Tasting Room Series: Extra Pale Ale
Boulevard Brewing Co.

 

 

 

11/23/17...pours cloudy copper, hazy, and with a white foam lid. Citrus grapefruit nose. Powerful aroma. Smooth mouthfeel, steady fruit filled bitter. Leveled. Chewy malt. Rinds flavored. Very tasty.

12 oz bottle, best by 8/28/17. Pours hazy dark gold orange with a medium rocky white head that retains well and leaves a little lacing.

The aroma is subdued - sweet bready malt and some fruity resiny hops.

The flavor is sweet caramel malt with earthy fruit and a pretty big spicy hop finish. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with smooth carbonation.

Overall, a nice hoppy pale.

 

I was elated & an attendee a few years ago at the Press fete in PHL for the announcement that Boulevard B.C. beers of KC, MO would now be available in PA! My enthusiasm has not waned in the least, but I have a sufficient amount of their beers in the Bottle Backlog here at Chez Woody that I am conducting a Coup de Boule(vard) today for New Beer Sunday (Week 663). Hang on, it's going to be quite the ride!

From the bottle: "26 IBUs".

I Pop!ped the cap, but due to a post-prandial torpor, I could manage nothing more than a very slow, gentle pour. I nearly nodded off as I was doing it! That is NOT to suggest that this beer was in any way, shape or form boring, just that I stuffed myself with Greek food. Once sufficiently decanted, a vigorous in-glass swirl raised two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, tawny head with decent retention, leaving behind nice lacing in its wake. Color was a solid Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with NE-quality clarity. Nose had a pine-like hoppiness and an Orange Pekoe tea-like zestiness, mellow and at the same time, citrusy. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium. The taste was a real mélange of hoppy flavors from Simcoe the Kitty's cattiness to Columbus and/or Centennial for a woodiness to Citra for orange and grapefruit plus some Cascade for a pine-like resinousness. Wow! This all sounded & tasted nice, but it was a bit much for the style. I would have a tough time differentiating this from many current AIPAs. Finish was dry and very hoppy, all of which appealed to this self-described, self-avowed hophead, but do I rate to taste or rate to style? Extra was extra! Read all about it in my review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from 12-ounce bottle into a glass goblet. Very pretty light copper color, with a thick, snow-white, long-lasting head that left sheets of lacing. The aroma of this is heavenly, with huge notes of orange peel up front and pine resin and woody herbs in the background. Big flavors of these as well, with just enough maltiness for a perfect balance and a metric crap ton of orange-zest bitterness lingering on the palate. This is unique, delicious, and very well executed. Nicely done, Boulevard!

 

 

extra pale ale is a term that gets thrown around quite a lot, but seems to mean something different to everyone who makes one. in this case, it appears to mean extra hops, in the sense that its almost an ipa, like the line between them is clearly demarcated all the time anyway right? why not make it even more blurry with a beer like this? a nice round golden malt body on this thing, medium weight, not quite dry, and with a light honey and bread flavor, perfectly clear. the hops are on the ipa line for sure, bold all the way from start to finish, and with familiar grapefruit and pine oil elements, maybe some simcoe in the works, possibly centennial, or some hybrid genetics with similar properties, its tough to say, but its not particularly unique, fresh and tasty as it is. the bitterness escalates all the way til the swallow, and its punchy at the end, not as dry as it could be, but hearty and satisfying to me, well made beer that should be appealing to anyone who likes their hops. i cant see this one really succeeding as a regular release for them though, there are too many beers like this, and this type of grain balance seems to be fading away from trendy, despite being so well crafted. enjoyable glass of ale though, these guys really dont get enough credit outside of their home market even though they are big and have been around so long, they make superb beer across all styles!