Brewer's Choice 2021: Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter
Boulevard Brewing Co.

Boulevard good. I’m drunk. 12 oz. bottle. Don’t review in this state, kids. I’m a professional.

Dark. Porter. Mostly bourbon. Some malt. What is malt?

Boulevard Barrel Aged Imperial Porter. Dark fruits & bourbon , plus a blend of raisins, bittering hops, & mild, soft oak.

Nothing distinctive but a good, solid beer.

 

 

Poured from 12-ounce bottle into a snifter glass. Opaque, almost black in color. An aggressive center pour yielded a scant amount of dark tan head that lasted forever. This is a symphony of aromas, flavors, and sensations: sweet, syrupy, dark, mysterious, molasses, licorice, chocolate, char, bourbon, rum, prune, roasty, boozy, tannic. This loses some of its edginess as it warms, making it a very easy drinker despite the high ABV. This checks all the boxes for me. YMMV.

 

Twelve ounce bottle poured at 53° Into a tulip. Little squiggly brown head pops and drops. Dark brown appearance underneath.
Smell is plummy and pruney, a bit unexpected from a Porter.
Taste follows, with roast and char, coffee takes a short bow before giving way to a milk chocolate finish that’s delightful.
Feel is very dense, way low carb.
Overall, a beautiful brew.

 

 

Look: deep dark brown, thin dark tan head
Smell: plum, fig, oak, malt, chocolat
Taste: plum, raisin, sweet, coffee, little oak char maybe
Feel: creamy, full, light carbonation
Overall: a nice, warming sipper - I very much enjoy the dark fruit notes

L - Poured dark chocolate black with a thin dark tan film of a head. No lacing.
S - Mild woodiness, roast malt and rum with a slight sweet molasses hint.
T - Initial pronounced sweet molasses, malt, and rum with a quick explosion of black licorice that lingers with bourbon on the finish.
F - Thick and slightly oily with low carbonation. The booze feel is there too and hits you very quickly.
O - This is a real sipper best enjoyed on a crappy weather day, preferably by a fireplace.

 

 

Brewer’s Choice 2021 Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter from Boulevard Brewing. 16 oz bottle from a mixed six-pack $23.00 (Including tax), $0.319/oz. Stored on room temperature shelf in store and at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 25/2/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on rear of label “PLEASE ENJOY BY: 20SEP23”. Served at 53.7 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 60.6 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), nearly opaque.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. When rear-lite, still opaque but some penetration at the edges, ruby.
Head – Average (Maximum 1.5 cm, aggressive center pour), two-tone earth yellow and copper, rapidly diminishing to leave a 0.5 to 0.8 cm crown and a thin partial cap. The crown is unevenly supplemented by effervescence. The yellow earth color is on the parts of the crown exposed to oxygen and the copper color occurs in the areas freshly built and high in CO2 . Crown and cap last the entire glass but never produce lacing.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.25 – Initially alcohol, which fades as the glass warms, allowing wood barrel to predominate. No hops, no malt, no yeast.
Flavor – 4.25 – Begins slightly sweet with a mild alcohol burn. No hops, no malt, no yeast. Ethanol (13.9 % ABV, as marked on container) is not hidden but is attenuated by the moderately strong, sweet bourbon. Eventually some chocolate comes through. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.25 – Full, approaching creamy, soft caressing carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Harsh unless you allow it to warm. Then the chocolate and wood beat the ethanol into submission. Becomes a good porter/stout at higher temperatures.

 

 

 

smell is muted

tastes chocolate, coffee, toffee, rum, raisin, licorice,

feel is thick af, a little too sweet in the finish

overall a great brew, complex, need more!

 

 

Poured from a bottle into a snifter
Appearance – The beer pours a pitch-black color with a one finger head of brown colored foam. The head has a good level of retention, fading slowly over time to leave a light sum of foamy lace on the sides of the glass. Upon pouring the thickness of the brew can be seen, looking like oil when pouring.
Smell – The aroma is massive of a dark chocolate and rum like smell mixed with lots of coffee and roasted malt. Along with these smells comes a big showing of molasses and caramel as well as some confectioners sugar and a bit of nut. Overall, the smell is very rich and delicious, reminding me of bourbon or rum balls.
Taste – the taste starts out with a huge showing of milk and dark chocolate, roast, and a whole lot of sweetness of brown sugar and molasses. At the same time there are other sweet flavors of plum, raisin and prune, with these flavors growing stronger as the taste advances, and eventually outpacing the brown sugar and molasses. At the same time the chocolate intensifies as well, and is joined by some nice warming boozy flavors of a rum and bourbon nature. Some light vanilla flavors and a bit of maple syrup develop through as well, and with the big sweet, chocolate, and boozy flavors, it leaves on with a very nice warming and rich taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the brew is thick and creamy with a carbonation level that is low. For the very rich, roasty, and boozy tastes, the feel is fantastic and makes for a nice warming and rich sipper.
Overall – A very nice and very robust porter. One the sweeter and boozier side but very, very enjoyable.