Boulevard Brewing Co - Rye on Rye (BotW, 2 weeks in a row!)

I'm not cheating, this really is worthy of two weeks in a row as Beer of the Week. Nothing last week even compared, and the week before, it blew out everything I tried in a three day, three bar flurry of tasting. So this is for the last two weeks (up until the 22nd).

Boulevard Rye on Rye

This reddish-brown ale has no real style designation and is straight up all about rye malt and rye whiskey barrels. You can smell the barrels, the spiciness of everything hints at whiskey barrels, and the beer is smooth, creamy, and whiskey-ridden. Not super woody, but present, the aroma is all whiskey and toasted grains. There's a hint of fruit, like dried cherries, underlying the vanilla and whiskey notes. I kind of felt like there's a hint of gimmicky to the beer, in the sense of it being rye malt based ale aged in rye whiskey barrels, but it works  and has a niche in the almost ubiquitous barrel-aging movement. Also, on pure tastes alone, it's one of the more stupendous barrel-aged offerings I've run across since becoming a regular at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer. Rye on Rye, coming in at 11% ABV, is a pretty special beer. Bottles should be available wherever you can get Boulevard Smokestack Series bottles.

Boulevard Update

1 - Boulevard's just recently bottled their Chocolate Ale, and it will be back on the shelves in early 2012. Just in time to have some delicious chocolate beer in the middle of a blizzard. Here's an OMG beer! write up - Boulevard Chocolate Ale.

2 - BBQ, their Bourbon Barrel Quad, should hit shelves in Chicagoland in the next couple of weeks. This beer receives rave reviews including "with every sip, I heard an angel cry." Sounds like a fantastic holiday season beer to me, and a review is likely as I get back on that horse.

Summer Beervana #5 - Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

Farmhouse ales might - when all the history is sorted through - be the origin of all beer. Through some of those grains from your field into a barrel with some spices or flowers or fruit rinds, let it sit til the magic of yeast takes place, and glug glug glug on something delicious. Often crisp and dry from vigorous and thorough fermentation, slightly fruity and spicy, and occasionally funky, farmhouse ales are kind of a big deal at OMG Beer! I've tried for years to convince people that saisons are in fact, craft-awesome. Boulevard's Tank 7 goes a long long way toward doing the work for me. Slightly tart, with a hint of tropical fruits dominated by pepper and other spices, extremely dry and crisp finish. Second time Boulevard's made Beervana this summer, and I'm really happy they're in Chicago with their Smokestack series offerings.

Summer Beervana #2: Boulevard Chocolate Ale

Name: Chocolate Ale
Brewery: Boulevard Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale (more a catch-all than a real style)
Brewed in: Kansas City, Missouri
Origin: USA
ABV: 9.1%
Serving Glass - Snifter (draft) at The Twisted Spoke
OMG Beer Rating: 9.6

This beer is as literal as you can get, when it comes to the name describing what it is. It's straight up chocolate in beer form, as much so as Southern Tier's Chokolat. Reminded me a lot of milk chocolate, but the body of this beer is lighter than you'd expect from a chocolate ale. The flavor is full on chocolate forward, with hints of spicy hops, caramel, and nuts behind that, adding a subtle complexity to what at first appears to be a simple concept.