Why Boulevard Is Possibly the Greatest Company on Earth

So, we had our second child in October, named him Brett (I'm sure you can all make the logical inferences). A few weeks after his birth, I was gifted a bottle of Saison-Brett from our (the store I work at) distro rep for Boulevard after a tasting (the bottle was extra stock that hadn't been opened at the tasting, and I had just come back from my leave). I brought the bottle home and showed the wife, who commented on the bottling year on the label, and how the bottle would be a pretty kick ass commerative of Brett's birth this year. I noticed the individual numbering, and commented on how truly kick ass it would be to have Bottle #1012 (Brett's birthday) from the 2012 batch as a keepsake. I checked into my stock, and found that we had higher bottling numbers.

So I emailed Boulevard, thinking they might know which case, on which pallet, then in which direction bottle #1012 went. I know they have a relatively limited distribution (Midwest/East Coast) and thought Beer Advocates might be able to help me from that point on. I expected either: "Hey, dude! Thanks for drinking our beer! That bottle seems to have ended up somewhere in Delaware or New Jersey!" or "Hey, dude! Thanks for drinking our beer! We have no idea where that bottle is!". This is the email I received:

Greetings, Matt-

Thanks so much for your message, and congratulations on the birth of your son Brett!
I have good news and bad news:
Unfortunately, we have no way to find an individual bottle of Saison-Brett. The bottles in that release have long since been scattered to the four winds.

Your appreciation for our beers and your loyalty and hard work should not go unrewarded, however...I have an idea that may serve as a suitable commemorative of Brett's arrival. I hope you'll like it. May we have your mailing address?

Cheers!


Payton Kelly
Creative Director, Boulevard Brewing Company
2501 Southwest Boulevard
Kansas City, Missouri 64108​

(personal information redacted)​

​

So I send him my mailing address, with no real expectations, and it fell to the back of my mind. Today, I got a package from Boulevard. It was much larger than I could've ever expected, and this is what it contained:



Matted, framed, and signed by Payton Kelly (Creative Director) and John McDonald (Founder and President) of Boulevard Brewing Co. It's being hung in Brett's room, and I can't wait to tell him the story of why there's a beer's label with his birthdate on it in his room!

Say what you want about their beer (I'm a huge fan, but that's obvious), this is WAY above and beyond reasonable expectations of a company. So, yeah. Pretty awesome group of people over there in Kansas City.

 

Thanks to all for the congrats. I really wanted to make sure the greater BA community heard this, as it is a pretty bad ass, awesome, and frigging amazing thing for them to do.

Cheers!