Love Child No. 3
Boulevard Brewing Co.

Love Child No. 3Love Child No. 3
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From:
Boulevard Brewing Co.
 
Missouri, United States
Style:
Wild Ale
ABV:
9.5%
Score:
95
Avg:
4.26 | pDev: 8.22%
Reviews:
121
Ratings:
908
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jun 03, 2023
Added:
Apr 26, 2013
Wants:
  99
Gots:
  234
Oak barrels were used to age the majority of beer used for Love Child No. 3—with beer aged from 16 months to nearly six years. Another portion of the beer spent 11 months in stainless tanks, souring on Lactobacillus. While very tart, the sourness is short-lived and the beer finishes dry with a trace of oak.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by MickeyD:
Photo of MickeyD
Reviewed by MickeyD from Kansas

4.28/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured from a 750ml bottle into a clean tulip glass.

Appearance: Dark brown when held up to the light heavy carbonation with a two finger width of head.

Smell: Very sweet and citrisy to the nose, not much for malt or hops however.

Taste: Very sour with notes of cherry. It almost tastes like warheads or sweet tarts.

Mouthfeel: Very clean, smooth and light.

Overall: From what I understand the smokestack love child series is aged in bourban and oak barrels and soured with lactobacillius. so if you like sour beers this is it, sour but smooth. The beer is good but since it is my first sour I dont really have anything to compare it to.
Apr 26, 2013
More User Ratings:
Photo of stevoj
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho

3.88/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Bottle from brewers haven. Reddish brown in color, little to no head. Smooth yet sour ale, cidery, wine-like notes in the nose and taste. No adjuuncts.
Jun 03, 2023
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

3.28/5  rDev -23%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.25
Was trying to crack some bottles with dust on them at the end of 2021. This is one of those bottles. Looks purchased in May, 2013.

Pours a brown color. Might have some dark orange/red running through it. Flimsy head. Off white/beige, 1/6". The aroma is an acetic acid vinegar, dark cherry, dark oak/walnut like wood and brown malt. Its like equal parts oud bruin and wild ale it seems.

The taste pushes in a better direction, light dark cherry notes, the wood picks up, but there is also a booziness to it. I don't like my sours around the double digit abv line and this one comes dangerously close. Brings the sensation of a feel of higher than usual wild ale bitterness too. Vinegar and red wine like cooking sherry notes. I'm thinking this one was better years ago. Also didn't find it to be a dry back end either. Hint of leather and balsamic.

I dunno man. When I drop $20 on a beer, I want it to be better than the majority of $2-4 beers I buy, but alas, this was not.
Mar 31, 2022
Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

3.72/5  rDev -12.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
750 ml bottle, probably from Vinmonopolet Kvadrat. ABV is 9.5%. Hazy orange to brown colour, moderate off-white head. Lovely aroma of brettanomyces / farmhouse, lemons, oak and bourbon. Sour / acidic flavour, red wine vinegar and lemons galore, also hints of oak and bourbon - an unusual combination. This must be the "whiskey sour" of the beer world.
Apr 04, 2021
 
Rated: 4.29 by BarrelAgedG from California

Feb 10, 2021
 
Rated: 4.15 by BKotch from Texas

Jun 02, 2020
Photo of buschbeer
Reviewed by buschbeer from Ohio

4.59/5  rDev +7.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
750 ml bottle
Served in a Boulevard Smokestack tulip glass

This beer pours a deep rusty hue with some blood orange highlights. It is topped with less than an inch of tan head that leaves no lacing.

It has a great sour aroma. Tart cherry comes to mind. It has vinous and funky notes.

The taste is very sour which I love. Tart fruit flavors coat my tongue. Funk and light vinegar follow. I love it.

Medium bodied with a dry mouthfeel

This is a fantastic sour. I am enjoying every sip.
Nov 30, 2019
Photo of GuyFawkes
Reviewed by GuyFawkes from Illinois

3.84/5  rDev -9.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
2014 vintage; drank 2/5/15 @ Fischman's.

Murky orange/red rust appearance.

Small off-white head; minimal lace.

Mildly tart strawberry nose.

Medium thin mouthful.

Tasty but SUPER tart strawberry flavor; puckering but still enjoyable. Sour heads would freak...
May 05, 2019
 
Rated: 4.33 by RPM3334 from South Carolina

Mar 17, 2019
 
Rated: 4.25 by PhineasMcClintock from Massachusetts

Oct 01, 2018
 
Rated: 4.08 by hopkrid from Florida

Jul 20, 2018
Photo of wedge
Reviewed by wedge from North Carolina

4.13/5  rDev -3.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Pours a deep burgundy color capped with a sticky layer of beige cream. Woody, spicy aromas blend with earthy juicy cherries, tobacco, funky straw, caramel, and faint balsamic vinegar. Sour cherry and wood flavors, cider vinegar, and a juicy tartness along the sides of the tongue. Any bourbon notes are really subtle - just a flash of leathery vanilla - mostly it's the barrel woodiness that comes through. Nimble medium body with a pretty hefty acidity. Still good!
Jan 18, 2018
Photo of Lone_Freighter
Reviewed by Lone_Freighter from Vermont

4.22/5  rDev -0.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a tulip, the appearance was a nice looking mahogany color with a finger's worth of foamy white head that slid off at a good pace. Sliding lace.
The aroma had some black currants, light lime, herbal to earthiness. Driftwood, light funk, and a touch of floral.
The flavor took the prior mentioned aromas to boot - somewhat sweetly with that funk settling in dryly with the driftwood pouncing about. Light vanilla. Strolled nicely together into the aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping sort of quality about it due to the funk grip along my tongue, wanted to make it a bit sour but honestly, not too much. Carbonation felt good. ABV felt appropriate.
Overall, pretty nice AWA, I'd have again.
Jun 09, 2017
Photo of SHODriver
Reviewed by SHODriver from North Carolina

4.25/5  rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A: Poured into a Duvel tulip to a deep brown topped by a finger and a half of dense light tan head that slowly fades to a small pool and leaves minimal lacing
S: Smells of sour cherries, funk and oak with some slight sweetness. Smells a little like oude tart
T: Taste is tart cherry up front with some funk and oak, slight sweetness before more sourness comes in followed by more funk. Swallow is sour cherry and funky oak with some lingering caramel sweetness that does battle with the lingering acidity
M: This beer has a slight mouthfeel with a medium body. Carbonation is soft but adequate and the beer has a dry finish.
O: Overall this one is a great example of the style. Nice complexity with a good bit of sourness and funk. This one doesn't have any traces of oxidation going on so it may have had a little more time left in it. Definitely glad to have had it.
Feb 21, 2017
 
Rated: 4.27 by mattboyer182 from Indiana

Feb 06, 2017
 
Rated: 4.32 by davegray from California

Jan 30, 2017
Photo of Davepoolesque
Reviewed by Davepoolesque from Massachusetts

3.92/5  rDev -8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Redish brown in appearance. Tart. Sour upfront but mellows out into a nice oaky finish. Malt, cherry skins and dark fruit. Earthy. Short finish. Pretty good. Probably a bit past its prime.
Aug 17, 2016
 
Rated: 4.34 by Nuggetz from Texas

Jun 28, 2016
 
Rated: 4.2 by Beejay from Virginia

Apr 24, 2016
 
Rated: 4.28 by JNForsyth from Pennsylvania

Mar 07, 2016
Love Child No. 3 from Boulevard Brewing Co.
Beer rating: 95 out of 100 with 908 ratings