In a moment of culinary inspiration tonight, I wanted to cover some swai filets in a lemon beurre blanc (lemon/cream/white wine sauce). Yummy, right? Only we lacked the white wine that makes a proper beurre blanc, so I substituted a bit of a wheat beer for the white wine. It was fantastic. At a certain point in the reduction, it even smelled just like wine. Flavor-wise, you'd never know. And now, David Letterman is making terrible jokes about vacationing in Russia. Let me tell you, I've lived there; if you get a chance, it's an amazing place to vacation. I just can't believe it's been 20 years since I lived there. The one thing I will say is that I hope their craft beer scene has improved since I was there, and I need to revisit Baltika beer soon. I tended to spend most of my spare time at the Warsteiner bar in St. Petersburg, and thoroughly enjoyed a couple of Irish bars in Moscow on St. Patrick's Day.
So, onto this decidedly American beer. It's from Boulevard Brewing, out of Missouri, from our trip to Illinois last month. It pours a hazy pale yellow with a light hint of a white head. The nose is mostly wheat, with just a hint of lemony citrus. It's an extraordinarily mild wheat beer with a very unnoticeable yeast strain and even lighter citrus notes. Exceedingly drinkable, there's a hint of Triscuits among the dry finish and 4.4% ABV. This is probably the mildest, blandest Boulevard beer I've had. It's also probably the blandest wheat beer I've had. It's well done, it's just, well, bland. At the very bottom of the glass, however, contains some yeast sediment which actually has more flavor than the rest of the beer, and is where most of the citrusy, lemon flavors reside.
My overall take on this is to use this in cooking more than drinking, unless it's a really hot and humid day, like it should be in Ohio tonight. It's a fine substitute for white wine. It makes a phenomenal beurre blanc.
3.9/5 caps
-Jennie
Being to work at 7 am, roughly 2 hours before I normally wake up, after roughly 3 hours of sleep, makes for a very long day. The way to relax is beer and artwork. So, while continuing an EPIC painting for my friend, we decided to continue on our beer adventures. Now, what beer to review? We have roughly eight 12 oz singles and 2 bombers from unobtainable in Ohio beers, plus one single and one bomber of quasi-readily available here. Huh. Jennie used part of this Boulevard brew in her fantastic sauce tonight, so it's clear that we're going to be reviewing this.
This has a hazy pale straw color, perfectly fine for a wheat. Jazzy just blasted me in the back while adjusting herself as Amanda Seyfried is talking about showing her boobs in her new movie about Linda Lovelace. Fuck. Where was I? Oh yeah, beer. So this has a wheaty/citrusy aroma about it that is fantastic. Normally, I'm not a fan of wheat beers, but this smells amazing. Now onto the part that will chase PBR out of my mouth, the taste. Lawnmower beer at it's finest. Nice, lighter, DAMN IT JAZZY! STOP KICKING ME!... Nice, lighter beer with just hints of flavors. Nicely described by Jennie. This makes me want to buy more and drink it while playing corn hole at our friend's place. Perfect lighter summer beer with hints of wheat and citrus, dry finish, nice smooth mouthfeel that's as refreshing as it is smooth. Now, off to the Great Land of Slumber to dream about how to pay homage to Hopsus on Aug 1st (National IPA Day).
4/5 caps
-Nathan
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