Boulevard Imperial Sweet Stout

Boulevard has been a bit up and down my rating system. The first beer I had from them got the absolute lowest score I could give a beer. Two beers later, and they demonstrated a significant improvement in their ability. Since then, they've been bouncing around a little too much. I'm not a fan of the shotgun approach to trying to get good beer. Occasional outliers one thing, but unpredictability is not something I look for in a brewer. Nevertheless, the sweet stout aged in bourbon barrels is the kind of beer that definitely targets my particular tastebuds.

The delightfully dark beer is a very dark shade of brown. The tan bubbles are kind of a surprise, as most of these barrel-aged beers don't really retain their head very much. Predictably, then, the bubbles go almost entirely away, but a distinct circle of tiny bubbles manages to survive in the center of the beer while the sides are gripped by a ring. The aroma is sweet with vanilla and oak, and the heavier liquor is palpable. This clearly wants me to like it right off the bat.

First sip is very good. The vanilla mixes with earth with a little bit of chocolate and wood. The alcohol is heavy with this one, and the end is very dry. The sip is smooth, and I suspect it's exactly what they intended with this kind of beer. The sweetness is there, the alcohol heaviness is there, the wood is pronounced, and the Imperial nature of the stout dictates a certain formality about the ordered complexity of the beer.

Tip-in is sweet with vanilla, light cherries, wormwood, and earth under a twinkling haze of carbonation. The middle stretches into carbonation and wood stinging at the roof of the mouth while earth, dark fruits, vanilla, and a little mocha surges under it. The finish is an upswell of bitterness to meet the sweetness and a dryness that takes hold for the trail-off.

Bottom Line: Complex and proud of it.

3.5/5