Boulevard Smokestack Series - Bourbon Barrel Quad

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Kansas City, Missouri USA

Serve in Trappist glass

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Tried a bottle from 2011, 2010 and 2009 side by side. Pours a cloudy dark copper color with small white head and dissipates quickly. Sweet vanilla, cherry and lots of warm bourbon on the nose. Very rich flavors full of bourbon, caramelized cane sugar, dark fruits. Thick mouth feel with a strong warming effect. This is best aged at three years. The strong bourbon and sugars begin to mellow down and wonderfully complex flavors begin to appear after aging. Put it in your cellar, if you can stand to actually wait.

Bomber. Pours a cloudy medium brown with copper highlights. Large frothy off white head that dissipated quickly. Aroma is ripe citrus and slight cherry. Taste is ever so slight cherry with vanilla and possibly toffe notes. Slight alcohol tow to this quad. Good Stuff!!

The cherries seemed to be more pronounced in the 2010 version, but the 2011 version is just as perfect.

Excellent Belgian. I made the mistake of eating it with Thai food. Not the best combination.

2010-2 bottle tasted blind as part of a top 10 quad blind tasting A: Light reddish brown body, thin brownish head, lots of carbonation streaming from the bottom of the glass. S: Cherries, plums, bourbon, some raisins. Slight lactic tartness. T: Like the nose the cherries are up front, all though they creep toward the background with each passing sip. The dark fruits mellow out, and the bourbon is more restrained. Modest tartness from the cherries. M: Light to medium bodied. Thin finish. O: Nice, but not a quad.

The aroma is like a sour, but you get past it to the bourbon. I expected just a little more punch, but it’s pretty smooth.

750ml bottle from Binny’s poured into a Chimay Trappist glass. 2011 vintage. Bottle #22769. Pours a cloudy dark nut brown with a minimal bit of head that dissipates very quickly. Aroma of cherry and wood with a little vanilla. Very strong Brett characteristics. Taste is sweet and sour. Holy Bourbon batman! That is easily the first thing I taste, it even has a decent little burn. Once you get past that, there is a slight cherry tang and a good bit of vanilla. Medium-full bodied with a thick texture. Somewhat fizzy carbonation and a very long bourbon finish. Overall, this is awesome. I wish I would have grabbed a second bottle to age.

I’m not the biggest fan of Belgian styles (it’s the yeasts that usually put me off), but this is a tremendous and boozy, amazing blend of Bourbon and cherries which renders the Belgian yeastiness not only palatable (to me) but compliments it perfectly. Ever-so-slightly sour, it pours a nice rusty brown color and has a full mouth feel. I wish I’d grabbed anther bottle before thy sold out at Binny’s.

2011 Vintage, bottle number 4403. Served in a chimay goblet. A - Hazy dark brown body with some orange tints. Creamy 2 finger off white head dies down quickly to some nice edging. Giving it a swirl produces some tight bubbling and alcoholic legs. S - Starts off very fruity, with dark fruits that are usually attributed to quads. Figs, plums, dates, and raisins. This is followed by some sour cherry notes. Finally there is some bready malts, caramel, toffee, vanilla, spice, and oak notes. T - Stats off with normal quad flavors of rich caramel malts and caramelized dark fruits along with the cherry and spices. The flavor then becomes very bourbon heavy. Very vanilla and oak forward. The finish is really heavy on the alcohol heat. Really tasty. M- Medium bodied and silky smooth. The finish is pretty alcoholic. A sipper. O - This stuff is awesome! This beer is just so heavy on the bourbon notes, which really compliment the dark fruit and caramel malt flavors of the base beer. Can’t wait to try this beer aged.

Location: 750 ml bottle from Colonial Wine and Spirits, 1/11/12, 2011 Bottle - No. 24258

Aroma: It has a lot of cherry and bourbon, with strong notes of caramel, wood/oak, and roast too
Appearance: The pour is a cloudy orange-brown color with a thick sheet of bubbly beige head
Flavor: It is mix of fruity sweetness and tartness with woody and boozy flavors, and a fairly tart, woody finish
Palate: The body is fairly full, with a creamy and smooth flavor, and a warming, fairly boozy, slightly dry finish
Overall Impression: This was a pretty interesting offering. The barrel aging seems to add most of the dominant components, but there is a fairly interesting and complex quad located below the decks. Overall, this is a good one, with a nice mix of components and complexity. I’ll bump the overall up a touch for the interesting mix going on here.