7 days of Oktoberfest beers – Boulevard Bob’s ’47

I hope you enjoyed your Sam Adams OctoberFest yesterday because we are moving on already. The real Oktoberfest comes to a close next Monday so we don’t have time to hang around and drink one beer like we’re married to it. Today, we are talking about Boulevard Bob’s ’47 Oktoberfest. If you can’t get down with a guy named Boulevard Bob, you might as well just turn in your beer card right now.

Boulevard can be found cranking out specialty beers from their brewery in Kansas City, Mo. They advertise that they are the “largest specialty brewer in the Midwest,” and I haven’t found any evidence to contradict that claim. Oktoberfest is one of 5 seasonal beers in addition to 7 year-round beers they produce, and that doesn’t even account for the 14 different beers in the experimental ”Smokestack Series.”  I haven’t had the chance to try any of the Smokestack, but if the Oktoberfest is any indication, I hope to soon.

As I was ogling the cooler at my favorite beer store, the label at the top of the this bottle caught my eye. It read, “A tribute to our friend Bob Werkowitch, master brewer and graduate of the US Brewers’ Academy, class of 1947.” I couldn’t tell if that meant Bob was one of Boulevard’s master brewers, or just a friend of theirs who also happened to be a master brewer. I sat there hoping it was the former, because that would mean they are giving tribute to themselves on the bottle. As it turns out, Bob was a mentor to John McDonald, who is the founder of Boulevard. Way back in ’47 Bob created an incredible Oktoberfest beer and then passed the recipe along to McDonald. It’s a nice tribute to Bob, who passed away in 1996, but to be honest, I’m here for the beer.

The beer has a clear amber-copper color, and as you can tell from the picture, there is a decent amount of head. It also leaves a solid, what the cool kids call, lace around the glass as the beer begins disappearing into your gut. At first I thought my over-pouring may have been responsible for the minimal aroma, but as it got down into the base of the tulip, which happened fairly quickly I might add, I realized that it’s just not all that aromatic of a beer. The taste, however, made up for that. It’s medium bodied, malty, and slightly spicy. I’m not talking rye whiskey spicy, but more so than your average beer. The bitterness also tastes lower than advertised (which is low to begin with), but it does show up in the aftertaste. I’d give it a session score of 12/24, the same as Sam Adam’s offering yesterday.

 

The major setback for this beer is that it remains almost exclusively regional. Without the preservatives of the big dogs, the shelf life isn’t there for this beer to get mass shipped, with a few exceptions. It’s found in the Midwest, Colorado, Texas, and Washington, and is worth checking out if you need a little Oktoberfest in your life. You can use their beer finder to figure out where to exactly where Bob’s ’47 is stocked.

http://www.boulevard.com

Info on Bob via TourDeBrew

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