Boulevard Smokestack Series - Sixth Glass Quadrupel

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

Serve in Trappist glass

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Batch 67299; one of the first bottled batches from June 2007. As a KC native and resident, I have had this beer a few times, but I’ve never rated it. So, when I discover this overlooked bottle, in my cellar, I felt compelled to crack it open and see what four-plus years had done to it. It pours a murky mahogany with a small beige head that drops to a creamy cap at the surface; some spotty lace sticks to the glass. (The head is considerably larger with a fresher batch.) On the nose are notes of dark fruit (plum, raisin, dates), sherry and slightly spicy alcohol. You can tell, just from the aroma, that this is a big beer. The palate is medium-bodied with fine carbonation and a drying, somewhat bitter finish that shows a bit of this bottle’s age with a touch of a cardboard quality at the finish. The flavor effectively mimic the aroma. The fruity/sherry quality pushes forward and really adds an interesting complimentary character to a beer that is pretty solid when fresh. I’m not sure that I like it better than a younger batch, but it’s pretty tasty stuff.

Poured from 12oz bottle to snifter: What a brilliant color - a bright, glossy ruby with a finger and a half of off-white to tan head after an aggressive pour. Good lacing. Light, needlepoint beading. Nose is stuffed with delicious Belgian yeast. Soft citrus and pungent floral sweet bread. Refreshingly light and approachable for a quad. All the highlights of the nose carry through to the taste buds with the addition of a subtle licorice presence and clove. Really enjoy this beer, it’s far less invasive than most true Belgian quads but still complex and intriguing. The feel is appropriate. Overall, this is a unique take on the style, while still being true to its origins. Well done.

bomber 7/3/11. bs color with a yellow tinted head. aromas of bready yeast, band aids, bs, cinnamon and numbing grassy hops. more of the same for the flavor... bs, cinnamon, spiciness, yeast, raisins and a banana-like at.... kinda mediocre... no richness or depth.6/3/6/3/13

12 oz bottle: Pours a dark copper with a thick head that lasts for a while during which nice CO2 bubbles rise against the side of the glass. Aroma is nice caramel malt and doughy yeast with a slight wiff of alcohol. Taste is complex with dark malty flavors mixed in with lively yeast and a slight spice that almost acts as an astringent. Bubbly on the tounge with a spicy feel and a slight burn from the alcohol. Very glad the Beertopia staff encouraged me to check out the smokestack series.

Batch 611315 from bottle. Poured into Belgian strong glass. Poured super foamy, but foam dissipated quickly. Slight malty aroma, hints of raisins. Flavor is nice, but spice was not quite balanced. I think this one needs more time. Nice, lightly sweet, caramelly flavor. Finished pretty sweet.

I’m just hoping I had a bad bottle because this tasted pretty bad. Nice quad orangish pour with a decent head. Nose was bready malts. Taste.....not quad like. Funky Oversweetness and I love sweet beers. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

750 ml corked and caged bottle. Best by 6/13. I have me three American-brewed quads to compare and contrast tonight. Hopefully I can get through all three wtihout getting totally shitfaced. Pours hazy orangeish-amber with a thick beige head with nice retention. Aroma is yeasty dough, dark fruits, funk, caramel, alcohol. Taste is sweet, umami and alcoholic. Highly carbonated--fills the mouth with bubbles every drink--with a medium to thin body. Seems like a decent beer, but there are many better quads out there. I’m hoping the next two reign supreme in this comparison.

Tasted from 12oz bottle, thanks Zielinski! The fact that you enjoy this beer is proof you’ve graduated to a whole new level of beer drinking. Poured a hazy copper color with vigorous white foam and excellent Belgian lace. Profound Belgian yeast aromas of pepper, clove, bubble-gum (more as it warmed), citrusy hops, sour lemonade, compost, rising dough and fresh-baked husky whole-grain bread, smooth perfumey alcohol. Equally complex flavors: white flour bread and biscuits, light caramel, tart plums and cherries (skins, pits, and all), zesty hops bitterness, more spicy yeast phenols and mellow booziness (also increased as it warmed.) Light, "digestive" body, very little residual sweetness despite a super-high original gravity which shows just how efficient this yeast is. Carbonation was very effervescent, like Belgian Strong Ales should be, no matter what some reviewers have written, with the added sparkle which only comes from live bottle fermentation. An exquisitely balanced, delicious, classic example of the Belgian Quadrupel style. I haven’t compared their barrel-aged versions, but in the regional "I-70" showdown between Boulevard and Schlafly, Boulevard certainly dominates the standard quad round.

Bottle. Aroma: Caramel, yeasty aroma with spicy notes, as well as notes of peach, dark fruit, and alcohol. Appearance: Dark orange/amber color, with short, off-white head. Taste: Sweet, with strong flavor of cloves/cinnamon, caramel, alcohol, strong flavor up front and a long duration. Palate: Medium body, oily texture, average carbonation, with a long, astringent, and potent finish. A delicious, unique ale with a definite bite. Probably a bit too spicy to be a very drinkable beer, but a beer with great character.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a deep amber with an effervescent cream head. Smell is very light -- gives the impression of being lithe and fizzy. There is a light sense of yeast and brown sugar and, interestingly (in that it is soft), a soft character of dark fruit (date and fig). There is considerable, but very fine and soft, carbonation that pierces the otherwise dense palate. The taste starts with bland notes of nut, wood, and malt, but soon develops notes of date, fig, plum, and a sprinkling of brown sugar. The remainder of the beer is characterized by a substantial crescendo in alcohol and spice intensity, resulting in a climax of clarity (as if peeling away the palate thickness and disintegrating the spice flavor) and balanced flavor in the finish, which is notably a bit a heavy. The balance here is between malt, fruit, and yeast with a slight bitter touch. Makes me think of ’piercing the veil of the maya’ (c.f. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s "Lift not the painted veil which those who live / call life"), but it’s, sadly, far from that epiphanic. Still, it is reasonably good.