United Nations of Beer

Boulevard Lunar ale

by Chris Perrin
(Beer Delegate, MO, USA)

Boulevard Lunar ale

In addition to a range of delicious seasonal ales, the Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, Missouri offers a good selection of five year round brews, most of which are fairly easy to describe. They have a pale ale, a wheat beer, a stout, and a porter, all of which are outstanding but easily identifiable as what they are.

The wheat tastes like a quality wheat beer, the stout like a stout, and so on. Boulevard Lunar Ale, though, is not so quick to be classified. This beer, which is brown, cloudy and robust, is just as much a hefeweizen as it is an ale. It is has the color of a nut brown or even lighter stout, but the aroma is more like an IPA.

After my first sip, I was stunned. Lunar Ale offered a smooth, pale ale-like taste on the front of my tongue and a complex, tangy, bold aftertaste that will had me wanting to order a second and third round.

Boulevard Lunar Ale is out of this world. Only the fear of public drunkenness at a social function prevented me.

After imbibing the beer, I did some research. According to Boulevard's website, they use a large amount of wheat when brewing Lunar Ale, which makes it cloudy, and roasted German malts for its dark brown color and to give the aftertaste a hint of hefeweizen.

Boulevard also states that Lunar Ale is brewed with special yeast to give it an aroma that is both deep and subtle.

That may be true, but what I cannot figure out is the food I should serve with Boulevard Lunar Ale.

The website offers a Contact Us page, the history of the brewery, even a recipe for Stout ice cream, but no hints on what to serve with the beer.

Its deep taste would drown out something delicate like seafood, but the flavor, though intense, cannot stand up to steak. Fried chicken maybe?

I lucked out. When I sampled the brown liquid, I took the easy way out.

I was eating pizza. All beer goes with pizza.

So, if you are in the Kansas City area or if your liquor store happens to carry Lunar Ale, pick up a sixer.

If you can figure out what to serve it with, drop me a line. If you cannot, it's not a big deal. It is good all by itself. Drink up!