Tag: Collaboration

August 11, 2016

Ready for a Big Beer? Boulevard/Firestone Walker Collaboration No. 6 Due in December

A beer so big it fits four beers into just one! Boulevard Brewing‘s Collaborations have traditionally been on the lighter side. The highest ABV of the previous collaborations being 8.5%, but this year’s comes in at a solid 12.5%, perfect for the cold days in December when its due to be released.

This Smokestack Series Collaboration has been overseen by Boulevard Brewmaster Steven Pauwels and Firestone Walker‘s Brewmaster Matt Brynildson and includes two Boulevard beers and two Firestone Walker beers. The big, bold flavor combination resulting in a Barrel Aged Ale includes the following beers.

45% of Boulevard Bourbon Barrel Quad, an abbey-style quadrupel separated into a number of oak bourbon barrels where it ages for varying lengths of time. Cherries are added and selected barrels are then blended for optimum flavor.

35% of Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee, a Central Coast Quad that is brewed with Belgian candy sugar and aged in fine bourbon barrels. The sugar imparts a molasses sweetness to the beer. Maturation in bourbon casks brings ample barrel expression with notes of toasted oak, coconut, leather, and cigar tobacco.

10% of Boulevard Imperial Stout X – Tart Cherry (Whiskey Barrel-Aged), an imperial stout with additions of tart cherries to fermentation as well as lactic souring on the brewhouse.

10% of Firestone Walker Velvet Merkin, an oatmeal stout aged for a full year in retired spirits barrels from Heaven Hill, Woodford Reserve, and others. It offers rich milk chocolate, bourbon, and espresso flavors, preceded by aromas of vanilla, coconut, toasted oak, and mocha.

No exact date has been released, just some time in December. Its original targeted release was October, but it was determined the beer needed some extra time in the barrels to get the quality to the standards of the Brewmasters.

Boulevard Brewing’s and Firestone Walker’s Collaboration No. 6 will be available in 750ml bottles and on tap.

September 17, 2015

Boulevard Collaboration No. 5 to Be Released Soon

Boulevard has had a lot of success collaborating with other breweries, so there’s no doubt their Collaboration No. 5 will be a big hit.

The newest collaboration started with a rollout of Boulevard beer in Florida. Cigar City hosted a tap takeover and Boulevard was impressed with their hospitality, kindness, and, of course, their beer. Cigar City has a lot of knowledge using tropical fruit flavors and Boulevard makes the best pale ales, so Collaboration No. 5 was a no brainer – Tropical Pale Ale. The ale is slightly tart and super citrusy due to it being briefly aged on passion fruit and grapefruit. It’s 7.3 ABV and 55 IBUs and was dry hopped with Lemondrop, Azacca, and Pacific Jade hops making the finish slightly tart with bright citrus character.

Boulevard will be hosting a Release Party in their Tasting Room on Friday, September 18. Music, food, and the beer will be available from 4pm until 7pm. The Collaboration will be available in stores the week of September 29, and will be the first time it’s packaged in 4 pack 12 ounce bottles. It will also be available in 1/6 bbl kegs.

Click here for more information about the Release Party

September 19, 2014

Boulevard’s Collaboration No. 4 Out Next Week

Boulevard Brewmaster Steven Pauwels and Ommegang Brewmaster Phil Leinhart combined their expertise to come up with the latest Collaboration

Teaming up with their sister brewery, Ommegang, Boulevard’s newest Collaboration will be on taps on Monday and in stores Tuesday in the Kansas City area. Collaboration No. 4 is a spiced saison-style beer with an alcohol content of 7.3% which is in line with past collaborations. Ommegang brewmaster Phil Leinhart came to Kansas City in July to work with Boulevard brewmaster Steven Pauwels and the rest of the brewing crew. After brewing a mix of various malts and hops, sweet orange peel, lemon peel, coriander, and grains of paradise, the wort was moved into two fermentation vessels. Pauwels added Boulevard’s signature Belgian yeast strain to one of the vessels and Leinhart added Ommegang’s house yeast strain to the other. The batches were then blended together for bottling. This is a limited edition release, so be sure to pick up a few bottles.

Past collaborations include a Stingo brewed with Dann and Martha Paquette of Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project, a White India Pale Ale brewed with Larry Sidor of Dechutes, and an Imperial Pilsner brewed with Jean-Marie Rock of Orval. The White IPA was later re-released as the Reboot White IPA.

In other Boulevard news, Oatmeal Stout and West Coast IPA will be making their way into the sampler 12-packs this week. There will also be a collaboration, an English Strong Ale, with Odell Brewery that will be released the week of November 17th, to celebrate both breweries’ 25th anniversary. I had a sample of the ale in their tasting room a few weeks ago and it had a rich, creamy flavor that was a delight to drink. I would recommend picking up more than one bottle.