Boulevard Bully! Porter

(Boulevard Sampler Pack 6/6)

We've finally reached the end.  Are you tired of Boulevard yet?  I hope not, they may excellent beer, and I have more reviews to come in the near future.  As with the others, this review comes via the notebook, and the sampler was obtained at Marketplace Liquors in Minot, ND.  I reviewed this final beer of the pack on March 1, 2012.

Brewed By: Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Porter
ABV: 5.4%

What the brewer says...

"The intense flavors of dark-roasted malt in Boulevard’s rendition of the classic English porter are perfectly balanced by a generous and complex hop character. Bully! Porter’s robust nature makes it the ideal companion to a variety of foods, from seafood to chocolate."

What I say...

Bully! Porter pours out dark brown with a reddish hue when held up to the light.  Creamy caramel colored head that leaves traces as you empty your glass.

Nice aroma of roasted malts and caramel.  This is a very appealing beer, both visually and aromatically.

The initial taste is quite bitter, with piles of roasted malt and some coffee on the finish.  Quite a bit stronger and sharper than I expected.  The coffee flavor lingers on the tongue.

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance:5x/5
Taste: 7/10
Palate: 3/5

Overall: 15/20

While I enjoyed this beer, I felt it didn't quite live up to the wonderful presentation.  The bitterness on the end was a bit overwhelming, and, in my eyes, a bit too pronounced for the style.  It was very good, but fell just short of great in my opinion.  Bully! Porter is very much worth a try if you can get your hands on it, but came in behind Single Wide and Nutcracker in the sampler pack reviews.

View on Ratebeer.com

Boulevard Nutcracker Ale

(Boulevard Sampler Pack 5/6)

Almost done with the sampler pack, I swear!  Originally tasted on February 27th, 2012, this review also comes by way of the notebook.

Boulevard Nutcracker Ale
(English Strong Ale)

Brewed By: Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: English Strong Ale
ABV: 5.9%

What the brewer says...

"Nutcracker Ale is Boulevard’s holiday gift for real beer lovers. This hearty, warming brew is a classic winter ale, deep amber in color, with hints of molasses balanced by the “spiciness” of freshly harvested Chinook hops."

What I say...

"Nutcracker Ale".  Christmas colours.  What's that mean to you?  To me, I assumed it would be winter ale - brown, some spicy warmth, something like that.  Probably nothing too exciting.  I've only had a few so-called "winter ales", so my experience is limited, but that's what I expected.

That's not at all what I got.

Nutcracker Ale is not a winter ale, it's an English Strong Ale. Because I try to avoid reading rating sites before reviewing something for myself, I was unaware of this fact.

It pours out golden brown with a thick, creamy head that seemingly goes forever.  A fairly slow pour resulted in so much foam that I had to wait for it to settle out a bit before I could put the last bit of the bottle into the glass.

The aroma is mild, not much on the nose here at all.  Faint hints of citrus hops.  I think.  Really, I had a hard time picking out anything at all.

But on the tongue... wow, hops!  No doubt about it here.  There's some light malt, and a strong pine needle hops bitterness that lasts long after swallowing.  Finish is nicely carbonated and leaves me wanting another.

Aroma: 4/10
Appearance: 5/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 5/5

Overall: 17/20

I'm very rarely truly surprised when I taste a new beer.  Usually I have a least some idea what I'm tasting and what I can expect.  Not so with Nutcracker, and it was a fantastic surprise in every way.  This is a great beer - if you're down Minot way next winter, put it on your Christmas list.

View on Ratebeer.com

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer

(Boulevard Sampler Pack 3/6)

This is beer number 3 of 6 from the sampler pack I picked up in Minot, ND around New Year's - I originally tasted it on February 24th, 2012.

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer (Wheat Ale)

Brewed By: Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: Wheat Ale
ABV: 4.4%

What the brewer says...

"Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale with a naturally citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. It is reminiscent of the wheat beers that were brewed at the turn of the century, before the advent of modern filtration. This easy-drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest. 2008 GABF gold medal winner in Session Beer category."

What I say...

I always try to review beer fairly when it comes to style.  Sometimes, I will cut a beer some slack on taste or aroma, simply because I know that said style is supposed to taste a certain way, even if it's not necessarily the way I prefer my beer to be.  Most of the time though, I review things as I see them, based on how much (or little) I enjoyed it, and how likely (or unlikely) I am to seek it out again.

With that in mind: wheat beers are not my favorite style.

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat pours out hazy and yellow, with little to no head.  What little head there is, is gone shortly thereafter.  No lace is left on the glass as you drink.

The aroma is faint and nearly undetectable, but if I search for it, I can detect faint hints of citrus and soap.

