Boulevard Brewing Co.
Kansas City, MO
Available: M, KS, AR, IO, NE, OK, SD, WY, IL, MN
Dry Stout has been available on draft since 1996, but is only recently available in bottles. It s brewed with pale malt, roasted barley, barley flakes and Special B; and Magnum and Fuggles hops.
Alcohol (wt.): 4.2
Alcohol (vol.): 5.3
Color: n/a
Bitterness: 28
Gravity: 1045
A fast-moving blond head starts this beer off with color thick and black. You know it’s stout when you inhale those wonderful aromatics. The roastiness exudes a crisp dry intensity—it’s so dry that it demands another swig to satisfy a thirst, which in turn insists on another and yet another, still. You can almost feel the dry finish. This is a beer with no regrets.
The beer is impenetrably black and the big-bubbled head drops quickly. The aroma has pleasant coffee notes with an interesting backdrop of wet iron. The palate is light, dry and racy, with robust bitterness driving the malts out to a very dry finish. The carbonation is quite low. A perfectly good beer, but lacking excitement—as black as it is, the roast character seems a bit timid. Still, you’d scarcely do better with a rack of ribs.
Fits the style without being assertive. There is a hint of “burnt toast” dryness in the aroma, but the thin type favored by opera singers (It’s called Melba toast). Perhaps I’m being suggestible: stout, fat ladies, opera singers, Kansas City jazz. In the palate, there are suggestions of caramelly toffee. The finish develops licorice and aniseed. A gentle aperitif.
Fred Eckhardt lives, writes about and drinks beer in Portland, OR. He is the author of The Essentials of Beer Style and Saké.
Internationally recognized brewer and expert on traditional beer, Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and the author of The Brewmaster's Table.
Author of Ultimate Beer, the Simon & Schuster Guide to Beer and numerous other works on drinks, Jackson has created legions of converts to fine beer.
