Midwest Voices

Yael T. Abouhalkah

The Kansas City Star

On Friday Boulevard Brewing Co. delivered great news for its large number of fans in the Kansas City area: Starting in late February it will offer its popular public tours seven days a week.

That’s going to reduce the waiting time for the tours which, the company proudly notes, eventually feature a little taste testing of Boulevard’s very popular brews.

Given the excellent reputation I have with the Boulevard folks — wait, scratch that - given the scathing condemnation I received from some Boulevard employees and especially its customers last year, I immediately wondered whether Chocolate Ale would somehow wind up on the taste-testing tables.

Last year, Boulevard once again put out its Chocolate Ale, which I immediately panned as a rather lame idea. That brought the wrath of Chocolate Ale fans down on me.

Unfortunately for Boulevard, the 2012 batch of Chocolate Ale had quality control problems that forced the company to recall it. I also wrote about that, and once again did not meet with the satisfaction of Boulevard Brewing’s supporters.

Fast-forward to this year, and Boulevard had already announced it wouldn’t be offering Chocolate Ale again, at least in 2013. (Stay tuned; it could come back in the future.)

But as I was trolling the Internet Friday I found good news for Boulevard’s fans.

The company has worked together with another KC favorite - The Roasterie - to make Coffee Ale.

It will be available in March.

Now that sounds, well, different. It again mixes two things people love to make a drink that has the chance to be an awesome favorite of beer fans.

Or, it might cause a ruckus and get stuck out in bad publicity land.

Given Boulevard’s track record - and forgetting for a moment the Chocolate Ale mini-disaster of 2012 - I’ll bet most Kansas City fans will predict that it’s going to be a rocket to success for the two partners.

For myself, I pledge to taste Coffee Ale before pronouncing any judgment based on the quality of the drink.

Hmmm, wonder if all is forgotten at Boulevard and I might be able to get in on one of those great tours?

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