This beer is very smooth and quite bubbly - carbonation levels here are higher than average.  It's initially quite mellow tasting, though there are mild citrus notes on the finish.  There's basically no hop bitterness here at all.

Aroma: 4/10
Appearance: 2/5
Taste: 6/10
Palate: 4/5

Overall: 11/20

This beer is fine.  It's absolutely, positively OK.  There's nothing bad I can note about it, but there's simply nothing interesting here either.  If you like wheat beers, you might get a bit more out of this than I did, I think it's an above average wheat beer.  If I'd been drinking this on a hot summer day, I might have enjoyed it more than I did as well.  As is, I'd take another if it were given to me, but I'd never seek it out to purchase again.

View on Ratebeer.com

St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

I've decided to change my attack here a bit - rather than simply dumping all of the old reviews I have first and remaining constantly behind, I've decided I'll post my current reviews as I do them, while filling blank days with something from the archives.  This way my current reviews will be fresh in my head at the time of posting, rather than simply rewriting my notes.

So, without further adieu, my most recent entry in the notebook.

St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout (Stout)

Brewed By: McAuslan Brewing
Style: Stout
ABV: 5%

What the brewer says...

"Brewed from 40 percent dark malts and roasted barley, this intensely black ale carries strong hints of espresso and chocolate. Oatmeal contributes body and a long-lasting mocha-colored head to this well-hopped beer."

What I say...

I get this one on my occasional trips to Saskatchewan - I have a buddy who runs a small town hotel out there that orders it in special for me.  It's $17 a case, so it's a bit pricey, but since I can't get it in Manitoba, it's worth the extra cost for me.

Like any good stout, this beer pours as black as night, not letting even a speck of light through to the other side.  With a generous pour, you're rewarded with a thick, creamy head the color of caramel.  Gorgeous.

Mounds of malt on the nose, with hints of coffee as well.  All in all, the pre-drink package is extremely inviting.  While taking in the scenery, the head faded to a thin lace - fairly typical of most stouts (Guinness being a notable exception, naturally).

The first taste is excellent - a rush of roasted malt across my taste buds, followed by an aftertaste of coffee and chocolate.  Warms the palate and leaves lingering roasted malt taste that begs me for another taste.

Aroma: 9/10
Taste: 10/10
Appearance: 5/5
Palate: 5/5

Overall: 19/20

There's absolutely nothing bad I can say about this beer - I love it.  Since the first time I tasted it while living in London, Ontario, it's been one of my all time favorites.  I can only hope that the MLCC will eventually start carrying it, so I don't have to drive 90 minutes to stock up.

View on Ratebeer.com

New Belgium Snow Day

Review from January 5th, 2012, via THE NOTEBOOK...

New Belgium Snow Day (Black IPA)

Brewed By: New Belgium Brewing Company
Style: Black IPA
ABV: 6.2%

What the brewer says...

"Pleasantly hoppy, Snow Day carries the subtle chocolate and caramel flavors of a new brewing malt known as Midnight Wheat. The Styrian Golding, Centennial and Cascade hops bring the backbone of hoppy bitterness to complement the roasty undertones. This beer is the deep garnet of a roasted walnut and presents a creamy tan head, floating artfully atop. Snow Day is bold and hoppy, drinkable and strong."

What I say...

I found this one during a trip down to Minot that resulted in $20 worth of customs fees on beer alone.  New Belgium was plentiful down there, but I got this particular 6 pack at one of the Marketplace Liquorstores.

It pours a glorious black with a generous amount of head, but the prize here is the aroma - it's wonderfully hoppy with a citrus nose.

The head fades down to a thin layer after a few minutes but leaves nice lacing all the way down the glass.  It's nicely hopped on the first taste and the roasted malts come out on the finish.  Lingering hop bitterness on the tongue after swallowing.  Surprisingly smooth for a high-hop beer.  There is of course some bitterness left in your mouth, but it's not overwhelming at all.

Aroma: 8/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5

Overall: 17/20

I loved this beer.  If I could get it in Manitoba, I'd likely pick up a fresh case once a week.  Two thumbs up. 

View on Ratebeer.com 

A quick first post

Fortunately, I can read my own hand-writing.

After spending an evening drinking beer and chatting with The Cranky Beer Blogger, I decided that I should start putting my notes and pictures up in a public place, instead of just throwing reviews on RateBeer.com and dumping pictures on Facebook that only my buddies can see.

So, I've set this up. Most posts will likely be beer related, but you should see the odd post about computers or life in general as well.

I think I'll start by dumping out the contents of my trusty notebook; I've got a pile of old reviews and pictures to match em, so it'll be a good place to start.