Flying Start
Boulevard Brewing Co.

More of a sessionable, light APA than an IPA (would be great in summer), but regardless it's best in class. I've had lots and lots of near beers, this is top tier.

 

Boulevard Flying Start NA IPA. Pours a slightly hazy golden with a to finger white head that left lots of lacing. Nose is...attached to my face and not smelling much, maybe some maltiness. Taste follows, almost no bitterness, not picking up much for hops. Decent mouthfeel, overall good. If it didn't say IPA on the can, I would have called this a lager, actually started scoring it that way. Not an IPA, no way. I've had lagers that were more bitter.

Can. White head with some lace. Clear golden color.

Earthy, grassy, hoppy, light bitterness. Grainy. A bit of sweetness. Decent NA offering and good price. Reminds me a bit of the UA west coast with a little less sweetness.

 

Poured from a can. Golden in color with a white foamy head and lacing. Smells of pine, citrus and grass. The flavor is wow! Matches the smell but everything is really flavorful and good. Best low alcohol beer I have had easily.

 

This is a weird one... can dated Nov 3 2020, but still on the shelf today at BevMo, despite members of BA reporting to the brewery about 2 months ago that there were ugly "floaties" all through the beer made on that same date. Before I discovered that, I found that it poured with a nice dense 1 finger white head, and the smell was like a good full ABV IPA; hoppy+fruity, with taste to match. Very nice mouthfeel for an NA , but those darned FLOATIES are polluting my beautiful beer. They sort of partially settle out, but it irritates me that I know I'm going to end up swallowing a bunch of that stuff. Too bad....this could easily be a 4+ overall beer in view of the smell, head, lacing, and taste.

12oz can. Poured out a clear, golden orange color with a small, fizzy, off-white head of foam. It left minimal lacing on the glass. It smelled fo citrus fruits and lemon with buttered toast. Sweet fruity taste with toasted caramel and a mild bitterness.

Served from the can in a Mickey Finn's shaker pint glass.

Only cowards start from a run. Anyway, this stuff pours a mostly clear pale brass topped by a finger of glowing off-white foam. The nose comprises orange zest, grapefruit rind, light grass, and a bit of sweet biscuit. The taste brings in more of the same, the grass stronger and decidedly wetter than before, and the biscuit taking more of a sourdough bent. The body is a light medium, with a rather light moderate carbonation and a slightly creamy feel. Overall, a decent NA-ish beer, but not likely the one I'd spring to if I needed something on the lower end of the ABV scale.

Best by 2021/05/03
Pours a decent foamy fizzy 1 finger head with med retention, a bit of spotty lacing, very hazy with yeast/protein floaties med golden-orange-straw color

Nose brings about what I expected, some semi fresh hops an fresh wort, raw cereal grain wort extraction with some sugar sweetness, semi fresh hops with citrus, generic fruit, and a touch grassy floral

Taste starts with more of the fresh wort, cereal mash with some pale malt flavors, sweet sugars but not too sweet, enough to balance the med-higher bitterness that kicks in quickly, hops come in with citrus, lemon and some orange, a bit of floral-grassy to spicy hops as well, a touch of candied stone fruit, a little pithy late, dry finish with med-high bitterness again bordering high side

Mouth is med bod, med-higher creamy-foamy carb

Overall solid NA style beer if you're looking for an old-school IPA, hops hit nicely, enough malt sweetness to balance, I can only tell it's NA beer as the malt flavor and aroma is more of the raw wort character, otherwise an enjoyable beer

Poured from 12oz can into a Nonic Pint:

L: Poured a hazy, yet translucent orange-gold color with a thick, white, foamy 2 finger head that lingered around. A good amount of lacing.

S: The first smell is beautiful. Pine/hops slight bready aroma then citrus, tangerine, or Orange? Some grape fruit?

T: The taste matches the aroma. A light bitterness, but mainly citrus.

F: Light to medium body, easy drinking.

O: Being dry for dry January, and seeing this new Brew from Boulevard I had to try! (I'm a sucker for BLVD!) This is a delicious NA! And if you didn't know any better you wouldn't know! It is doubtful, but I would love to see this in Boulevard's rotation as a seasonal, or Year round offering! A delicious IPA in my opinion.

Pours hazy, gold in color with one third inch head. Taste is orange, tangerine, white sugar and white grapefruit. Medium bodied and carbonation, slightly bitter. Nice and complex, about as close to a New England ipa as I have found in non alcoholic format. Could have several

Boulevard's first non-alcoholic beer in collaboration with Athletic Brewing Co. was a truly pleasant surprise. First off, it pours with a nice two finger head. It's color reminds me of a hazy wheat but the aroma is of pine and grapefruit...truly IPA-ish. A little light on mouthfeel (what do you expect as a near-beer?) but utterly IPA like goodness in flavor. The aroma matches the taste. In many ways, it reminds me of Boulevard's former beer, 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat. If you're like me doing a dry January, this stuff will more than help get you through. Add some Heineken 0.0 for a fake lager to our fridge, and you're good to go.

L - 3-finger foamy, bright white head has impressive lasting power, and leaves substantial sticky lacing. Body is a murky, yet appealing, translucent orange. Noticeable brown floaties settle out to the bottom.

S - the dominant smell is wort. Caramel, brown bread, a little orange.

T - less worty, more citrusy. There’s also a nice tangerine taste in here from one of the hops. Wort comes back on the finish. Low bitterness. Moderate sweetness.

F - medium body and carb.

O - the look and feel of this could definitely trick you into thinking you’re drinking an ipa. No one would be fooled by the smell or taste though. Personally I don’t mind the wortiness. I just wish they would hop these beers more forcefully, to create a better-balanced beer with more bitterness. Will drink again though.