Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

Brewed By: Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri

Purchased: Single 12oz bottle from the Boulevard Smokestack sampler from Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2011

Style/ABV: Saison, 8.0% 

Tonight I am tackling the third beer from the Smokestack sampler by Boulevard Brewing Company. That would be their Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, a traditional-styled Saison.

Saisons are a traditional style of beer from Wallonia, a French-speaking part of Belgium. The beer was brewed at the end of the cool season to last through the summer before refrigeration was common. Since the beer was consumed all summer, it needed the durability to last for many months. Saisons are a refreshing style of beer, with lots of fruit, peppery spices, carbonation, hops, and dryness. They can also be slightly tart, sour, and acidic. You can read more about what to expect from a Saison HERE.

The Boulevard Tank 7 is brewed with Amarillo, Simcoe, and Tradition hops. It clocks in at 8% ABV and packs 38 IBUs. They advertise the beer as packing lots of grapefruits and finishing dry and peppery. Let's dive in and see what we have.

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The pour reveals a big, 4-finger, white head. Maybe off-white. The head is made up of thin soapy bubbles, but it is very dense. As the head dissolves there is quite a bit of nice lacing. The beer is slightly hazy and super carbonated. The body is a golden-pale-straw color. This is a lively, earthy looking beer, as it should be.

The two aromas I'm really picking up on are big Belgian funk, and big grapefruit. Big Belgian funk and yeast are all over the nose. I smell horse blanket, hay, funky yeast, wild and overripe fruits, tart apples and tart pears, hints of peaches. There are also big grapefruit hops, some bitterness, and very floral. Slight hints of pepper.

Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

The taste is surprisingly bitter and hoppy. There's a lot of the grapefruit hops, some honey, apples, pepper, light candied lemon. There's definitely a malt character in here: pale malt, rounded, slight grain. Pulls towards a wheat note. This is on the upper end of hoppy for the style, and this is fairly bitter and dry with good pepper on the finish. You do pick up on some overripe peach or fruit, Belgian yeast and funk hit the palate, and some mild barnyard. I'm also getting some orange peel and lemon peel.

I would say this is medium light, bright and funky, refreshing, and dry. Very peppery and on the high end of bitter for the style. This has moderate palate depth and is not quite as complex as I expected. The front of your palate is overripe fruits, Belgian funk, and pale malts; this rolls into more fruit, hops, bitterness, and more pale malts; this finishes with pepper, bitterness, and drying. The 8% ABV is masked very well. 

Rating: Above-Average

Score: 81%

 

Very peppery, dry, and bitter. I actually enjoy the big pepper and big dryness at the end. And I love hops. But I also enjoy the soft, fruitiness you often get on the front of other Saisons to balance some of the complex pepper and dryness you get on the back end. The big grapefruit notes in this beer add some "noise" that I'm not sure of. For me...I will try this beer again. But I don't think I would reach for it as my preferred Saison. Still, this beer does not hurt the excellent Smokestack series. I am very impressed with Boulevard Brewing so far.