From their lowly beginnings to this whole renaissance,
Boulevard has really run the gamut. I don't know if they knew what they are doing
at first, but they certainly seem to have come into their own. As a result, I go into this beverage with almost no trepidation whatsoever. Yes, they are in
Missouri and are brewing a beer that is in honor of Manhattan. This is, on the face of it, stupid. Manhattan should only be raised to any height by Manhattanites. And even they don't have much of a leg to stand on. Kansas City should be proud that they're Kansas City. Just leave it at that.
I don't know why I didn't expect a beer this dark, but I didn't. I think a different glass might have brought out the mahogany color of the beer, but you don't really know the color of the beer until you pour it out of the bottle, do you (I suppose it could probably have done some research, but that's not what I'm about)? It doesn't have a whole lot of head coming out of the bottle. I was kind of afraid from my last couple of beers that this new tapered glass that I was using would just cause a staggering amount of head for every beer. This does not appear to be the case. The little bit of head that is left is just a mountain-shaped blob of tiny bubbles floating in the middle with the familiar ring around the sides. The aroma is quite striking; it definitely smells like this has been stored in a cask for a while. The smell of hard liquor and wood permeate the beverage. Brown sugar, cherries, and spices lighten the mood a bit.
First sip follows the nose pretty closely. This definitely tastes as if it has a lot of heavy alcohol in it. Checking the label, I see that this is
12.5% ABV, but it doesn't say how it got there. I'm just gonna go ahead and guess that this was stored in a whiskey cask or something similar. The spices are there to make things a little different, and I'm getting that brown sugar with a little bit of cinnamon and maybe a little bit of banana on the back end. It is certainly a complex beverage, and it's one that is too complex for a sip to truly complement.
Tip-in is heavy alcohol with wood, brown sugar, and molasses in attendance. The middle rolls smoothly with the wood taking a backseat to the molasses and toffee malt spattered with cherry juice while the cinnamon and brown sugar dance triumphantly toward the back of the mouth. The finish is dry with bitterness and that uniquely wood hollow feeling that is beyond dryness while the spices alight some molasses for the trail off.
Bottom Line: I probably wouldn't have more than one of these at a sitting, but one isn't too bad.
2.25/5
