By Eric Cioffi
Just getting caught up on some tastings from the end of the summer. It has been a busy time here at Hoppy Daze. Back to school and adjusting to the new routines, but hopefully we are back on track.
I have been on a wheat beer binge lately. Maybe it has been the glorious summer
weather we have had or perhaps I just needed a change from the usual hop bomb
IPAs I tend to favor. Whatever the
reason, I am enjoying these delightful brews.
This review looks at two very different wheat beers from Boulevard Brewing Company
in Kansas City, Missouri. Boulevard
makes some fantastic beer – I love their Double Wide IPA, fashioned in
the West Coast style, with plenty of hops. One of the beer gurus at Winchester
Wine and Spirits has highly recommended their “Tank 7 Saison” as an excellent
representation of that style and my bottle is in the beer fridge awaiting my
tasting and review.
Boulevard is not only the second largest brewery in
Missouri, but also one of the largest craft brewers in the Midwest. Founded in
1989, Boulevard’s mission consists of producing fresh and flavorful beers using
the finest traditional ingredients and the best of both old and new brewing
techniques.
The Boulevard story begins in 1988, when founder John
McDonald started construction of the brewery in a turn-of-the-century brick
building on Kansas City’s historic Southwest Boulevard. A vintage Bavarian
brewhouse was installed, and the first batches of beer were produced in the
fall of 1989. That November, the first keg of Boulevard Pale
Ale was delivered—in the back of John’s pickup truck—to a
restaurant just a few blocks away. In 2006, a major expansion
adjacent to the original brewery raised Boulevard’s brewing capacity to
approximately 600,000 barrels per year—a sizable increase from the 6,000
barrels contemplated in their original business plan.
In a previous review I discussed the differences between
American wheat beers and traditional German or Belgian style wheats. That article can be found here if you want more details. 80 Acre and Unfiltered
Wheat are brewed in the American style with a subdued yeast profile. Both of these beers are very good but
they are quite different and it was interesting and pleasurable to taste them
side by side and really be able to observe the differences.
We were on vacation and had spent the day at Third Beach at
the Parker River Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island laying in the sun and cooling
off in the waves. The Refuge maintains 6.5 miles of pristine beachfront and
unspoiled dunes. Sunburned and salty, I had worked up a mighty thirst and was
looking forward to some ice cold beer.
80-Acre
Hoppy Wheat
With roots in two of today's most popular brewing styles,
80-Acre Hoppy Wheat Beer is the result of careful cultivation by our brewers
and cellarmen. Their efforts to craft a hybrid yielded a bumper crop of flavor;
delightfully distinctive ale with the aroma of an IPA and the refreshing taste
of a wheat beer. Brewed with Bravo,
Zeus, Summit, Cascade, and Nelson Sauvin Hops.
If you
enjoy big hop taste you owe it to yourself to try this ale. 80-Acre is an
un-filtered wheat beer with a just enough body to keep the brilliant hops in
check. It pours a cloudy, pale, straw-yellow color with a delicate head that
clings to your glass. The strong pine and citrus that you get on the nose is
just as bright and crisp on the palate. You almost notice a faint hint of lemon
grass on the back of the tongue between sips. Easy to drink with and very
balanced I really enjoyed this beer.
This is a substantial beer full of hop flavor but not overpowering. It
will be in my fridge year round for when I want something a little lighter.
American-Style Hoppy Wheat Ale | 5.5% ABV
Rating: 90
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat Beer is a lively, refreshing ale
with a natural citrusy flavor and distinctive cloudy appearance. This easy
drinking American-style wheat beer has become our most popular offering, and
the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest.
Another gem by Boulevard, this Unfiltered Wheat Beer poured a
moderately cloudy light yellow color and seemed to be decently carbonated after
being conditioned in the bottle. Once in the glass, there rose a wonderful
solid two finger white head that seemed to last a good long time. There was
plenty of creamy lacing on the glass when gently swirled to let the aroma
breathe. This looked like a very well made wheat beer. The aroma was clean and
fresh, slightly bready with citrus and tropical expressions. The beer was crisp and lemony and
slightly tart and was light to medium in body. The hops are barely present adding only a grassy element
with no bitterness to speak of. Very
refreshing and drinkable this is one of the best wheats I have sampled this
summer.
American
Wheat Ale | 4.4% ABV
Rating:
88
No comments:
Post a Comment