Amber Test #3 - Boulevard Brewing, Kansas City

Boulevard Amber, the beer no one was begging Boulevard to make, is nearing completion and slated to hit store shelves around mid-June. Boulevard will be sneaking this beer into 12 pack samplers at first and release dedicated six packs later on. There doesn't seem to be much fanfare around this beer, I can only assume that's because it's an Amber. That's right, it seems Boulevard has made just about every interesting style of beer already so in an effort to round out their portfolio they're releasing an Amber. But seriously, it's an under appreciated style I enjoy more than I like to admit, so I'm genuinely excited for this beer.

WAS genuinely excited for this beer I should say... Back in November I went on a tour of the Boulevard Brewery where they had an Amber test batch on tap. We were told it was the second iteration of Boulevard's Amber and the brewers were still working out a few things. I wasn't exactly smitten with the Boulevard Amber Ale I had on tap back then. The only remarkable quality I wrote down was that it wasn't as bitter as other Amber style beers I'd had. The rest of the group I went with had a similar take on the beer, it was alright for an Amber but nothing special.

Flash forward several months and I've got a bottle of Boulevard Amber Test #3 sitting in my pint glass. This version of Boulevard's Amber struck me as much more Boulevardy than the last batch I tried. This beer is really balanced, the signature Amber bitterness is toned down by sweet malts that really take center stage. You could probably even argue that this beer is too sweet to be considered a true Amber. If you get your kicks from drinking Ambers that are really crisp and bitter, you might not enjoy this beer as much as I did.

Like I said, these bottles are marked Amber Test #3, they don't have the finalized labeling and aren't the final product that's being packed into samplers this summer. I've heard there is a fourth batch of the Boulevard Amber and that's the version that is going out the public. I haven't heard any details about how #4 differs from #3 so I can't shed any light on that... but I certainly hope the sweetness and balance from this third batch of Boulevard Amber makes it into the final product. Either way, I'll be picking up a six pack to do a full comparison when it's released. I'm officially excited for this beer. Well... as excited as I can get for an Amber Ale.