Boulevard Imperial Stout

Brewed by Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Kansas City, Missouri USA

In the 750 mL corked bottle at Phil & Bernie’s Holiday Stout Tasting. Pours black with a medium tan colored thick head. Has a HUGE roasted aroma. Very sweet up front with a mildly tart acidic finish. Big carbonation for the style is likely its only mistake.

Pours thin like a porter with a fluffy creamy tan head. Smells like coffee,espresso, chocolate, roasted marshmallows, and bourbon. Perfect temperature for this beer is...well, I don’t know what the temperature is but its perfect right now. The taste is nice rich chocolate milk and espresso and just a bit bitter. The bourbony flavor is a little bit like heaven. This beer is stellar.

25.4 oz bottle, batch 2008-1. Dark brown with a huge, fluffy tan head. Nose is molasses, tar, wet grass, coffee and brown sugar. Medium body with a buzz. Oily mouthfeel. Taste is dark roast, plum, black olive and lime. Raw, bitter finish. An enjoyable brew but maybe past its prime.

picked up this bottle at beer geek christmas at heritage, second to last at 10 AM. pours thick and heavy and black with massive tan head that bubbles with carbonation (hence the cork) and expanded over the glasses rim. did i mention the head? you could almost set a quarter on that thing. nose is heavy roast and burnt toffee and pungent with alcohol, like a hobo but without the flees. taste is complex, with notes of molasses, alcohol and slight licorice. this is a fantastic imperial stout.

Corked bottle.
Pours a perfect black with a medium-tinted head of beige that sits atop the beer like cappucino foam. Aroma is straight-up chocolate and coffe, with the former melting into the latter with each sniff. Tastes just like my mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies- chocolate chips, sugary dough, and vanilla extract. Thick and chewy on the tongue, like a melted Hershey Kiss. A great stout.

750mL bottle, #936/11960, Batch 2008-1. Rating #4000.. I was going to do a crappy nostalgic rating here, but all I could find was a 30-pack, and I didn’t need that. Poured a healthy shade of deep brown with a creamy, well-retained dark tan head.. looked great in the glass! The aroma picked up toasted oak, vanilla, and very faint smoke over a rich bed of molasses and dark chocolate.. warmth brought out more almost metallic barrel character and sweeter underlying biscuits.. just a little extra barrel sourness kept this from being excellent. The flavor found toasted coffee grounds, molasses, dark chocolate, and sweeter oats at the core.. coffee and earthy bitterness joined vanilla, tangy bourbon, and oak on the edges.. alcohol warmth was laced throughout and was a little too evident at times. Heavily-bodied with moderate-plus carbonation that worked well for it.. alcohol and barrel sourness were too prominent, but this was otherwise a great brew.

BOTTLE NUMBER 00889 of 11960 Pours black with the slightest ruby tint. Two-finger head of dense, milk chocolate colored, foam. Retention is totally amazing! Excellent super-sticky lacing. Big, dark fruit notes hit me first. Folowed by a hint of leather and a touch of booziness. Nice roasted grain notes. I’m getting the Rye, most of all. Just a touch spicey. Very light hints of dark chocolate and coffee. Big, dark coffee notes blast my tastebuds. Very nice smokey presence, also. Big dark fruit sweetness. Nice hint of caramel malts. Roasted grains make a nice showing for themselves. Once again, I’m getting the spiciness of the Rye, coming through, loud and proud. Hints of vanilla and bourbon-like notes. A very nicely complex brew. Mouthfeel is full, as it should be with an Imperial Stout. Very nice and creamy. Super smooth going down. This one is very easy to drink. An enjoyable process, also. Nice one to sip and bask in all of the flavors that are going on in there. Yet another excellent offering in the Smokestack Series from Boulevard.

If you handed me this beer and said it was a beer, I’d say it was pretty darn good. Tell me it was An imperial stout. and I’d say it was a little meh. Good roast, a little astringent but easy drinking.