Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Kansas City, Missouri USA

750 ml. No. 5581. From Bottleworks. Not much of a head produced on this thing. NIce murky brown color. Strong dark fruit aroma that is easily smelled. Slight wood aroma coming from this, but not much bourbon. I will say the dark fruits are coming through more than anything. Touches of bourbon are hitting the nose, but I was hoping the bourbon barrel would have a bigger impact on this one. It is by no means a "bad" aroma just not as nuanced as expected. There are also slight touches of alcohol and apples coming through. Not really sure I am picking up cherries. I do get cherries in terms of flavor. I am also picking up on dark fruits and touches of boubon barrel towards the end. The beer is incredibly smooth (sometimes I find the Quads can be overcarbonated). Cherries become more noticeable as the beer warms up. Overall, a damn nice quad.

Bottle from someone... sorry!
Red brown with a light head. Odd porter-like nose with noticeable smoke and wood from the barrel. Sugary flavor of cherry and grape with some light malt backbone and some alcohol burn. All of this seems like a recipe for greatness, but it never came together for me and instead remained synthetic.

Big thanks to Mr Chopin for this at the Pgh RB gathering 12/09. May I say to him that I am not worthy of this brew and should not rate nor have tasted it. Please ignore my numbers, I rate by enjoyment faxctor rather than style and I am a sissy small beer lager lover, heheh. Clear orange color with tints of brown. Smells like an old barley wine, sweet and stuff. Strong intitial alky hot effect of course. Way too much for my immature taste buds. Big and blasting. Just an overall large and incharge brew. Long alky burn for a finish. If you like this style, don’t pass this up.

Pours a lacing beige head with copper body. Aromas of cherry, roasted malt, vanilla, funk. Flavor is funky, in the good way, with cherry, vanilla, some roasted and caramel notes. Finish is tart, cherry, funky astringent.

Bottle 2744 of 10630. Poured a murky brown-orange color with a tan head. Smelled of flower blossom, spices, flaky pastry, cherry, and a hint of funk. Medium bodied and delicately sweet. Fruits, pastry, and spices dominated the flavor without a ton of barrel-imbued notes other than a bit of booze and vanilla.

Bottle:   Deep caramel, thick and dark in its brownishness, large foamy beige head, fairly nice lacing.   Soft woody nose, definite Bourbon.   Lighter aspects of apple skin and burnt wood.   Feels very spritzy, bubbley... *burp*.   Bright, a little tart and sharp.   Subtle hints of vanilla and oak.   Also has a dark pitted fruit tinge.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate.   Very airy on the tongue.   Clean, flavorful, but not as heavy as I would have thought.   A little boozy/warming.   Feels more like a Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgian Strong than a Quad.   Lingering Bourbon and oak.   Minor dryness, some vanilla aftertaste.   Pretty damn enjoyable.   Thanks once again Tyler!

Pretty darn good stuff. Bourbon flavors are very well balanced with the cherries. Vanilla, cherry Dr. Pepper in the most heavenly beer form. I really liked this a lot. I’m usually not into cherry or fruit in general added to beer, but Boulevard pulled this off in spades.

750 thanks to the guys at the Great Pittsburgh tasting 09. Pours a brown-red color with a medium white head. A sweet bourbon nose, yeast and light tartness. The flavor is a surprise after so many bourbon stouts; tart and sweet, quad flavors, cherry and only light bourbon. Yeasty and woody. Nice.