Tasting Room Series: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter
Boulevard Brewing Co.

Boulevard has made a lot of really good stuff over the years, & a reasonable barrel aged beer from these guys isn’t to be passed up lightly. 12 oz. bottle with a weird font & orangish label that made me think it was a pumpkin beer (shudders).

Dark. The nose whispers promises of bourbon, chocolate, after dinner sweets.

Tasting Room Series: Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter sings of the sweet marriage of malts, oak, & bourbon. It goose-steps after the nose smartly. Wet kiss of bourbon, heavy note of sweet German chocolate, with a switch of walnut. Booze asserts itself on the finish. Heavy. Simple enough to swill mindlessly, though I suspect it would be dangerous to tomorrow to do so.

A straightforward barrel aged porter/stout sans fancy footwork, additions, or witchcraft. A very good, borderline excellent beer.

Black color. Medium-sized, beige head. Malt, molasses, vanilla, and chocolate in the aroma. Malty taste with distinctive Bourbon notes and roasted bitterness. Smooth and full-bodied.

Pours a dark brown, small head fades quickly no noticeable lacing. I'm not opposed to the smell of bourbon, so that's good and a hint of malt. Bourbon really shines here, that's what this about, and a bit of dark fruit. Thin, not much carbonation. This is a one dimensional beer, but I like the dimension.

Black in color with no light penetration. There’s a fingernail of brown around the rim and just a faint trace elsewhere. The aroma is of dark malt and sweet bourbon. I’m tasting dark malt, fig, smoke, and a touch of sweet bourbon. The mouth is sticky and a bit warm with alcohol.

 

**
12/30/21

LOOK: dark black, thick-ish look, but brown cola like at the edges. small off white head, poor retention. Little touch of lacing.
AROMA: light whiskey and malt, even lighter dark fruits. you can tell it's a boozy malty beer, but not much else. nothing off, just weak strength of aroma.
TASTE: raisin, prune, bourbon, oak, malt. Pretty tasty, my instincts tell me it could use a bit more roasted barley, but then I guess it would be more of a stout.
FEEL: medium to full body, excellent fizziness for a strong porter. abv is well disguised in the smooth body.

Very good...but the french oak stout from boulevard from the same 2020 series was much better.
**

Consumed February 2021. Did I buy a 4 pack of this or a single? Don't recall. Guess I should check the cellar for potentially 3 more bottles of this. Also, when I say I can't remember, that means the beer was not memorable, thereby making it neither great nor terrible, as those things are far more memorable.

Anyways, it pours really dark brown, darkness on the edge of town stuff. Very nice, very evil. Looks like this was consumed watchin' some pro wrasslin' into a Northern Brewer home supply taster glass. Lighter brown head 1/2" deep. Looks good here, good head formation and retention in a barrel aged product. Aroma hit the brown malt, brown sugar light bourbon minimal aging side of things alongside the requisite roasted malt scorchings.

Taste was well received, light lactose/brown sugar note helps meld everything together without coming across boozy heat like you could/should in a 12.5% beer. The barrel notes are minimal, yet appreciative. This isn't a 36 month double barrel aged beer. Carbonation and body in the wheelhouse. Lighter leather note. Yet another well made beer out of Missouri.

Not bad, not great. Malty and roasty. Kind of sweet and syrupy. Medium bodied, a little thick, slightly boozy, definite barrel presence. Enjoyable, but they’ve done better.

Pours black with a thin tan head that dissipates quickly.

Tastes heavily of sweet malts and stone fruit a bit of leather/tobacco and there is a light barrel/booze influence. Has a surprisingly lighter body than you would think and mild carbonation.

Picked up a sixer of this and the stout from TW Arrowhead 11-12-20 for $19.98. Enjoy by 25AUG2022; consumed 2-24-2021.

Beer poured dark brown with a nice tan head with the original pour.

Nose has hints of bourbon and sweet malts.

Taste is really well done with the huge malt base infused nicely with the barrel notes of vanilla and dark fruits. Finishes balanced due to the barrel infusion.

Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied and very smooth.

Overall another really well done Boulevard barrel aged beer. This team does it very well!

12 oz single bottle, dated 8/25/20, into THAT! NE IPA snifter.

Thick slick black with a thin fingernail of head.

Aroma of caramel and sticky/sappy bourbon barrel; old dried fruit; some licorice and ginger snaps; a little molasses, some merlot; and some dust.

The bourbon barrel is very good in this beer. It's wet, sticky, sweet, and clean. Unfortunately the base beer is shit, and really shows with its lack of depth and character. The only beer notes that really come through are dried fig and dusty cardboard. Some hints of cherry cough syrup emerge as it's sipped more. So if you think of this more like barrel aged cough syrup with a bit of dried fruit, you'll be in the ballpark.

Feel is slick, wet, and hot. Kinky. A moderate carbonation and a medium-plus body. Nice buzzing on the finish.

Overall, kind of a run-of-the-mill beer, though it could have been much worse. Whatever barrels they were using for this remind me of their higher caliber offerings, so that's good. Unfortunately this porter just didn't do the barrel justice.

Price paid : $3.99 / bottle
Would buy again : no

This has a top notch aroma of nougat, vanilla, and caramel.

The taste includes those but also adds in some dark fruits (berries and cherries)...

Body is full and creamy smooth....rich...malty....borders on cloying but I'm good with it..

Poured from 12oz bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Enjoy by 8/25/22; if anything, I'm drinking this too early.

Appearance: black hue with a finger of compact tan foam. No light is getting through this one; looks damn good to me.

Smell: quite sweet, with some dusty dark fruit and chocolate qualities that I really rather like. The bourbon comes through, but it's light and adds a nice subtle complexity.

Taste: oh yeah. Chock full of date, tobacco, and raisins; the roast and dash of chocolate really round out the works. This beer is really quite incredibly sweet, but it has a depth of flavor and complexity that almost outweighs that. As in the aroma, the bourbon is complementary without being overwhelming. Great!

Mouthfeel: rich body with a good level of carbonation and a very nice creaminess. I dig it.

Overall: this beer is great; I really love the flavor and texture. The sweetness is a bit of a drawback, though -- save this for dessert, like you would a port or something.

 

 

 

Enjoy by 8/25/22. 12oz bottle poured into a tulip. Pours almost black; small dark khaki head that fades leaving nice retention and lacing. The aromas have a nice blend of bourbon and chocolate. Subtle hints of cherry. Some vanilla and coconut comes through as it warms and opens up. Malts are there. The flavors follow the nose. The bourbon shines and leads the way without diminishing everything else. More milk chocolate that sort of emulates a chocolate chip cookie. Hints of vanilla, coconut, caramel and toffee. More cherry notes in the mix. Hints of oak. Subtle spiciness. Malts do their thing. There's a little warmth going on in the finish, but it's not hot or boozy. Mouthfeel is full-bodied with moderate carbonation. It's fluffy, silky, slightly creamy and velvety. It drinks big but ultimately remains smooth. I'd say it's dangerously drinkable considering the ABV.

This is a nice barrel-aged porter. It's just another well done barrel-aged beer coming from Boulevard. It's big, bold, enjoyable and fun to drink. Well done.

12oz bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It left sticky rings of lace on the glass. It smelled of bourbon, oak, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, roasted malt and toffee. Big boozy, bourbon taste with vanilla, charred oak, chocolate and toffee flavors.

12oz bottle. Best by date on label is '25AUG2022'.
Dark cola brown colored body. Thin small bubble, tan colored head/cap. Leaves some interrupted webs of lacing.
Aroma of oak, vanilla, brown sugar malt, and bourbon.
Taste is dark chocolate cake with vanilla, dark fruit, oak, and bourbon. No bitterness.
Medium mouth feel, with a creamy texture. Okay carbonation.
Quite drinkable despite the higher ABV%. Lots of barrel influences, and this includes the bourbon.