248: Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale

I was lucky enough to visit the Boulevard Brewery when I was in Kansas City. Because the tour is free, and the beer is so popular, you actually have to make reservations to tour well in advance (thanks again to Jeff for doing so).

I’ve been on a lot of brewery tours (I lost count at 20 or so), and I’ll admit they start to blend together after awhile. It’s a lot of stainless steel, and mostly the same process used everywhere. But Boulevard’s tour was unique in at least two respects, and unusual in one.

1. It’s a beautiful brewery, with every space carefully composed and artfully, simply decorated. Sort of like the engine compartment of a sports car. It’s hard-working, but incredibly well-made. I think this is probably because the brewery started small (owner was a woodworker turned homebrewer turned brewery owner), and only expanded when successful. In my experience, most breweries either start small and stay small, or have a “tacked on as we went along” aesthetic that’s cool, if uncurated. The tasting room also features a museum-like collection of early labels, which again, are just well-selected (and carefully preserved) in a way that’s unfortunately unusual.
2. It’s maybe the most professionally-conducted brewery tour I’ve ever been on, with high-quality, carefully-composed videos at at key stops along the way (which helped because the brewery was inactive when we toured). The tour guides, while volunteers, clearly knew their stuff, and had the passion and enthusiasm only a zealot can bring to the table. I’ve been on quite a few “I guess I’ll stop what I’m doing for my real job and give you a … … tour,” tours.
3. Finally, there was free beer at the end. In my experience, only about 15% of brewery tours end in free beer. Four tokens were given to every tour attendee, good for one 4-6 ounce sample of the beers on tap in the tasting room. There wasn’t anything funky on tap, so I went for some of the more pedestrian offerings that I don’t usually try: the Pale, the Amber and the Pilsener. Unfortunately, I only really rememeber the one I wrote down …

Beer Name: Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale
Brewer: Boulevard Brewing
Price: FREE
Sampled: September 5, 2010
Rating: 3/5
Notes: Lemony and light-bodied, with a sneaky heat, spicy aftertaste of verbena and something floral – faint potpourri. Pretty clean.
ABV: 8% abv
IBU: N/A
OG N/A
TG N/A
Serving Type: Draft.