Missouri

It's Imperial Stout season but Boulevard seems to be running a little behind this year... In lieu of another release of their Limited Release Imperial Stout, Boulevard has bottled a modified version this year and called it the Dark Truth. A very ominous name on it's own, but if you turn the bottle around and actually read the flavor text on the back you might think Boulevard is trying to sell this beer to guys who are waaaay in to Dio and like to volunteer at the local Renaissance Fair. "He who imbibes the Dark Truth shall find himself filled with the strength of mad bear!" Ok, it's not actually that bad... but there are references to alchemy and "hidden knowledge."

It's not very often that you run across a beer like Boulevard's Rye-on-Rye and that makes it a little to set expectations. I expect this beer to be different, to push the boundaries a little and bring something to the table that other Rye beers, or other barrel aged beers, don't. I started to worry a bit when I saw the label for the Rye-on-Rye, it says that this bottle contains 33% ale and 67% ale aged in rye whiskey barrels. That's a 2:1 ratio in favor of barrel aged beer, meaning this beer is going to taste a lot like a whiskey barrel. That sounds a bit dangerous...

I first had Boulevard's Imperial Pilsner at the beer's release party in Lawrence, Kansas. In case you hadn't heard, this Imperial Pilsner is a collaboration between Boulevard Brewing Company and Orval's master brewer Jean-Marie Rock. Steven Pauwels, Boulevard's brew master, and Rock met at a conference in Tucson last year. It was there that these two Belgians hit it off and agreed to collaborate and resurrect a beer Rock had brewed some 30 years before. The style that beer most closely resembled is what we now call an American Double or Imperial Pilsner.

It's that time of year again, and the snow is still falling but it's melting much faster now. Spring may still be further off than you'd like but it's harbinger is fast approaching. The Saint Patrick's Day seasonals have already started hitting the shelves so you know the big day isn't that far off. Boulevard's Irish Ale is the first St. Pat's seasonal I've seen thus far, but that just means the others will be showing up soon. While I was excited to seen something other than a Winter Warmer in the seasonal section of the beer cooler, I was exactly thrilled at the prospect of drinking another Irish Ale...

Boulevard's Tank 7 has had an interesting release... This beer was first made available at the brewery tasting room last summer. I happened to go on a tour just after the first batch hit the taps and had a few samples. At the time, I didn't care for this beer at all. I took a couple more tours between summer and Christmas and drank a collective pint or more of the Tank 7 in the tasting room. Each time I had this beer it tasted a little spicier and hoppier than I remember. I'd heard Boulevard was planning on phasing out their Saison Smokestack Series and replacing it with this beer, so I kept going back to try this beer and see if maybe I just got a bad glass... but no, I just didn't like the Tank 7.

Boulevard's Long Strange Tripel is one of those beers that I've wanted to drink for the longest time but never got around to it for one reason or another. The Long Strange Tripel is one of Boulevard's original Smokestack Series beers. I love Belgian style ales and I've wanted to pick up a bottle of the Long Strange many times but it seems like I've always overlooked it in favor of more exotic beers when I'm at the store. I finally got a sample of the Long Strange at the Kansas City Beerfest last fall. I'm not sure if it was the quality of the beer or the fact that it was poured by Mr. Harold "Trip" Hogue himself, but this was definitely the highlight of the day.

I've had Schlafly's Christmas Ale a number of times over the past couple of years and I've come to an important conclusion, this beer is a million times better on tap. I don't want to make it sound like the Christmas Ale is bad when it's poured from a bottle, that isn't the case. What I mean is this beer goes from good to amazing when you have it direct from a keg. Schlafly's Christmas Ale is a great example of how a Winter Warmer can be spiced without tasting being too harsh on the palate. Whether you have this beer from a bottle or a tap, it'll have the same malty base with cinnamon spice.

This Schlafly beer is a limited edition holiday release that is that coincides with the opening of a new downtown grocery store in St. Louis called Culinaria. As the story goes, this beer was originally brewed by one of Schlafly's employees to be served at his wedding. The beer was such a big hit with one of the higher ups at Schnuck's that a second run of this beer was commissioned to commemorate the opening of Culinaria. There were only a limited number of these Culinaria Holiday Ales bottled so I leapt at the chance to pick up a bottle when I was in Saint Louis recently. I'm a big fan of Schlafly's Christmas Ale so I'm excited to get to try a rarer bottle of their limited edition Holiday Ale.

O'Fallon took a decidedly different direction with their Christmas seasonal. Cherries and chocolate don't really scream Christmas to me... but they're two flavors I enjoy just the same. I had a few of these beers last year and I remember enjoying them. They weren't my favorite holiday beers by any means, but they were good. When I poured this year's Cherry Chocolate and took a whiff of it, I remembered why I liked it so much. The aroma is just like that of a chocolate covered cherry. This beer was off to a great start, but would it all go like I remember? Will I like this beer as much as I did last year?

My previous experience with Boulevard's Bourbon Barrel Quad is pretty limited... Last year I waited a couple days too long to start looking for bottles around town because it seemed that everyone had just run out. A friend of mine was kind enough to bring a bottle over last winter so I was able to at least have a glass, but that was it... Here we are a year later and I made a point to check the local liquor stores early and often. About $50 later and I've got a quad of Bourbon Barrel Quads all to myself...