Boulevard Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Quad

Hello beer lovers and welcome to another edition of the NorCal Beer Blog's brew review.

Tonight’s featured beer is Boulevard Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Quad - 16% Ale, 84% Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels with Cherries. In honor of my trip to Kansas City, MO I scheduled this review (and the last) to drop just before I get into town.  I am hoping to visit Boulevard Brewing Company on this trip…I guess we’ll see how the “business” part of the trip shapes up.  I usually like to visit local breweries when I’m on business trips.

From the Boulevard Brewing Company website: “Based loosely on the Smokestack Series’ The Sixth Glass, this abbey-style quadrupel is separated into a number of oak bourbon barrels where it ages for varying lengths of time, some for up to three years. Cherries are added to make up for the “angel's share” of beer lost during barrel aging. Selected barrels are then blended for optimum flavor. The resulting beer retains only very subtle cherry characteristics, with toffee and vanilla notes coming to the fore.”

Let’s get started!

Appearance: Pours a dark caramel color with a touch of haze, a large off-white head and nice lacing.

Aroma: Cherry, oak, bourbon, Belgian yeast, vanilla, sweet malts, dark fruit, clove and toffee.

Taste: Sweet caramel and toffee, toasted malt, dark fruit, bourbon, oak barrel, vanilla, Belgian yeast, clove and cherry.

Overall: Exceptional - Boulevard Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Quad is delicious and well balanced.  This 11.8% ABV offering is tasty and exactly what I had hoped it would be.  I need to purchase several more bottles of this to age and to drink now. I completely enjoyed this one!

Cheers!

Mark Harvey

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