Plaid Habit
Boulevard Brewing Co.

 

 

From the bottle, it pours a clear reddish brown color with a modest, soon dissipating, head. The nose gets whiskey and caramel notes. The mouth gets the same, although the alcohol is definitely evident.

 

 

Bottle: Poured a hazy dark brown color ale with a small brown foamy head with light retention and minor lacing. Aroma of caramelized malt notes with some vanilla notes, rye whiskey notes with some woody notes. Taste is also a nice mix of light chocolate and caramelized malt notes with some rye whiskey notes and some vanilla with a wody finish. Body is quite full with good carbonation with some warming alcohol notes. Nice barrel-aged brown ale with loads of character.

 

12 oz bottle, born on 10/2/2020, poured into a snifter at 55 degrees F:
L - dark caramel with a hazelnut head that lingered
S - whiskey, caramel, a bit of vanilla
T - very nuanced, whiskey, oak, vanilla, caramel
F - thick mouthfeel with light carbonation
O - excellent beer, nice complex flavor profile

Pretty good. Nice mix of flavors. Slightly boozy, pleasantly sweet.

Pours a dark mahogany with a thin head and light lacing.

Taste the rich malts up front with toffee, vanilla and bright stone fruit. Mildly sweet and mildly bitter with a medium/light body and mild carbonation. A very nice offering.

BOULEVARD PLAID HABIT CWB BROWN ALE 3/31/21

Bottle label says 12.4% rather than the 13.9 listed here. Poured from the 12 oz. bottle into a Victory nonick

a: Clear dark copper with an inch thick tan head which receded quickly to wisps of surface foam.

s: Whiskey

t: Follows the nose with strength over caramel malt and moderate throat burn. Sweet finish.

m: Creamy medium, very good body and some carbonation tingle.

o: More substantial base brew than the average brown, strong whiskey notes dominate the caramel malt. Excellent!

12oz bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours brown in color with a bit of light creeping through, one-finger foamy off-white head reduces to a film and leaves a bit of lacing behind

S- peppery rye, oaky whiskey and Christmas spices to open up the aroma, followed by nutty brown malts, bread crust, brown sugar, hint of vanilla and stewed apple

T- cinnamon and peppery rye up front with plenty of whisky notes immediately noticed. Mid-palate gives some nutty and bready brown malts. The finish gives stewed apples, oak, peppery rye and whisky

M- medium-light bod with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel and a warming finish

O- pretty one dimensional, I enjoyed it as a whisky fan but not much else going on

 

Sometimes you see a chincy review from your home state and you know its time to write your better review! Listed at 13.9% here, I think mine was like in the 12% range. Would look at the remaining 3 bottles in the cellar, but I'm at somewhere else (puttin in wuuuurk) when I write my reviews.

Pours a brown caramel like color. Substantial 5/6" light beige head and good retention. We're in impressive territory thus far. The aroma was mostly brown malt and sweet whiskey.

Taste followed much in the same vein, more of a sweeter brown ale finish and mouth feel to it, light sweet whiskey notes, brown malt without going into heavy territory malt and viscosity wise. Alcohol heat nor bitterness wasn't too high albeit present. Light hits of vanilla in the mouth feel. Wasn't really getting the char from it, methinks the commercial tug job delves into hyperbole a tad. Nor was there anything 'spicy' about the rye barrel (sweet, yes). You could definitely do a lot worse than a $14 four pack of this barrel aged offering. Its a good not great sipper.

Not sure why this one was rated so highly. I enjoy bigger beers and this one was just ok I guess. I had high hopes for this one it sounded like all the things I like. I enjoy whiskey aged beers although usually they are stouts.

Look: the color is nice it’s a real deep brown not a lighter brown. However there is no real head and what does come out upon the pour leaves quickly.

Smell: The smell is pretty decent. Mostly the whiskey and alcohol. A lot of alcohol.

Taste: The taste is ok too like the smell mostly the whiskey and alcohol hits me. A bit of a cloying sweetness and I feel for a beer this big it comes off a bit thin and that does not help the other flavors meld well. At least in my opinion.

Feel: As mentioned to me a bit thin. Hard to describe. Whatever combination here comes off like whiskey mixed with seltzer water.

Overall an ok beer but wouldn’t buy again. Have had other boulevard beers I enjoyed more.

 

 

Bottled 10/2/20

This looks to be an interesting one. It started off as a brown ale, and interestingly enough aged in Canadian whiskey barrels. Seems like an odd choice, but I think it could end up working out. Strong ales are pretty hit or miss for me, but I think I’ll like this

Pours a murky dark brown with hints of red and a finger of tan head that fades to a thin ring and leaves patchy lacing, tons of particles floating in the liquid

The aroma is not exactly complex, but there’s a decent subtlety that I appreciate. I’m picking up on aromas of smoky rye, sugary maple, reddish malt, vanilla, dates, and a hint of sweet whiskey

The taste loses the subtlety in translation, but it is still flavorful. On the front end I’m tasting rye whiskey, smooth oak, a touch of white pepper, and subtle cacao. The swallow brings notes of sticky maple, sweet whiskey, dark caramel malt, and alcohol tibged oak

A full body pairs with very gentle carbonation resulting in a heavy slow sipper. Finishes quite dry for the strength

This was nice for a very sweet and large beer. Not necessarily a contemplative and ever evolving drinking experience, but great for what it is

Poured from 12oz bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Best by 2 October 2021.

Appearance: slightly murky, rich brown hue. Head is only the thinnest hint of tan bubbles. It's rich and mysterious -- I like it.

Smell: nice whiskey aroma with a fairly high amount of sweetness. There's plenty of dark fruit present; dates and tobacco and dark bread. I like the character a lot, although the sweetness is perhaps a bit high.

Taste: sweet, like the aroma, but with a good level of dusty dates, tobacco, cherry, and figs. I really like it. The whiskey is subtle and it's not boozy; the overall effect is really very nice indeed.

Mouthfeel: medium body with a moderate carbonation. To be honest, it feels just a little thin for this kind of beer.

Overall: very tasty indeed. This would make a wonderful dessert with some apple slices and a hard cheese.

bottle dated 10-2-20. 12.4% abv and only 4 months old. here we go!

pours murky dark dirt-shade-of-red brown with a lightly tanned foam head about half a finger high with moderate retention

aroma is sweet malt and spicy booze. rye. earthy oak and faintest of hop in the background, whispering.

taste follows the nose, coming on grainy sweet and boozy. wish I'd let it sit for another 6 mos at least, but this was probably the intended outcome given the "drink by oct 2021" mention. pushing past my whine (arguably explainable given the previous brew was a sweet and tart lambic), I notice the charred notes come more into focus, bringing whisky barrel clarity and toffee with vanilla. still feels like shaving against the grain, but never feels less than enjoyable.

feel is medium carbonation, medium-to-thick body. body thickens as it sits, as expected, as does the boozy graininess. otherwise relatively smooth in waves, with booze heat prickles. finishes without any punctuation and doesn't stick around.

overall:
interesting, though far from complex, brew. spicy boozy and malty. I won't go out of my way to find again myself but would certainly point any brown ale etc lovers in it's direction for an interesting time. does stand out, in a way...maybe I ought to have let it sit a bit longer...