Boulevard Long Strange Tripel

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Kansas City, Missouri USA

Bottle thanks to ilovedarkbeer. Pours with a clear golden body with a huge, fluffy white head. Aroma of coriander, sweet candi sugar, dryness, chlorine and walnuts. Taste is honey, dried fruits and coriander. Lightly creamy mouthfeel, lots of alcohol, and a lively carbonated, dry finish.

Pours a deep honey golden color with a white lacy head. Nose is sour malt, honey, banana and clove. Taste is banana, nut, bread. Mouthfeel is sweet and pillowy, with medium syrupy feel to it and shorter finish.

Deep gold. Enormous white head forms with a gentle pour. Attractive lace and great retention. Highly phenolic nose with sweet scents of orange blossom honey, crackery malt and baked pears swirled with aniseed, clove, bubblegum and floral hops. Fairly herbal and mineralic with hints of honeydew melon as well. Spacious carbonation condenses and softens as it graces the palate. Remarkably clean and focused, initially. Dryly malty and appropriately light in weight with a vividly defined honey-drizzled Munich toastiness which gently deflects the bright and explosively juicy Styrians. Though the attenuation is immaculate, there remains enough space for a sugary sweetness which pillars the airy core with a vibrant rumlike richness. Light note of baked apples is distant enough so as to not muddle too much of the lustrous nuance. Mild tang of honeydew melon and a juicy kiss of fresh peach seamlessly mesh with the softer hop and fluffy bubblegum aspects. Appetizingly crisp and airy phenols underscore the clean malts which continue to crackle robustly. Closes firmly mineralic with an herbal edge of hop bitterness alongside a trailing medley of bubblegum, black pepper and faint malt. A lovely Tripel, displaying an array of lively esters and phenols. Far from being wet/flabby, overly sweet and yeasty/banana-heavy, as so many American examples tend to turnout. On the hoppier side of the spectrum, too, with loads of hop flavor and refined, understated bitterness. Very rustic yet sophisticated.

750 ml. bottle. Pours a thin head, over a golden slightly cloudy body.....nose of complex esthers, with coriander, clove, allspice, caramel, fig. honey included.....tastes of sweet malts which linger into complex spiceness with the above flavors, ending in a bitter finish....mouth feel is thick and heavy with medium carbonation. Very classy, very well done.

Pours slightly hazy orange with a fluffy white hear that recedes slowly. Smells of orange, lemon, candy sugar and ginger. Taste is similarly fruity with some pepper, but it’s a bit sweet for my taste. Finishes with some nice lingering bitterness. Alcohol doesn’t really show. Pretty high carbonation.

Bottle (light to moderate proteinization). Head is initially large, frothy, white, fully lasting. Body is hazy medium to dark yellow, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain/bread/cracker), lightly to moderately hoppy (herbs, flowers), lightly to moderately yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of pepper, lemon zest, gum, clove, light notes of plastic and sulfur. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. A top-notch classically-styled tripel, no doubt. Amazing balance in the mouth especially...wonderfully dry, but not stark. Perfect alcohol level...assertive but not aggressive. Some minor off-ish notes in the nose, but they don’t really detract. I sure hope this is a representative bottle, ’cause I want more.

750ml bottle poured into a Trappist glass. BLST pours very light yellow with a blotchy head. The aroma has that expected Belgian candy sweetness tempered with a touch of hops and Nickles candy. The expected flavors are all there: banana, clove, yeast and coriander. This isn’t a bad tripel but not anything that stands out.

Pours hazy orangish yellow with an off white head. Aroma is banana, clove, ripe fruits, yeast and peppery spice. Flavor is much the same with a little lemony grass thrown in.