  The carbonation was perfect in that it wasn't overly carbonated but carbonated enough that you can drink a lot of this at one time with no problem.

Overall -  I am converted to this beer it is amazing and now I can also join the hunt with my friends to accumulate more of this undead ale.  The ease of drinking this was way to easy and if i had a 6 pack of this it could spell trouble.  I am used to the huge flavors of the West Coast Ipas and this beer seems like it could become a session beer but at the 6.4% abv i know it would ensure a nice hangover the next day.  If I ever saw this on tap i would get a few pints of this.  If i was able to buy bottles of this I think i might have a new addiction to this ale.  I must say this has been one of those beers that deserves the hype and is perfectly made!

Nectar Ales - Black Xantus

Trying something more tested and true after the disaster holiday beer from The Bruery on my previous post. The descriptions i have read about this beer is that it is a bourbon barrel aged stout witch brewed with coffee in it.

Appearance - Dark brown lacing with a good sized head on the initial pour.  The head is a dark brown and the rest is a very dark brown almost molasses color which makes this a one of the darker colored stouts that i have seen in awhile.

Smell - Bourbon, burnt wood smell & cherries.  For a 11% abv beer i do not smell any up front alchohol or booze smell form this so i can already tell this might be a great balanced stout.

Taste - When tasting this it almost tastes sweet like how sweetened vanilla soymilk hits your mouth.  It quickly balances out and at the back of your throat you can taste the slight bourbon burn which then turns to the coffee flavor.  The coffee flavor is sweetened and is a pleasant taste versus lots of other stouts that add coffee into it because a lot of them are overpowered and this has a nice balance from the bourbon barrel flavor.

Mouthfeel - This is a easy drinking stout i wish it had more of the mouthfeel of creaminess like you would get from a guiness or even a Fifty Fifty Eclipse stout but hell i can't complain because this the taste of this is overly enjoyable.  This also has more body than most because it is not as watery as some other stouts that i have tried to drink.

Overall - This is an amazing balanced stout but for some i could see this being more on the sweet side.  I have no problem dissecting the flavor profiles which i find sometimes gets really confused in other stouts. This is one of those stouts that you wish could be year around because of the balance in flavor and is not overdone.

If i had a chance to buy this beer i would have no problem shelling out cash to buy this again.  I feel this stout is one that would not age well because of the coffee profiles would be lost with age.  Next year i will be surely enjoying more of this beer and buying more than one bottle!

Bruery 5 Gold Rings

Pretty excited about this holiday beer by The Bruery because the last offering of 4 calling birds was an amazing tasting ale and even before that three french hens was exceptional to drink and wish i had more of those bottles to enjoy.  Since this is a themed beers for the holidays and they release these every year i hope i can hold onto my collection when they hit the 12th year and celebrate by doing a vertical when the time comes.

Poured into a tulip glass.

Appearance - Pours a light orange/salmon color. The color is almost the same hue as a bottle of peanut oil but a little bit more pink. The pour starts with a fast foaming head which dissipates quickly.

Smell - Pineapple, nail polish remover, strong apple cider or some sort of high abv fermenting fruit liquor. The smell of this before the sip i know it is going to taste like its posted 11.5% abv.

Taste - Booze Booze Booze! After the taste of rubbing alcohol subsides i do taste the subtle farmhouse style ale which i correlate with golden belgians. The aftertaste is sweet where i can taste the pineapples but it has a crazy taste like windex or some sort of industrial cleaning solution flavor to it because of the booze flavor.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation so it is quite easy to drink but at the same time it is hard because of how hot this bottle is.

Overall - Kinda disappointed after last years holiday styles from The Bruery have been amazing and wish they could have made this fifth one a little bit more palatable. After tasting this i tried hard not to pour this down the drain but after i was done with one cup of it i had to pour the rest down the drain. Maybe with age it will tame down this beast because i have had success with other beers i thought were to hot in the beginning like damnation 23.

If this wasn't part or a series for a vertical i would have not bought any more of these bottles but i would be interested in seeing what age will do with this because when damnation 23 came out it was hot as hell but when i sat on it and aged it and tried it a year later it definitely mellowed and was enjoyable.