Some beer producers just don't care. They crank out generic can after generic can of beer that's designed solely to be guzzled down by generic college kids. Where's the individuality, where's the pride in the brewing process, where, I ask you, is the love? Acting as a counter-weight to those companies that don't care are companies that seem to care a wee bit too much such as Boulevard Brewing Company.
While all their confections are good for the this review I'll be discussing their Unfiltered Wheat Beer. The beer is easy to pour with a small head. Normally that would be all there is to say about pouring but Boulevard actually give you detailed instructions on how you should pour your beer. After emptying out most of the bottle's contents you should swirl around the last inch or so of beer to release a bit more carbonation into the beer and to add to complexity of the beer's taste. That, or you could pour like crap and get pretty much the same effect. To make sure there is no doubt about how to perform the now suddenly complex process of pouring a bottle of beer into a glass Boulevard provides helpful pouring pictograms on the bottom of the box.
Ah yes, the box. In a move that shows that Boulevard is not fooling around when it comes to beer, the product comes encased in thick, dark glass bottles which are then buried inside a sealed cardboard box. There's little chance of sunlight, grocery store track lighting, or that bulb in the back of your refrigerator adversely affecting the beer before you have a chance to enjoy it. Finding room for a big cardboard cube in your fridge may not be the easiest thing in the world but it's a small price to pay after all the care that has gone into the beer before it reaches you.
A strange side-note about Boulevard Wheat but I have friends who swear up and down that the beer can only be served with a wedge of lemon in the glass. Personally I don't care for this since I feel that the beer has the proper amount of acidity to it already. If, however, you feel like doing some on the fly alterations to your drink or just like the idea of hunks of produce floating in your beer you could give the lemon trick a shot.
Boulevard Wheat has a cloudy, light yellow look when poured. While not a heavy beer it manages to avoid that unappetizing yellow water look that some beers end up with. The beer has a distinct but not overpowering wheat taste to it, which isn't that surprising considering it has "unfiltered wheat" stamped right on the title. Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat makes for terrific, easy drinking on a warm summer day and is a fine example of the type of product Boulevard puts out.
Not only do I enjoy the beer Boulevard puts out, I enjoy the idea of small breweries in general. The reason for this is that I live in the wrong part of the world to properly enjoy wine. I live in the United States so any wine from Europe, New Zealand or wherever has to be imported. The shipping itself can't be good for the wine plus current security measures force anything shipped into the States to sit around the docks for months. There's a difference between letting a wine age and having a wine rotting in a warehouse. Whatever is being billed as imported wine probably isn't the same as what is being served for lunch in Paris. American wines have yet to convince me that they are bringing the same attention to quality, the same conviction, the same love that other countries do. When you can buy wine that is poured directly out of a plastic bag you know the winery just doesn't care. If I'm going to geek out over an alcoholic beverage where can I turn?
That's where small time breweries come in. The Boulevard Brewing Company proves that you don't need rare earth, ancient vines or hundreds of years of tradition to create a good alcoholic beverage. All you need is the right ingredients and the knowledge and dedication to put them together correctly. It's the last part that's the most important. Sure, you may be grinding out enough beer to satisfy a good third of the United States but the dedication to putting out a quality product still manages to come through in every bottle. Remember, Boulevard Brewing Company is so dedicated to their product that they refrigerate cardboard. It's extra little bits of effort like that which demonstrates why Boulevard is not only a beer you can enjoy but a beer you can support. The next time I find myself in Kansas City I should really go on a tour of the Boulevard brewery; anybody as jazzed about beer as these folks are must make for great hosts.
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