Smooth Fuzz
Boulevard Brewing Co.

Bottle: Poured an orangey/golden color ale with a medium size foamy head with OK retention and light lacing. Aroma of tart notes with some funky ester and light apricot notes. Taste is also a mix of apricot and some tart notes with funky notes. Body is pretty full for style with good carbonation. Solid sour ale with some tart notes and light fruity undertones.

Bottled 29Mar2022. Poured a golden peach color into a Samuel Smith Imperial Pint glass from a 750 ml. corked bottle. Head was fizzy 2 fingers high, foamy, off white that dissipated quickly which left no lacing. Juicy sour aroma, apricot forward with hints of mango, peach & grapefruit. Sourness is through & through, with slight bitterness and spice in taste present towards the end and a clean dry finish. Carbonation dance on the tongue with this medium bodied brew. A really nice treat and enjoyable ale that I would definitely buy again if I could find it.

 

 

 

The apricot fruit isn't necessarily anything to praise when found in the supermarket, but when its found in beer, that's a different story. And As Boulevard Brewing knows, this beer simply shines in sour ale. Loosely based on Lambic but less controlled than the standard kettle soured ale, the "deigner" fermentae is a perfect stage for the fruit.

Opening with a pale and peachy-gold appearance and captive in a moderately translucent haze, a loose and lofty froth billows to the rim. As the scent rolls off of the foam, a radiant and rife perfume of stone fruit aligns with cellar-like conditions for a musty, fruity, spicy briny and juicy character all at once. Understated sweetness strikes first with the initial sip applying a coat of sourdough, taffy and wafer across the tongue.

But then the fruit springs to life as the brisk ale hits the middle palate. The special roundness of the apricot fruit hinges on mango, orange and peach while the sourness of the ale underneath is sharper with dry white wine, French cider, lime, lemon, gooseberry, grapefruit and passionfruit to complement the fruit addition. Trending spicy, musty and vinous in the later stages, the light bitterness of hay and an earthen roundness of damp burlap come to mind as its late taste is briny, dusty and of weathered oak and soft leather.

Siding on the lighter side of medium-dry, the fruited sour ale teases the tastebuds with sharp sourness throughout, cleaner though than most Zenne Valley Lambic, and slightly more full. The bounce of carbonation is stern, allowing for a finish of fruit that is fast and fleeting leaving behind soft and earthen echoes of woods and leather once more.

 

Very sour initially, but I guess your taste buds get used to it over time (or I just got more imbibed LOL).

750ml bottle. Poured out a clear, golden amber color with a very small, white head of foam. It smelled of tart apricot, lemon and caramel. Wow, this was sour. Some apricot sweetness, but mostly sour.

 

 

 

 

Pours orange with modest level of particle suspension creating a hazy look. Head is a finger in height, white in color and modest in retention. Aroma is fleshy apricot with a tart finish. Flavor profile welcomes a more sour delivery, with soft, ripe apricots up front before a lactic sour sour hit that strips any lingering tropical fruit notes from the tongue. Mouth feel is effervescent with a crispness that nears sharp. It has a medium thickness. Overall, big apricot within a pucker-inducing sour package.

Draft. Reviewed from notes.