What celebrations for Boulevard's anniversary are you looking forward to the most?
I look forward to the beer dinner. I like working together with chefs and come up with pairing ideas. Most chefs are very creative people and if they like beer something wonderful is happening. We’ll have more details about the beer dinner soon up on our Facebook page and at boulevard.com.
Turning 21 is a big coming of age milestone in the US. With the drinking age lower in Europe, how did you celebrate you coming of age?
Enjoying a drink/beer is embedded in the European culture. There is no ‘coming of age’ milestone in Belgium or at least not that I know of. I grew up drinking ‘table beer’ as a kid, slowly moving to a Pilsner as a teenager and acquiring a taste for bitter beers.
When was the first time you had a Boulevard Pale Ale, what did you think?
I had Pale Ale the first time when I interviewed at Boulevard back in February ’99. I thought it was one of the best beers in the line-up and for the longest time I refused to make any changes to the recipe because I thought it was a well-made Pale Ale. We made some very minor tweaks when we started brewing the beer in the bigger brewhouse.
What was the process like to decide what kind of adjustments and "tweaks" would be made to the Pale Ale?
The idea to make this beer came from our brewers; I can’t take any credit for the idea. Everybody else got on board quickly because Pale Ale was the first beer John McDonald (our founder) brewed. We wanted the 21st Anniversary Pale Ale to have the same effect as Pale Ale did when John started the brewery: a burst of malt and hop flavors that people were not used to. Nowadays Pale Ales are becoming more mainstream so we had to ‘beef it up’ to have the same effect. The timing worked out perfect for wet hopping with Cascade hops and we selected a Maris Otter malt as base malt to balance out the heavy hop load.
Where there any ideas that were considered, then tossed out?
There are some very interesting new hop varieties that we would have loved to use and would add complexity to the beer. In the end we stayed true to the ‘original’ Pale Ale and focused on Cascade. We are using these cool new hop varieties in other beers that we are developing.
Besides wet-hopping, how does the 21st Anniversary Pale Ale compare to the standard Boulevard Pale Ale?
The base malt was replaced with Maris Otter malt, the same ratio of Caramel malts was used to a starting Plato of 16.2 compared to 12.2 in our regular Pale Ale (7.4 ABV compared to 5.4). About 30% more Cascade was used in the brewhouse. The wort was fermented with the same house strain.
Is this an Imperial IPA?
By no means is it an Imperial IPA. The beer only has 40 IBU compared to 30 IBU in our regular Pale Ale and 71 IBU in our Double Wide IPA. It is hop forward but not as bitter as an Imperial IPA.
For someone who has never had a wet-hopped beer, what should they expect?
The proof is in the ‘burp’ – it will take you to a hop field.
What kind of food pairings would you recommend for the 21st Anniversary Pale Ale?
We put the fresh hops in the beer last Friday and the flavors are changing every day. Aged Cheddar, spicy Curry, a well peppered steak,…
Are there any plans for different versions of some of the other standard Boulevard beers, (Bully Porter, Unfiltered Wheat, etc.)?
Not yet, but I like the idea.
What makes a great Pale Ale?
Clean and balance. A good Pale Ale is a balancing act between bready, caramel malts with citrus/grapefruit from the hops. Hops should dominate the aroma. A Pale Ale should not be cloying or caramel sweet, nor should it be over-the-top hoppy. In our case the 21st Anniversary will be hoppy.
Beside Boulevard, what are some of you favorite Pale Ales?
I like what Firestone Walker is doing in California. I am also pleasantly surprised with Pale Ales brewed in the Midwest.
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