Boulevard Smokestack Limited Release beers

I saw saison-brett at Lukas last week if I'm remembering correctly. Just give them a call and see if they still have any.

 

There have also been reports of bretted batches of Dark Truth. At least on the old board there were. And I'm not saying they shouldn't have a good reputation, merely that there are other breweries which don't/wouldn't get forgiven so easily.

FYI, it was 2011 Batch #2 that Boulevard issued the recall for. Batch 1 apparently didn't have any brett issues.

Yes, but cherries wouldn't cause the beer to get more sour with time and to turn into a gusher. The texture of my aged bottle was completely obliterated, the carbonation made it feel like the heft of a 5% or 6% brown ale. I don't think I've ever seen so many bubbles in a liquid before, even in champagne; if the lighting in my house hadn't been so dim I would have just let it sit in front a video camera for twenty minutes to film it. It was that fascinating to watch.

Also, it was slightly vinegary, implying acetic acid (not tartaric acid). See here for my review of it.

 

If that's all it takes to ruin a reputation, then how is Duck-Rabbit still in business? We get infected cases and kegs from them all the time and they're still churning out and selling plenty of beer. They also have the absolute worst website ever created, but they're surviving.

I think a few quality issues are expected with any brewery, especially when dealing with live yeast and barrels. Slamming them for these few misses is pretty stupid really.

 

And you won't because it doesn't exist

edit: Also, BLVD handled the issue (offering refunds etc.) very well.

 

Wow, that website is pretty awful. And not to derail a thread, but I would submit Chicago's Pipeworks as THE worst brewery-related website out there right now.

 

Holy crap that is atrocious! Oh well, least the beer is good from what I have had.

 

this thread is the first time i have ever heard of BBQ being infected.

 

The Des Peres Schnuck's may still have a few bottles of Saison-Brett. I saw a few there last week.

 

Saison+Brett was mighty tasty...
The carbonation of Boulevard beers has always intrigued me, I used to hate how even a slightly sloppy pour would overflow a std Belgian glass.... now I love aggressively pouring into a huge snifter just to watch it grow and stay, I can add another 15 minutes enjoyment to one of their cork+cage just pouring+looking+"wafting" before even taking a sip.

Any home brewers commentary as to how they might get such aggresive carbonation and if there is a downside (such as the infections in this thread, which I know all brewers are subject to)?

 

This beer is amazing!

 

Boulevard haven't had numerous infection issues and, unlike some other breweries, they have handled them with the utmost professionalism and class. Also, the half of the 2012 I think it was, batch of RIS that was infected with Brett accidentally was FANTASTIC Even Goose Island and Deschutes with their stellar barrel-aged programs can screw up once in awhile, so to ask how Boulevard can still be respected w/a few cockups seems a bit harsh to me. FWIW, and in response to the OP, Saison-Brett disappears pretty damn quick around here anymore, though that wasn't the case a few years ago. If you're really desperate, send me a Beermail....I'm going back to central IL this weekend, and often I can find releases still sitting on the back shelves of an out of the way bottle shop there.

 

In the outer suburbs of Chicago you can still find the latest Saison-Brett (at least as of two weeks ago). Naperville, Glen Ellyn, St. Charles area. It was similar last year surprisingly, it sat around longer than I thought it would.

I've never had the imperial stout infected or not infected, but I'm not surprised people liked it. Courage (which is tasty) has brett in it and has a reputation for aging indefinitely.

 

I came across this thread earlier in the week and came back across it this morning and wanted to take a second to respond to some of the issues addressed.​

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Batch 2 of Imperial Stout from 2011 did have brettanomyces in it. Batch 1 was not affected. We issued a statement on our blog and offered refunds for folks that weren’t happy with their bottles. This refund period ended in January of this year as that was when the best by date was on the bottle. Here’s a link to that blog from our website:​

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http://www.boulevard.com/beers/smokestack-series/limited-release/imperial-stout/imperial-stout-annoucement-2/​

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Chocolate Ale​

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There were quality issues discovered after we had released the second installment of Chocolate Ale in 2012. All batches were not subject to this issue, but the affected batches displayed sour characteristics that led us to believe lactobacillus was responsible for the off flavors. Due to this, we’re in the process of making some upgrades to both our 750ml bottling line and the systems/equipment we use to handle barrel aged/flavored beers. We made the decision not to release Chocolate Ale again until these improvements were complete. Here’s a link to a video statement that features our Brewmaster Steven Pauwels and our Founder John McDonald:​

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPBwB2L-WDw&feature=player_embedded​

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As far as reports of bretted batches of Dark Truth, this is simply not true. Our quality assurance team has never detected any beer spoilers or brettanomyces in a batch of Dark Truth.​

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On the subject of carbonation in our Smokestack Series 750 ml bottles, we believe that a higher level of carbonation is essential to the quality and character of the Belgian-style beers we brew. We target 8 grams per liter of CO2 in the bottle for The Sixth Glass. Pale Ale from our core series of beers comes in at 5.3 grams per liter for comparison. We feel that this higher, near effervescent carbonation makes these beers very drinkable and lively on the palate as opposed to packaging them at a lower CO2 and having them “camp out on your tongue”. This higher level of carbonation is achieved by precisely calculating priming sugar (in our case dextrose) and yeast dosing at the time of bottling. There is no correlation between the practice of bottle conditioning and the incidence of infected batches.​

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I want to thank you for taking the time to share your comments and concerns regarding our beer. I ‘ve said this before, but we’re really lucky to be in an industry with such passionate consumers. Please let me know if you have any additional questions I can answer.​

​

Jeremy Danner​

Brewer​

Boulevard Brewing Co.​

 

I was hoping you might come along and chime in on this. Thanks for the great information Jeremy!

Also, one other question--have you guys seen/detected/heard of any reports of BBQ batches being infected? It was mentioned earlier in this thread and as with the claim about Dark Truth, I'm skeptical because I'd never heard of any infection issues for that particular beer. The only two I've heard about are the two you mentioned--one batch of the 2011 Imperial Stout and some of the 2012 Chocolate Ale.

 

We add tart cherries to Bourbon Barrel Quad as it ages in the barrels to create a slight acidity in the beer. When it comes time to blend the barrels for bottling, we also blend in a small percentage of sour beer.

 

If anyone in St Louis is still looking for Saison-Brett, I was just at the Schnuck's on Clarkson/Kehr's Mill and they have quite a few bottles. I grabbed one for $11.99.

 

From past experience, I'd venture a guess that it's secondary/tertiary bottle fermentation with added sugar/malt powder (priming). It's less likely to be kräusening (adding active wort to go after the residual sugar)--which got a bad rep through overuse by Heileman's.

Sure enough, going down the thread,

When we homebrewed, we avoided priming because of concerns over exploding bottles. Then we got a supply of ceramic pop-tops and went hogwild, priming a stout and a brown ale rather heavily, just for fun. I found one bottle of the stout a couple of years ago (25 years old in reused 1L Altenmünster bottles) and it was perfect, other than losing any hop flavors it might have had. Then, only two weeks ago, I found the last four pints of the brown (27 years old, reused 16 oz Grolsch Dark bottles). Still had some crystal malt flavor, although it was mild, very boozy and low carbonation, at this point.

 

I just had some Brett shipped to me in FL. Enjoying the 2013 release now and its blowing my mind. Please find and enjoy.

 

Mr. Danner's response makes me an even bigger fan. We don't get a lot out here in Cali, but I always try to keep some Tank 7 on hand. My fave Saison by far!

 

funny thing is saison brett is still on shelves here in chicago. Which is odd, cuz usually nothing is.