Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad
I opened this last Friday as a nice change of pace. Been drinking a lot of stouts and ipas and such, so I figured this would be different. The style of Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad is pretty self-explanatory as it's a quad base blended with a portion aged on cherries in a few different types of bourbon barrels. Some people thought it was infected (which can happen with barrel aging) as a result of the cherries, but after trying it those people are crazy. The tartness is very clearly a result of the cherry.
Pleasant nose. Bourbon, vanilla, and a very recognizable cherry note. Medium body that almost felt thicker than it really seemed to be. Not sure why, maybe a good mouthfeel, but it was nice. On first sip, the cherry came first and then bourbon and vanilla appeared with a little caramel from the quad base. Remarkably easy drinking for 11+% abv. Drinking it along with dinner did made some alcohol bite appear at times but as soon as I stopped eating, it faded away again. Enjoyed this a lot with the tartness from the cherry blending really nicely with the bourbon and vanilla. The only surprising part was how little of the quad base seemed to come through for me but it still tasted great so who cares.
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I've always found that aging Belgian styles in bourbon barrels isn't as wonderful as it sounds. The thing that gets me is that there's usually significantly less carbonation, which is something that I think makes big Belgian beers easily drinkable. Then again, I had a La Trappe Quad aged in new oak which turned out well enough (and I think I have one aged in old Scotch barrels in my cellar, which should be interesting).
ReplyDeleteIn this case, it sounds like the cherries added a little something extra to the proceedings that might make up for any strangeness in the carbonation department. Sounds pretty good to me!
Yeah, it totally did. Plus, this is more bourbon, vanilla, and cherry than quad which changes things a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'll say, though, I like the thick chewiness low carbonation gives beer. Makes it real enjoyable to drink in my opinion. I had an Avery Uncle Jacob's Stout last night that was amazing like that. Just thick motor oil.