Boulevard Smokestack Series Dark Truth Stout

June 14th, 2011 by Jason in Other Beer Reviews

Boulevard’s Smokestack Series Imperial Stout is made with English malts, German hops and Belgian yeast. Would that mean if it were to be sold in Epcot it could be sold in the UK, Germany and France pavilions? Well probably not since it’s made in Kansas City.

The Roasted English malts give this beer a rich malty sweetness with a dark fruit hint, such as raisin flavors. The complex malt bill also gives this beer a full amount of body for this style of beer.

The Belgian yeast gives this a hint of a prune flavor that is not dominant in this beer but accents the malty dark chocolate/espresso coffee flavors.

Dark Truth has a subtle 60 IBU’s in this well balanced beer. The bitterness comes from spicy German noble hops. I would assume it’s a combination of Hallertau and Spalt hops, but again that is just my assumption.

The beer finishes with a subtle smokiness and a slight astringency. There is also a winy/vinous flavor to this beer, but this is acceptable to this style of beer. As this beer has a 9.7% ABV you may also feel a slight warmth.

This was a hard beer to drink because it means you’re one beer short after. But that doesn’t mean you should add this beer to your cellar as it does have a best by date on the bottle and this bottle in particular was dated for November of 2011, but I would like to see about a vertical flight of this beer from a selection obtained during a years time to see the changes to the flavor profile through out the year as this stout will mellow with time.

There goes my first post, thanks for reading and I can’t wait to read your comments.

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