Kansas City, MO
At Boulevard, fermenter No. 7 is considered a temperamental piece of equipment. However, when brewers were experimenting with variations on Belgian-style farmhouse ale, the final version came together in Tank 7, an accomplishment this beer’s name commemorates.
ABV: 8.5
ABW: 6.8
COLOR: 4.96
BITTERNESS: 38
ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1069
AVAILABLE: AL, AK, AR, CA, CO, DC, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, OK, OR, SD, TX, VA, WA
This beer embodies what American-influenced saisons are all about. A fluffy-yet-sturdy white cloud of a head tops a hazy, sunbeam-golden body and lingers throughout the glass. Spicy aromatics and a peppery-dry finish give a nod to the beer’s Belgian roots while an ample amount of hops offers citrus and tropical-fruit notes—and reveal Tank 7’s decidedly American upbringing. It’s a heady combination that highlights the best of both worlds and proves sometimes, 1+1 really can equal 3.
With this strength and bottle size, Tank 7 is definitely a beer to share. Except you don’t want to. It’s such an impressive saison—wonderfully delicate for the strength and all too quaffable despite the warning signs flashed by the gum-tingling warmth in the finish. Everything you’d want in a saison is here and more—flowery perfume, zesty lemon peel and tart grapefruit, teasing spices and a light piney bitterness, all wrapped up in a spritzy body lightened by generous carbonation. On second thought, you really should share. It’s too good a beer to keep to yourself.
Lisa Morrison, aka The Beer Goddess, writes about beer whenever and wherever she can and also gets to talk about it on a weekly radio show in her hometown of Portland, OR.
Author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide and The Book of Beer Knowledge, Jeff Evans is an eight-time editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. More of his writing can be found at www.insidebeer.com.
Wed Jul 3rd, 2013
The Young Turks and Old Lions of Breweries
Once a year the whole world of craft brewers, and I do mean the whole world, gathers together for four days of catching up, digesting new ideas, staying up way...
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