Boulevard Smokestack Series - Chocolate Ale

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Kansas City, Missouri USA

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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Location: 750 ml bottle from Colonial Wine and Spirits, 1/24/12, from Batch 2011-1, best by 08-2012

Aroma: The nose has some bread/yeast notes, a little earthy hop, fruit, and just a hint of chocolate
Appearance: It pours a cloudy caramel-orange color with a fizzy, bubbly, long lasting, off-white head
Flavor: Tastes mid-sweet up-front, some mid-palate earthy hop bitterness, and a strong chocolate finish
Palate: It is fairly light, but not watery, with a solid drinkability, average carbonation, and a smooth finish
Overall Impression: You know, I didn’t get what I was expecting at all here, but I still found myself enjoying it. Silly me, I saw Chocolate Ale, and didn’t read past there, so I just assumed we were looking at a nice, rich chocolate stout. Well, that surely isn’t what I have here. Instead, I found myself drinking a much different kind of beer. The second thing that surprised me about this one is how subtle the chocolate presence is. It is much more subtle then I would have expected in the nose, I mean, there’s just a hint of chocolate there. Even in the flavor, the chocolate doesn’t really show up until the end palate; however, it ends up being fairly strong there in the finish. Regardless of the differences of the expectation vs. the actual, it still ended up being a pretty good beer.

On appearance, this looks like IPA. The nose and palate show chocolate and there isn’t much more to say. Excellent palate weight balances the rich flavor.

Opaque hazed orange, small head. Aroma of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Taste is pretty much the same, just chocolate. Overly sweet, not enough texture.

Had this on tap in Oklahoma City of all places earlier this year. I enjoyed the beer but didn’t rate it at the time. Tonight I find this delicious brew at Marion Street Cheese Market in Oak Park...op tap! The most striking thing about this beer is that it’s not brown or black. I recall it being a light golden color before biput tonight it’s a dark, translucent, orange color with no head. Cocoa Puffs cereal aroma. Flavor is cocoa powder up front, followed by a short blast of dark fruit, and then a heavy molasses colored dark brown sugar flavor lingering on the palate. The flavors again differ from my original experience where I got tons of cocoa and a bright golden ale. I remember the original taste being like a cocoa powder flavored Belgian Golden. This is chocolatey for sure but more Sugar in the Raw on the finish. I remember a fuller, oily mouthfeel, but this is a medium palate with a slight (but pleasing) booziness. Overall this iis a remarkable beer and very tasty, I will get it whenever I have the chance.

Base beer is ok but the chocolate flavoring is awesome. Rich creamy chocolate in here.

Bottle 750ml.

Unclear medium orange colour with a average to large, creamy, good lacing, mostly to fully lasting, off-white to beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, dusty chocolate, cacao, wood. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter with a long duration, bitter chocolate, chocolate, vanilla, milk chocolate. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20120128]

On tap @ Radio Maria. I was expecting a dark malt base, so it was a surprise to receive an orange-amber beer! Pure milk chocolate aroma, hints of toast. Creamy milk chocolatey flavour, lightly toasty, lightly hoppy. Nice silky mouthfeel. What a nice surprise!

12oz bottle poured into a snifter. Batch #1, kinda worried that it’s infected. Pours a lightly cloudy dark orange with about a finger of off-white head. Aroma is slightly sour with just a hint of milk chocolate. Taste is medium-heavy sour...like "sour patch kids" sour. Green apple with a little milk chocolate that starts about in the middle and continues into the end. Light bodied with a somewhat thin texture. Fizzy carbonation and a decently long finish. Overall, I’m not a fan. I’ll try it again if I can find a "non-infected" bottle and re-rate.

750ml bottle corked and caged, was worried about this one due to horror stories of infection, however this was not one of those bottles. Poured a hazy amber color, not at all the color I was expecting for this beer, I was expecting it to be pitch black, so this was already a nice surprise. Aromas of nuts, chocolate, and a touch of fruit. Flavors of nuts, vanilla, and sweet chocolate. This was a real nice beer that surprised me overall.

750 ml bottle. Pours a mostly clear amber with a moderate off white head that lasted through the first two sips and left light lace. Pleasant aroma of milk chocolate along with some sweet malt. The flavor is similar with milk chocolate and sweet malt but a bit more intense than the aroma suggests. Mild bitterness at the finish. No problems.

This brewer is really growing on me. From the 4/2012 3R6P tasting. +++ Sampled from a 750 ml corked brown bottle this beer poured a hazy caramel color with a large foamy/soapy orange-white head that left good lacing. The aroma was faint fruity hops with hints of chocolate and nut. I really expected more from the aroma. The flavor lived up to the promise with a strong sweet chocolate syrup presence and notes of vanilla, coffee and marshmallow. The finish was long with chocolate syrup and marshmallow lingering. Fairly full bodies and quite smooth. Lovely.