Boulevard Brewing Company Tropical Pale Ale
What the brewers say
“Inspired by our collaboration with Cigar City Brewing, Tropical Pale Ale marries a balanced pale ale with the bright refreshing flavors of grapefruit and passion fruit and juicy, citrusy hops.”
What our panel thought
Aroma: “Light orange and grapefruit, with mango and overripe passion fruit. Dank, musty background, with spicy complexity. Lots of esters (a little odd for a pale ale). Sweet Pilsner malt, biscuit, and toast. Apple blossoms in spring.”
Flavor: “On the first swallow, overripe fruit flavors come through, with sweet, tart passion fruit that dominates and lingers. Juicy and fresh, with a balancing bitterness from the grapefruit rind and hops that lasts into the finish. Bready biscuit malt sweetness adds complexity, and the same spicy, estery character in the aroma is in the flavor.”
Overall: “A clever combination of fruits that under promises in the aroma and over delivers in the flavor. Mid-palate becomes sort of muddy where the grapefruit and passion fruit clash. It’s a nice use of passion fruit while maintaining its hoppy character, but I have trouble thinking of it as a pale ale.”
